The Weekly Download

“In this special Pride Month blogcast, Burnes Center for Social Change Senior Fellow Seth Harris is joined by Jerame Davis, President of Pride At Work, Evette Avery, Southeast Regional Director of Teamsters' LGBTQ+ Caucus, and Jared Reece, Co-President of SEIU's Lavender Caucus, to discuss the state of the world for LGBTQ+ workers. Watch now to hear about why the labor and LGBTQ+ communities intersect, how labor can resist attacks on LGBTQ+ workers, and what union caucuses and other organizations can do to support LGBTQ+ workers.”

“In a time when women’s roles were often confined to the home, a group of determined women stepped out of the shadows to make their mark on history. The award-winning book, We Kept Our Towns Going: The Gossard Girls of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, documents six decades (1920-1976) when rural women supported their families, sustained downtown male-dominated businesses, and stuck up for their rights on the picket line.”

“A unique figure within a unique generation of activists, Frank Emspak (born June 21, 1943 and died June 14, 2024) spent his final days as he always lived: offering inspiration and strategic advice to those around him. In this case, it was to his hospital caregivers who are currently grappling with a hard-pressed union struggle. He had a lot of useful things to say—which is to say he was himself to the end. His contributions to the labor movement, civil rights, and the struggle for peace will long be remembered.”

“The past year and a half, let alone the past four years, have been busy for grocery store workers in Minnesota, especially union members who have been in contract negotiations. Thousands of metro-area UFCW Local 663 members at UNFI Cub Foods, Lunds & Byerlys, Kowalski’s Markets, and Seward Community Co-op voted to authorize unfair labor practice (ULP) strikes, and reached tentative agreements (TA) that members voted to approve. Workers took actions, from voting to authorize strikes and marching on the boss to flyering outside stores. In many cases, in the eleventh hour before going on strike, employers gave into workers’ demands.”

“As autoworkers, baristas, package carriers, Hollywood writers and actors, and thousands of other workers fight for and win new unions and new union contracts, Biden administration appointees to the nation’s front-line labor law enforcement agency—the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)—are helping prevent anti-union employers from undermining worker organizing. Workers in the United States face an uphill battle in their fight to unionize and bargain, as broken federal labor laws and rampant lawbreaking undermine their efforts, but workers today are organizing and winning union elections at a growing rate.New analysis from the Center for American Progress shows that the NLRB is helping ensure that workers can exercise their legal right to come together in unions, with more workers winning their elections and more workers getting help to get back on the job when fired illegally for protected organizing activity. However, these gains are under threat from The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025—a playbook with strategies for eroding checks and balances across the government that offers instructions for gutting the NLRB’s enforcement capacity. This would threaten workers’ ability to come together in unions to bargain for better wages and working conditions.”

“This week, the NLRB handed down its first Cemex order against Station Casinos in Las Vegas, which engaged in heavy-handed union busting before workers lost a vote to unionize. The ruling may force the casino chain to bargain with the union anyway.”

“If you’re dreading summer on the job this year, you’re not alone. Every month last summer was the most scorching on world record. Trapped under heat domes, dozens of metro areas busted their longest streaks ever of highs over 100 degrees. Phoenix afternoons were over 110 for a month straight. On asphalt yards nearly hot enough to melt, bonus-hungry managers forced workers to keep up the usual pace. The results were lethal.”

“A new federal rule finalized Monday will give firefighters and other first responders critical information about the hazardous materials being transported through their communities. The Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) rule requires railroads to transmit information to first responders regarding any hazardous materials on board as soon as they become aware of an accident.”

“On June 18, 2024, California Governor Gavin Newsom, Senate President pro Tempore Mike McGuire and Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas announced a tentative deal to reform a number of aspects of California’s Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA). While legislation is yet to be introduced, the publicly announced key components of PAGA reform include an increase in employees’ share of PAGA penalties, caps on penalties for employers who take steps to comply with the Labor Code or fix potential issues after receiving notice of a PAGA claim, and requiring the representative plaintiff to experience every alleged PAGA violation to have standing. This reform, if enacted, is likely to curb, but not eliminate PAGA litigation for California employers going forward.”

“Democrats in California have agreed to delay a minimum wage increase for about 426,000 health care workers to help balance the state’s budget. The agreement between Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders is part of a larger plan to close an estimated $46.8 billion shortfall — the second year in a row the nation’s most populous state has had a multibillion-dollar deficit. Health care workers were supposed to get a raise July 1, part of a plan to gradually increase their pay to $25 per hour over the next decade. Now, if approved by the Legislature next week, they could get that raise Oct. 15 — but only if California’s revenues between July and September are at least 3% higher than what officials have estimated.”

“Earlier this month, teachers at all six Citizens of the World charter schools in Los Angeles voted overwhelmingly to unionize with United Teachers Los Angeles. Jacobin spoke to two teachers about the organizing drive.”

“Occidental College student workers have voted to join SEIU Local 721, allowing approximately 1,000 undergraduate workers — baristas, resident advisers, tutors, translators, lifeguards, and researchers among them — to collectively bargain with the private liberal arts college in northeast Los Angeles. SEIU announced the results of the April election on June 12, revealing that 85% of voters chose the union, though it declined to share specific numbers. The election created two new bargaining units, and will make nearly half of the student body into union workers once a contract is signed.”

“Recent years have seen an upsurge in union activity. At Amazon warehouses, Starbucks coffee shops, and auto manufacturing plants in the South, workers have asserted their collective interests and, in many cases, won union recognition and significant concessions. Yet unionization efforts have had to contend with one of management’s most powerful weapons—propaganda. Whether by inundating workers with anti-union messaging (as Amazon and other clients of the union-busting industry have done) or calling for teamwork and cooperation, propaganda has long been a powerful communications tool among those determined to undermine workers’ collective interests. For over a century, managers and specialists aligned with them have dedicated energy and resources to weakening unions. Although many workers are familiar with management propaganda, its roots, development, and relationships to broader historical forces are understood less well.”

“The Southern Poverty Law Center, one of the few nonprofit organizations providing pro bono legal counsel to immigrants across the southern U.S., laid off 78 workers on June 12, gutting a quarter of its workforce and dismantling programs that work directly with incarcerated immigrants. The decision has ignited frustration from workers who are accusing the organization of hypocrisy and abandoning its core mission. Among those dismissed were 61 union members and more than 20 supervisors, many of whom are people of color actively working in the Deep South—a region historically fraught with racial tensions and inequalities.”

“A coffee chain in the Washington DC area is accused of hiring dozens of friends of management, including other local food service executives and an Uber lobbyist, in an effort to defeat a union election scheduled for 16 July. Workers at seven Compass Coffee locations, more than a third of the company’s stores, announced their intent to unionize in May 2024. The company has 18 cafes in Washington DC and northern Virginia and its coffee can be purchased in grocery stores throughout the area. In a post on Twitter/X, Compass Coffee United accused the coffee chain of hiring 124 additional people at cafes that are attempting to unionize. The union has also accused the company of manipulating worker schedules retroactively to try to make the new employees eligible to vote in the union election.”

“Honda has been accused by the National Labor Relations Board of violating the rights of workers at a Greensburg, Indiana, factory by illegally cracking down on union organizing, an agency spokeswoman said on Thursday. The board's general counsel issued a complaint on Tuesday claiming that Honda forced workers to remove United Auto Workers (UAW) stickers from their safety helmets, unlawfully surveilled employees and threatened to discipline union supporters, according to the spokeswoman, Kayla Blado.”    

“Robert Bruno, professor of labor and employment relations at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the co-author of the 2016 book “A Fight for the Soul of Public Education: The Story of the Chicago Teachers Strike,” joins John Williams to talk about the contract negotiations between CPS and CTU. Professor Bruno is optimistic about these negotiations and thinks the chances for another strike is minimal.”

“Two weeks ago, the University of California (UC) hit the forum-shopping jackpot when it persuaded a state trial judge to do what California’s public sector labor board had twice refused: enjoin UAW Local 4811’s unfair labor practice (ULP) strike arising from the UC’s violent suppression of Palestine Solidarity Encampments at UCLA, UC San Diego, and UC Irvine. Members of the UAW, which primarily represents graduate students employed in instruction or research, participated in the encampments alongside the undergraduate-led Students for Justice in Palestine and UC Divest coalition. As a practical matter, the temporary restraining order (TRO) has largely crushed the strike, which was scheduled to end by June 30 in any event.”

“Following the layoff of 10 union workers and two editors, Herald reporters, photographers, editors and designers and community members plan to picket to save jobs.”

“A union representing Hollywood film and television crew said on Tuesday it has reached a tentative three-year deal with major studios that includes agreed-on pay hikes and guardrails against the use of artificial intelligence (AI). The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) members, which include lighting technicians and costume designers, are to ratify the deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), which represents Disney (DIS.N), opens new tab, Netflix (NFLX.O), opens new tab and others. The terms of the agreement include scale-rate increases of 7%, 4%, and 3.5% over the three-year term, the union said.”

“Writers Guild of America East (WGAE) members at iHeart Podcast Network ratified their first collective bargaining agreement. The 100-member bargaining unit overwhelmingly ratified a three-year contract that came after more than two years of negotiations and an Unfair Labor Practice charge against management at iHeartMedia for ‘intimidating conduct and by interrogating employees about their support for the union.’”

“Teamsters Local 243 members at UPS Cartage Services Inc. (CSI) voted unanimously this month to ratify their first Teamster contract. The CSI clerks overwhelmingly chose to join Local 243 in Romulus, Michigan back in December. Their new contract includes wage increases, insurance coverage under TeamCare, and pension benefits.”

“Nippon Steel’s bid to acquire U.S. Steel is in jeopardy over concerns about future job losses and plant closures, according to labor officials and previously unreported correspondence obtained by The Washington Post. The United Steelworkers has fought the $14.9 billion deal since its announcement last December — with the backing of President Biden. The president is counting on members’ votes in Pennsylvania and other battleground states to win in November. Former president Donald Trump has said he would block the deal “instantaneously.” Nippon Steel has made a generous offer to the union, including a vow of no layoffs or plant closures under the current contract and a $1.4 billion investment in union facilities, executives said in an interview with The Washington Post.”

“Though labor unions and industry associations have different roles in the American labor market and economy, they play similar roles in organizing young workers and employers in youth apprenticeships. Labor unions and industry associations can expand the apprenticeship model by building on the opportunities they are creating for young people.”

“The Luddites, who smashed machines in the 19th century, in an organized effort to resist automation, are often portrayed as uneducated opponents of technology. But according to Blood in the Machine author Brian Merchant, “The Luddites were incredibly educated as to the harms of technology. They were very skilled technologists. So they understood exactly how new developments in machinery would affect the workplace, their industry, and their identities.” In this episode of “Movement Memos,” host Kelly Hayes talks with Merchant about the history and legacy of the Luddite movement, and what workers who are being oppressed by the tech titans of our time can learn from the era of machine-breakers.”

“The leading union for U.S. hotel workers has elected its first woman president ever, a big moment for a labor group that represents thousands of housekeepers across the country. Gwen Mills’ rise to the top of Unite Here caps a long career inside the union, from her early years as an organizer battling Yale University in Connecticut to a more recent stint running Unite Here’s political ground game against Donald Trump in the swing state of Nevada. The union’s delegates tapped Mills to lead them in a vote held Friday in New York City at its quinquennial constitutional convention. She acknowledged her election was a landmark for a powerful union that happens to be made up primarily of women, many of them immigrants.”

“Sean O’Brien, the president of the Teamsters union, will speak at the Republican national convention in Milwaukee next month, a move that could spell trouble for Joe Biden’s support among blue-collar workers ahead of the November election. Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, announced on Friday on his Truth Social platform that O’Brien had accepted his invitation to speak at the convention and that he was looking forward to seeing him represent the Teamsters.”

“The Sun-Times Guild and the SAG-AFTRA units at WBEZ and Vocalo have held votes of no confidence in Matt Moog as Chicago Public Media CEO, Chicago Sun-Times president and a Chicago Sun-Times Media board member. The combined units overwhelmingly voted no confidence in Mr. Moog over the weekend: 86% of members took part in the vote, and 96% of those members – or 114 – voted no confidence.”