The Weekly Download

“Jesse Mason, the Washington state worker Verizon fired last year after he tried to organize two Seattle-area retail stores, went back to work on Monday, as part of the telecom giant’s recent settlement with federal labor regulators.”

“Captive audience meetings allow employers facing an organizing drive to gather large groups of employees on company time and push their views about a union or unions in general. Employees who fail to attend or attempt to leave such meetings can be disciplined.”

"The Democratic-led Michigan Legislature voted along party lines Tuesday on landmark legislation to restore prevailing wages for state construction projects and repeal the right-to-work law that barred union contracts from requiring membership fees as a condition of employment. The Michigan Senate took a final vote on the bill to repeal the right-to-work law for private employers and sent the measure to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's desk on Tuesday afternoon. The Senate passed the bill 20-16 along party lines after the legislation cleared the House in a 56-52 party-line vote.”

“Climate protection will create jobs for workers and economic development for communities. But as fossil fuel facilities are closed down there will also be some jobs lost and some communities will lose taxes and other economic benefits. This Commentary recounts what communities around the country are doing “on the ground” to protect workers and local economies from collateral damage from the transition to climate-safe energy. The next Commentary describes what states are doing to include such protections in their climate and energy programs.”

“The Transport Workers Union Local 100, which represents thousands of NYC Transit workers who keep the city’s subways and buses running, announced on Thursday legislation that would make it legal for them to strike in pursuit of a new contract with the MTA. The announcement comes at a critical time for public transit in New York, with the MTA struggling to close a massive budget deficit, and the current collective bargaining agreement with the TWU Local 100 for some 37,000 laborers set to expire in May.”

"Los Angeles public schools will remain closed Thursday, the last of a three-day strike, as Mayor Karen Bass stepped in Wednesday to join talks with union and school district leaders to offer “assistance and support,” the district reported."

“Hundreds of Starbucks workers from coast to coast are striking on Wednesday to send the company’s new CEO, Laxman Narasimhan, a message to break the trend and bring an end to the company’s fierce union-busting campaign. Over 100 stores are going on strike, including in major cities like Boston, New York, D.C., Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Workers are also planning to strike in Seattle, where they will march outside of the company’s headquarters the day before the company holds its annual shareholder meeting.”

“The presidents of the two national teachers unions took Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to task in his home state over the weekend, slamming the Republican and likely 2024 presidential candidate for attempting to dismantle the U.S. public education system – underscoring the seriousness with which they see him as a threat to K-12 education and foretelling the lengths they’re set go to mobilize their forces against him as election season looms.”

“Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) employees began a three-day strike on March 21, closing schools in the country’s second largest district, which serves approximately 420,000 students. The roughly 30,000 workers represented by Local 99 of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) include bus drivers, cafeteria workers, custodians and special education assistants. They are demanding a 30% wage increase in addition to an increase of $2 an hour for the lowest earners and are joined in a solidarity strike by 35,000 teachers, counselors, therapists, nurses and librarians with United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA), which is also negotiating its contract.”

“Rank-and-file activists at UPS have a huge task: getting our 340,000 co-workers ready to mount a credible strike threat by August 1. Luckily we don’t have to do it alone, like we did in 2013 and 2018. This time we have the support of Teamsters President Sean O’Brien, Secretary-Treasurer Fred Zuckerman, and the rest of our international leadership. We have a contract campaign coordinator, internal organizers, and a whole team of staff from the international union to engage members and coordinate all our efforts toward one big fight.”

"The 1951 Empire Zinc strike made history and spawned a landmark labor film. Its impact is still reverberating today.”

“TV and movie writers want more money, but Hollywood companies say the demands ignore economic realities. The deadline to sort out those differences is approaching.”

“The roughly thirty striking Teamsters work for the Post-Gazette as drivers and in the paper’s circulation department. They, alongside three other unions that walked out in October — the NewsGuild joined the strike a few days later — were moved to do so in response to the Post-Gazette’s refusal to cover those costs. Workers now have not had a contract for nearly six years.”

"...the most recent high-profile battle between Philadelphia workers and their employers did not play out on the docks, in the stockyard, or in a factory. Instead, it saw 750 graduate teaching assistants and research assistants at Temple University, one of the city’s finest institutions of higher education, take on their own school’s administration in a historic six-week strike."

“One year after its surprise victory at a Staten Island warehouse, the only union in the country representing Amazon workers has endured a series of setbacks and conflicts that have caused longtime supporters to question if it will survive. In interviews, a dozen people who have been closely involved with the Amazon Labor Union said the union had made little progress bringing Amazon to the bargaining table, to say nothing of securing a contract. Many cited lopsided losses at two other warehouses, unstable funding and an internal feud that has made it difficult for the union to alter a strategy that they considered flawed.”

“In 2021, President Biden announced a new initiative to establish a national minimum staffing  standard for nursing home workers, improve compensation and make it easier for these workers to join a union. This is surely one of the single biggest ongoing initiatives to address the inequities facing women and workers of color; it is also one of the best solutions for addressing the emotionally difficult and physically dangerous working conditions these workers face.”

“Medical residents and fellows at the state's largest health system are preparing to unionize, frustrated that their salaries have not kept pace with the rising costs of housing and child care. If successful, the effort would create one of the largest unions of medical residents and fellows in the country, part of a wave of such unionizations. More than 2,500 residents and fellows at multiple Mass General Brigham hospitals would join the Committee of Interns and Residents, or CIR, at the Service Employees International Union, including trainees at Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Mass Eye and Ear, Newton-Wellesley Hospital, Salem Hospital, and Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital Boston.”

“Last week, President Biden’s Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment, which is led by Vice-President Harris, announced that the number of federal employees who are union members had increased by 80,000 from September 2021 to September 2022.”

“Campus workers are organizing more than anyone else. It's time for them to unify.”

“Scholars investigating the economic and social impacts of a variety of labor and employment issues are launching new labor centers across the University of California. The new centers will provide timely, policy-relevant research, educate the next generation of labor and community leaders, and will grow labor and occupational health programs across UC.”

“As a sophomore at Northeastern University in Boston, I knew little about the labor movement. However, I was passionate about social justice and knew that we could make our world a better place by simply believing we could and doing the work to organize our communities. It wasn’t until I participated in AFSCME’s Union Scholars Program that I developed a fundamental love for and dedication to uplifting workers' rights. The Union Scholars program is an immersive, paid internship for students of color who want to learn about union organizing and become part of the labor movement.”

“Brandon Johnson, a county commissioner who once taught in struggling neighborhoods, soared in the polls after an endorsement and donations from the Chicago Teachers Union.”