Posts tagged bargaining
Medieval Times Workers End Their Strike
November 27, 2023 // The workers’ union said it had submitted an unconditional offer to return to work and that Medieval Times had accepted. The castle’s show cast and knights first walked off the job back in February after accusing the company of committing unfair labor practices, including trying to silence them on social media. Workers at the Buena Park castle have been trying to bargain a first contract since joining the American Guild of Variety Artists more than a year ago. The union said in a statement that the call to end the strike was “a decision we did not make lightly,” and thanked “the thousands of guests, union members, and community allies” who showed their solidarity.
CFA votes to approve a union strike
November 2, 2023 // CFA-SLO Political Action Chair and History Professor Cameron Jones said the union is preparing for a strike now in the event that all negotiations fall through. While 95% of CFA members voted to go on strike, the union cannot legally strike unless bargaining fails, according to Jones. Currently, the CFA and CSU are in fact-finding, the second to last stage of bargaining.
Multiple unions rally at PPS HQ in solidarity as bargaining continues for several groups of workers
October 12, 2023 // Multiple unions rallied at district headquarters on Tuesday as bargaining continues for several major groups, including both the teachers union and the union representing custodians and nutrition service workers. Dr. Renard Adams, Chief of Research, Assessment and Accountability for PPS said the district’s financial limitations are “very real.” “I was an aide, a paraeducator, and a middle school special educator, so when our teachers say the work is hard, I know,” Dr. Adams said. “And we can both acknowledge the work is hard, and that there are very real financial limitations on what we can offer if we want to sustain the success we’re seeing in our schools. We ask our educators to come back to the bargaining table and work with us to find a compromise that keeps our students at the center.”
GM agrees to place EV battery manufacturing under UAW agreement
October 7, 2023 // General Motors (GM) has agreed to place battery manufacturing for electric vehicles (EVs) under its main agreement with the United Auto Workers (UAW) union, UAW President Shawn Fain announced on Friday. Fain said the union won’t expand its strike against the Big Three automakers following the the last-minute development in negotiations. “We’ve been told for months that this is impossible,” Fain said. “We’ve been told the EV future must be a race to the bottom. And now we’ve called their bluff.”
Thousands of Kaiser Permanente workers plan to stage 3-day strike Wednesday
October 4, 2023 //
PHILADELPHIA: SEPTA must negotiate contracts with nearly all its labor unions amid looming financial crisis
September 18, 2023 // The authority projects an annual operating deficit of $240 million beginning next July 1 as the last of its federal pandemic aid is spent, a situation dubbed the “fiscal cliff” that afflicts most transit systems in the United States. Riders have not returned in pre-COVID 19 numbers, and changing travel patterns have accelerated in the last three years. SEPTA and the state’s other public transit agencies are pushing for the legislature to adopt a measure that would give them a greater share of the sales tax to support operations. Uncertainty about finances makes it difficult to say “yes” to increased pay and benefits for TWU Local 234, which represents operators of buses, trolleys, and transit trains, SEPTA CEO Leslie S. Richards said Tuesday during a hearing of the state House Transportation Committee at the agency’s headquarters.
NEW UNIONS, NEW TENSIONS: THE COMPLEXITIES OF UNION DECERTIFICATION
August 15, 2023 // Whether these early decertification attempts will gain momentum or fizzle out remains to be seen. Many of the petitions, especially those filed by Starbucks partners, could be blocked by the NLRB due to the high number of ULPs filed by the SBWU union. However, the petitions have generated a lot of publicity indicative of a stirring debate on relevance within newly organized workplaces where little progress has been made in collective bargaining. For now, the prominent backlash from major unions signals they are gearing up to defend their turf aggressively. But if more workers come forward, this could suggest deeper divisions emerging that unions must address.
eBay charged with multiple unfair labor complaints in struggle with its first union
August 1, 2023 // “They have refused to give us our rights to status quo. Our Weingarten rights. They refuse to recognize us as a union. They refuse to acknowledge the fact that [the union has] been certified even if we present them with certification,” Thomas said. “So they are just continuing to make all these changes and refusing to work with us and refusing to follow their legal right to sit down or their legal responsibilities to sit down and bargain with us at the table.” Though the TCG Union-CWA was formed just this year, workers were set to vote on unionization back in 2020. According to Thomas, before the 2020 vote, TCGplayer management made promises to improve benefits and implement better pathways to promotion.
Noncompete clauses ‘chill’ worker rights and are usually illegal, NLRB lawyer says
May 31, 2023 // General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo, appointed by Biden in 2021, wrote that noncompete clauses — which generally prevent people from immediately moving to one of their employer's rivals — "tend to chill" workers' rights under federal law, specifically Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act, which protects the ability to collectively organize and agitate for improved working conditions. A person barred from moving to another company in their chosen profession, at least for a set amount of time, is less likely to fight for change at their current employer, Abruzzo argued in the memo, issued Tuesday, knowing that could well make them a target for termination; employers likewise have little reason to fear that disgruntled workers will be snatched up by a competitor, thus reducing the latter's bargaining power.
Teachers unions demand housing, transportation and other student supports during negotiations
May 26, 2023 // Teachers unions in school districts across the country are demanding improved salaries, benefits and class sizes when it’s time to renew their contracts. They are also leveraging negotiations to benefit school employees, students and their families. This process, known as bargaining in the common good, has been used to gain agreements on a host of items, such as housing assistance for low-income students, updating antiquated school facilities and increasing the number of psychologists, social workers and nurses on campuses.