Posts tagged bonuses
Union floats offer to end six-week Boeing Defense strike
September 17, 2025 // IAM proposes contract with better bonuses, retirement contributions Boeing calls proposal a 'waste of time' that will prolong strike Boeing says it plans to replace striking machinists with new hires
Senate Referee Rejects Federal Workforce Measures in GOP Bill
June 25, 2025 // The decision by the Senate parliamentarian complicates Republican efforts to weaken some federal workforce protections. Measures that would have raised pension contribution rates for workers who don’t agree to become at-will employees and would have charged federal labor unions cannot pass as part of the larger bill without Democratic support. The parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough, found that the workforce provisions violate Senate policies that limit what can be passed through the budget process known as reconciliation. Her ruling means Republicans would need 60 votes for the measures to pass the Senate—a likely insurmountable hurdle as the GOP holds 53 seats.
IRS workers only had to show up to work once a week in person, before Trump took over
April 18, 2025 // Last December, a bombshell report from Ernst’s office found that a measly 6% of the federal workforce showed up “in-person on a full-time basis.” Almost one-third of federal workers were remote on a full-time basis at the time, marking a steep decline from the pre-pandemic era in which only 3% teleworked daily, according to the report. Ernst has clashed with the IRS repeatedly, including over watchdog findings last July that current and former workers owed $46 million to Uncle Sam in unpaid taxes. “This adds insult to injury to the fact that the agency is filled with tax cheats,” the Hawkeye State senator added, referring to the collective bargaining deal. “I have a laundry list of reforms to fix America’s least favorite government agency.”
REI withheld pay from union workers, national labor board says
March 24, 2025 // 11 REI stores have unionized since 2022 in a contentious organizing battle that’s shaken the Washington-based outdoor co-op’s progressive reputation. None of the unions have yet secured a contract. Union organizers recently tried to nominate pro-labor candidates to the co-op’s board of directors for this year’s board election, but the board did not nominate either of them for a membership vote. The complaint filed Thursday alleges that REI violated several aspects of the National Labor Relations Act by refusing to bargain in good faith and withholding annual pay raises and bonuses at stores that voted to unionize. This was done at least since February 2024 to “discourage employees” from engaging in union activity, the complaint said. The complaint lists nine stores across the country where benefits were allegedly withheld, including the REI in Bellingham, the only Washington store that has voted to unionize.
State workers blast Ferguson’s furlough plan, calling it a betrayal
March 20, 2025 // Front-line workers and educators feel betrayed and frustrated that the man they helped elect wants to reduce their income while declining to endorse new or higher taxes on the state’s wealthiest individuals and largest corporations. “They feel they were lied to. We have to stop being the ones having the budgets balanced on our backs,” said Mike Yestramski, president of the Washington Federation of State Employees, following a rally Monday at the Capitol held by those pushing the Legislature to tax the wealthy and big businesses to erase the multi-billion dollar deficit. Yestramski called Ferguson a “pseudo Democrat” and added: “Budgets are moral documents. This is his moral test.
Commentary: The tough fight to unionize Amazon
March 18, 2025 // Unionizing a gigantic 21st century warehouse with more than 4,000 workers is daunting. What economists call “the churn” of high worker turnover complicates solidarity-building. So does the heterogeneity of the work force at a place like RDU1 between its hip-hop princes, queer young Latinas and tractor-cap Trumpies along with migrants from more than thirty countries. The job’s grind makes mustering energy to raise labor’s flag tough too.
A Connecticut school district is giving bonuses to teachers who show up for work
March 10, 2025 // The program has won such favor among teachers that in the first two quarters of the year, the district has already spent the $126,000 budgeted for the program. The incentive program started in July, the district's director of human resources said. Director of Human Resources for the district Kimberly Schulte said the Board of Education started the union-approved attendance incentive in response to teacher absenteeism. She said that because of open positions, the district's $38 million salary budget can cover the rest of incentive program this year.
The strike at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is now the longest in the nation. And it’s not over.
December 9, 2024 // Zack Tanner, the Newspaper Guild’s president, stood away from the crowd, wearing a Penguins jersey and smoking a cigar. His dog, a 103 lb. Akita named Bella, had been a little too excited by another, smaller dog in the crowd. “This has been elongated to this point solely because of the people inside,” he said. “In a labor battle, there’s strikers and there’s scabs. There’s two sides to a picket line.” As the strike has gone on, tensions between both sides have grown, and it’s unclear how or when the strike will end. On Nov. 13, the first negotiations between the Post-Gazette’s lawyers and the union in over a year ended after Tanner threw a chair at the wall of a conference room in the Omni William Penn Hotel.
Unionized Women & Infants Hospital workers prepare to launch strike Dec. 12
December 2, 2024 // The hospital highlighted its “generous proposal,” crafted over two months’ worth of “good faith” negotiations, according to a hospital press release. The current offer includes a $19 million wage and pension package over three years. That package would sport a minimum 5.5% wage increase for union employees, with some receiving higher bonuses, as well as low-cost health plans for workers. A strike, however, would cost the hospital at least $9 million just to continue operations as normal, and striking workers would not be paid for any shifts missed, Sullivan said.