Posts tagged Bernie Sanders
PRO Act Debate Dominates Senate HELP Markup
June 27, 2023 // “One piece of legislation under consideration today is the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act. It is not pro-worker. The PRO Act is not pro-worker, it is just pro-big union. Being pro-worker means defending the rights of all workers, including those who decide they don’t want to join a union,” Ranking Member Senator Bill Cassidy said in his opening remarks. “It eliminates secret ballot elections for unionization, the gold standard to keep somebody from being put into a corner and intimidated until they vote the way the intimidator wishes them to vote. Secret ballot elections also protect workers from retaliation if they choose a different way.” Senate HELP Republicans offered amendments to the bill, but their recommendations were rejected by the Committee Chair and chief sponsor of the bill, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT). The bill passed out of committee and no date has been set for a full Senate vote. This markup comes in the wake of 33 Senate Republicans urging the Biden administration to withdraw Julie Su’s nomination to helm the Labor Department. Su would oversee the enforcement of the PRO Act and other labor policies if she is confirmed.
Senate Democrats offer resolution to let staff organize
June 26, 2023 // Sen. Sherrod Brown and 19 of his Senate colleagues introduced a resolution Thursday that would extend legal protections to staffers who unionize. The group of pro-labor Democrats, plus Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, comes a year after the House adopted a resolution allowing its employees to organize. “Every worker should have a right to organize and have a voice in their workplace — and that is why I have spent my career fighting for the dignity of work,” Brown said in a statement. “With this resolution, we can finally secure the fundamental legal right of U.S. Senate staff to join together as union members to advocate for themselves and have a voice on the job.”
In Union Votes, 11% Can Make a Majority
June 24, 2023 // Sen. Bill Cassidy raised the issue on June 21 in a Senate committee debate. He proposed an amendment to a labor-backed bill that would require a union to win support from a majority of eligible workers before representing a workplace—not just a majority of those who turn out to vote. (Fittingly, the committee debate lacked a quorum, so a vote on the amendment had to be postponed, under Senate rules.) Sen. Bernie Sanders led the opposition to the proposal. When only a handful of workers vote, it is more likely that the union doesn’t speak for the majority of workers, much less everyone. By contrast, when many workers vote for a union, there is a clearer signal that representation is popular. Once a union wins an election, it often maintains its grip on a workplace for generations. Future workers, who didn’t get a chance to vote for the union, can take comfort knowing that a large share of their predecessors wanted unionization.
U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders hosts rally in Durham to raise minimum wage
June 2, 2023 // Sanders addressed the crowd of supporters virtually because of the debt ceiling vote. Right now, the minimum wage in North Carolina is $7.25. Sanders hopes to raise the minimum wage to $17 an hour. The rally to raise the wage tour will continue over the next couple of days and will make stops in Nashville, TN and Charleston, S.C.
One Small Union Is Stoking Much of the Militant New Graduate Worker Organizing
May 30, 2023 // With around 35,000 members, the UE is not a huge union. It was once the third-largest — and arguably the most left-wing and democratic — member of the Congress of Industrial Organizations, with around a half-million members in core industries, until it fell victim to postwar anti-communist purges, raids from other unions and plant shutdowns. But the union revived itself by the 1990s. Famously, UE workers at the Republic Windows & Doors factory in Chicago occupied their plant in 2008, and today the union boasts a range of affiliated locals across sectors and industries from California to Vermont.
Philadelphia: Helen Gym’s campaign resolves dispute with union over Bernie Sanders rally
May 15, 2023 // On Saturday morning, the regional carpenters’ union and the Service Employees International Union 32BJ released a joint statement “condemning” Gym for not moving the rally to a venue that has a unionized workforce. Both unions are backing Cherelle Parker for mayor. SEIU 32BJ’s involvement was notable because it often backs candidates from the left wing of the Democratic Party who are politically aligned with Gym and Sanders. ADVERTISEMENT A spokesperson for the carpenters said Saturday morning that the union was considering picketing. But the plans were scuttled once Barnes said IATSE was satisfied.
Engineers frustrated with rails even as others get sick time
May 9, 2023 // Across the industry, CSX has led the way by reaching agreements with most of its unions on sick time. Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific have also announced several sick time deals. Most of these deals provide workers with four days of paid sick time and give them the option to convert three leave days into sick time to give workers a total of seven sick days a year. One of the key remaining concerns for the BLET is that even where the railroads seem willing to give engineers sick time, the railroads generally still want to hold workers accountable for missing work under their strict attendance policies. So even if workers do get sick time, they may not feel free to use it because they would still be penalized for missing work although CSX has said it won’t punish workers for taking sick time.
Auto workers union and Sanders blast GM for wages at U.S. battery plant
May 2, 2023 // United Auto Workers (UAW) union President Shawn Fain and U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders on Thursday criticized a General Motors joint venture battery plant for paying workers much less than assembly plant employees even though it benefits from hefty U.S. government tax credits. Workers at the Warren, Ohio, joint venture Ultium Cells LLC plant start at $16.50 an hour rising to $20 an hour after seven years while union workers at a nearby Ohio GM assembly plant that closed in 2019 made $32 an hour or more.
Bernie Sanders praises shop workers, Ben and Jerry’s on union effort
May 1, 2023 // Workers seeking to unionize at a Ben & Jerry’s retail shop in Burlington, Vermont, the city where the ice cream brand was founded, announced Friday that the company has signed the fair election principles. U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont Independent who has been a vocal supporter of Starbucks labor organizers, congratulated the Ben & Jerry’s workers at a press conference in his home city.
Senate panel advances Biden Labor nominee Julie Su
April 26, 2023 // “Today’s party-line vote is another reminder that Julie Su is no Marty Walsh, who advanced in a bipartisan 18-4 vote only two years ago,” said Michael Layman, a top lobbyist at the International Franchise Association, in a statement following Wednesday’s vote. The AFL-CIO is fighting back, running ads in Arizona and D.C. backing Su’s efforts to counter wage theft in California. The ads tell viewers that workers are “tired of getting ripped off by big corporations.” The labor federation is also mobilizing its members to lobby senators. “We’re going to defend Julie against these baseless corporate special interests attacks,” AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler told reporters last week. “Every senator, especially those that haven’t yet said that they’ll vote yes, needs to be aware of how much this confirmation means to working people’s lives.”