The Weekly Download

“In this blogcast, Burnes Center Senior Fellow Seth Harris is joined by Tim Rowden, editor of the St. Louis/Central Illinois Labor Tribune, and Don McIntosh, editor of the Northwest Labor Press to talk about how national headlines are impacting their regions, what they're hearing from workers on the ground, and the uncertain future of labor journalism.”

“At a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and a Mercedes factory in Vance, Alabama, the United Auto Workers have filed for union elections. If the UAW wins, it would be a major victory against anti-union bulwarks.”

“In some California hospitals, early-career doctors make as little as $16 per hour working 80-hour weeks. It’s training, known as residency, that every board-certified doctor must complete. The grueling schedules for little pay have been contentious in medicine for decades, and they’re increasingly driving medical residents to form unions. The national accrediting agency for residency programs limits the average work week to 80 hours. Last week, hundreds of resident physicians and fellows at Kaiser Permanente’s Northern California facilities became the latest to join the wave of medical trainees demanding better pay and working conditions. Their petition filed with the National Labor Relations Board comes after Kaiser Permanente refused to voluntarily recognize the union.” 

“Journalists at Defense News and Military Times announced they are unionizing and forming the Sightline Media Union. In response, the organizing committee has released the following statement:”

“Workers at a Mercedes Benz factory in Vance, Alabama, filed a petition with U.S. regulators to hold an election to join the United Auto Workers, the union said on Friday. The SUV plant is the second to file an election petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in recent weeks. Reuters previously reported that Mercedes workers in Alabama would file an election petition with the NLRB as soon as this week. The NLRB said it plans an April 15 hearing unless the sides agree on an election schedule.”

“Non-tenure faculty at Harvard voted overwhelmingly on Friday to unionize, days after employees at Harvard Law schools joined the same union.  The more than workers voted 1094-81 to join the Harvard Academic Workers-United Auto Workers (HAW-UAW) union ... .On Wednesday, Harvard Law School clinical employees voted 62-3 to join the same union.”   

“The general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board took a swipe at SpaceX, Trader Joe’s and Amazon on Friday for challenging her agency’s constitutionality. Jennifer Abruzzo, a progressive appointee of President Joe Biden, described such companies as ‘deep-pocket, low-road employers’ that were trying to throw the agency off its mission of protecting workers’ rights ‘because they have the money to do so.’...Abruzzo’s remarks, delivered as part of a panel put on by the Roosevelt Institute think tank, appear to be her first public comments regarding the legal effort to undermine her agency, long a punching bag for Republican lawmakers and anti-union forces.”

“Painters District Council 58 is calling out the city of Herculaneum in Jefferson County for issuing a $1 million, no-bid contract to a non-union, out-of-state contractor to paint and maintain two of the city’s three water towers in violation of its own protocol to put the project out for bid.”

“I appeared on CNBC's Power Lunch with Tyler Mathisen and Deirdre Bosa on Friday, April 5 to discuss the great news for workers contained in the Bureau of Labor Statistics's March jobs and unemployment report.  BLS reported that the U.S. economy created 303,000 more jobs and wages rose 0.3% from the previous month and 4.1% over the course of the year.”

“I spoke with Scripps News anchor Lauren Magarino on Thursday, April 5th about Senate HELP Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders's proposal to institute a 32-hour work week.  You can watch the video here:”

“Recently, you may have noticed that the hot weather is getting ever hotter. Every year the United States swelters under warmer temperatures and longer periods of sustained heat. In fact, each of the last nine months — May 2023 through February 2024 — set a world record for heat. As I’m writing this, March still has a couple of days to go, but likely as not, it, too, will set a record.”

“The Biden administration has received ongoing attention for its actions to improve the lives of blue collar workers—from walking the picket line with striking autoworkers to ensuring that its signature investments in American industry create good jobs. Pundits and the press often point to actions to expand and raise standards in the construction and manufacturing sectors as central to the Biden administration’s economic agenda. Yet the administration has also taken numerous steps to boost the earnings and wealth of service sector workers, empower them to come together in unions, and hold accountable corporations that violate their rights.”

“This small Tennessee town is charting a future for the working class. It’s home to one of the biggest new manufacturing projects in America — building Ford’s EV truck. Workers say it changed their lives. It could be a preview of an economic boom for communities everywhere.”

“A California state lawmaker aims to alleviate worker burnout through a proposed bill that would limit when employers can contact their employees after work hours. Assembly bill 2751, authored by state Rep. Matt Haney, a Democrat from San Francisco, would establish a “right to disconnect” throughout the state by requiring employers and workers to agree to rules ahead of time about how or when they can be contacted outside of work.”

“Seeking to strengthen high-quality free legal services for New Yorkers and fight high turnover, union members of Mobilization for Justice (MFJ), a nonprofit legal services organization, hit a historic landmark this week as their strike enters its seventh week. The strike is the longest legal services walk-out in New York City history since 2003, when unionized MFJ staffers held a nine-week long strike.”

“The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is necessary to prevent predatory corporate behavior. Americans need it to be functional. Instead it’s embroiled in an internal labor conflict, with management stonewalling unionized workers demanding a raise.”

“Members of Caring Across Maryland, a coalition that represents advocates, workers and patients in nursing homes, assisted living and home care, assembled in Annapolis, Md. on March 5 alongside partner organizations to rally support for key legislation that would enhance compensation and data collection across the state’s care landscape. The event was a part of a larger national campaign spearheaded by the National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA). The initiative advocates for government to invest in a care infrastructure that provides comprehensive support and services to paid and unpaid caregivers and those who receive care. This includes living wages, benefits and pathways to citizenship for care workers, who predominantly tend to be women and people of color.” 

“Over 100 Flagship food service workers and their supporters picketed their employer’s cafeteria at the Meta San Francisco office today, calling for a new union contract with significant raises. Flagship workers in San Francisco participated in a survey with other employees of Meta’s food service contractors Flagship and Yarzin Sella. They say the aftermath of skyrocketing inflation has left them living paycheck to paycheck, being late on rent, and skipping meals because they can’t afford groceries. According to a UNITE HERE survey of 72% (788) of union food service workers at these contractors in the San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, New York, Washington, DC, and Cambridge, MA, many reported serious economic insecurity during the past year.”

“Six AFSCME unions representing more than 10,000 Los Angeles City employees have ratified new union contracts with robust wage increases and other benefits. AFSCME Locals 741, 901, 2006, 2626, 3090 and 3672 began negotiating with the city in August 2023 as a part of the Coalition of Los Angeles City Unions, which negotiates benefits for all LA City employees represented by AFSCME, SEIU, Teamsters, LiUNA, LA/OC Building Trades and IUOE. Union members ratified the tentative agreements in March.”

“More than 100 warehouse workers at Sysco Louisville have overwhelmingly ratified a first Teamsters contract in Kentucky. The new four-year agreement includes improved safety standards, better working conditions, more paid time off, and substantial wage increases, with some members seeing 29-percent pay bumps.”

“On March 7, over 190 members of UFCW Local 1776KS who work at 10 AYR cannabis grow facilities and dispensaries across Pennsylvania ratified a new contract that strengthens wages and benefits. About 65 workers in three of the 10 locations in Pottsville, Bloomsburg and Selinsgrove recently joined UFCW Local 1776KS and are celebrating their first union contract.”

“Across the United States, almost three-quarters of those teaching in colleges and universities today are employed as contingent faculty. This is a reversal from the period before the economic turmoil of the 1970s, when three-quarters of the faculty held tenured or tenure-track positions. These precarious academic workers—ranging from part-time course-by-course adjuncts to faculty in full-time, long-term, non-tenured track positions, to graduate student workers—share the worries and uncertainties that plague other workers in today’s gig economy. These include little to no job security, few if any health care benefits, insufficient retirement savings, and diminished professional status. Our book, Contingent Faculty and the Remaking of Higher Education: A Labor History, explores the history and current challenges faced by contingent faculty – and how workers are fighting back.”

“While there is a great deal of apprehension about AI and its impact on the workforce, public servants who embrace innovation and continuous learning can use the technology to deliver more efficient and effective services that better meet the needs of the residents they serve. Read a transcript of Rick Maher, Seth Harris, and Beth Simone Noveck on this conversation.”

"‘On a gray October evening, half a dozen insurgents huddle around a table in an upscale diner across the street from Sea-Tac airport, considering their battle plans.”