Posts tagged Austin
The Texas Supreme Court recently handed a significant victory to taxpayers, and Louisiana lawmakers should take note.
July 29, 2024 // The court held that the CBA did not authorize union activities like lobbying, supporting candidates, or engaging in other partisan political activities while on release time. To allow this type of activity would violate the Texas Constitution’s Gift Clauses, which prohibit state and local governments from allocating public resources to private purposes. Release time is time spent conducting union business—lobbying, attending conferences, or negotiating collective bargaining agreements—for which the member is granted paid time away from the job he or she was hired to do. In other words, it’s a form of taxpayer funded lobbying.
Austin Pets Alive workers vote to unionize, creating the largest animal shelter union in the U.S.
June 12, 2024 // Despite the vote, APA workers have a long road ahead. Because Texas is a “right to work” state, APA workers might have more difficulty getting everything they want out of a contract. In a “right-to-work” state, employees can choose whether or not they want to join a union, but once the union is certified it represents every employee in a union-covered position, even those who choose not to be members and don’t pay dues. As KUT has previously reported, “this is thought to weaken a union's power because it doesn't always receive every employee's full support.”
Statesman employees return to work after strike
April 12, 2024 // Gannett CEO Michael Reed didn't mince words when asked in an onstage interview last month how he's dealing with an uptick of union activity and pressure. "I think the Guild, unfortunately, plays dirty and lies to our employees," Reed told Axios at the annual Mather Symposium on media in Atlanta. In response to his comments, NewsGuild-CWA president Jon Schleuss said in a statement to Axios: "Gannett's last SEC filing showed Mike Reed making 66 times that of a median employee, while paying journalists poverty wages, cutting an average of 2,800 jobs a year and hiring lawyers to stonewall workers at the bargaining table."
Palo Alto Medical Foundation Nurses Vote Union Out at Sunnyvale and Mountain View Facilities
March 14, 2024 // Victory continues string of successful union decertification attempts by healthcare workers across the country Palo Alto Medical Foundation Nurses Vote Union Out at Sunnyvale and Mountain View Facilities
600 Activision QA workers unionize, Microsoft voluntarily recognizes
March 13, 2024 // “Now under Microsoft with the neutrality agreement they signed with CWA, it’s a lot easier,” Fannon said. “We don’t have to be concerned about any form of union-busting tactics. Microsoft made sure all managers were trained on neutrality. We knew that if we encountered union busting, we could bring it up so it’s addressed.” The other positive is that neither Activision’s QA workers nor Microsoft management have to go through the union election process with the National Labor Relations Board, which can sometimes take a while. Instead, Activision QA workers have been voting since Feb. 22 with either a union authorization card (a document, physical or digital, indicating approval of the union) or a confidential vote through an online portal.
96% of nurse residents, fellows vote to unionize at Ascension hospital in Texas
January 7, 2024 // Nurse residents and fellows at Ascension Seton Medical Center Austin (Texas) voted Jan. 3 to unionize and join the National Nurses Organizing Committee, an affiliate of National Nurses United. Nearly all 225 nurse residents and fellows — 96% — voted in favor of doing so.
Across the Midwest, unions are breaking through in a way they haven’t in decades
December 20, 2023 // Union members and labor experts agree that a collective sense of job insecurity and frustration over wages and working conditions are driving activity in the region.
Support Staff at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children Vote to Eject SEIU Union Officials
December 20, 2023 // Large unit of over 270 medical assistants, office coordinators, and others will now be free of union control
‘Barbenheimer’ was a boon to movie theaters and a headache for many workers. So they’re unionizing
October 16, 2023 // Alamo held meetings in Manhattan and Brooklyn in the weeks leading up to union votes. In each gathering, management officials acknowledged discontent among staff members, while reiterating that any issues were better worked out entirely within the company. In Brooklyn, per the recordings, League reflected on the company's history, dating back to its origins in the 1990s. He spoke of his dedication to Alamo and of his own progressive affinities, including his “passionate” support for Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Both League and his wife and Alamo co-founder Karrie League have contributed to various Democratic Party candidates. Tim League has publicly praised the pro-labor senator's 2016 presidential run, telling a CNBC interviewer in 2016 that “Bernie is going to be good for America." League emphasized that he "understood" why Hollywood actors and writers were striking, and why auto workers went on strike. But for Alamo, he said, unions would be a step back, a "communication block." “I fully recognize my own personal bias here,” he said. “I don’t think that forming a union is the right solution for Alamo, that is my personal opinion. I’m concerned that a union is going to drive a wedge between us."
Nearly four decades after infamous strike, Hormel workers in Austin march on Labor Day for better pay
September 6, 2023 // Meatpacking workers in Austin say they need a raise from Hormel Foods Corp. to keep pace with inflation and potentially avert a strike. The Labor Day march aimed to rally support as the local United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) bargaining team and Hormel leadership are running out of time to negotiate a new four-year contract. Many carried the memory of the bitter 1985-86 strike against Hormel, one of the most infamous episodes in modern U.S. labor history. Workers stopped at the Spam Museum, raising as much noise as possible while onlookers took video on their phones, then went north to Hormel offices and the Spam Museum's former location, before returning to the Austin Labor Center just a few blocks west of the Cedar River. As of last week, workers are seeking $6.50 wage increases by September 2025, while Hormel is offering $2.15 over four years. The two sides are also split on insurance increases, bereavement and pension increases, among other issues. The contract talks come as Hormel profits, and the prices of bacon, turkey and other commodities, dip as markets adjust to post-pandemic conditions. The company recently lowered its financial forecast for the rest of 2023, estimating its sales will decline as much as 4% or remain flat compared to 2022.