Posts tagged Communications Workers of America
Labor unions run full court press in favor of Democrats $739B Inflation Reduction Act
August 9, 2022 // Labor union bosses have praised the legislation as a big win for their members. The AFL-CIO is particularly pleased with the hundreds of billions of dollars the bill directs to climate-related initiatives. "These provisions dramatically lower the cost of clean energy, positioning the U.S. to make deep carbon emissions reductions while preserving and creating millions of jobs, with an especially big boost to manufacturing," said AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler. "Importantly for fairness and diversity, it pushes investment to fossil fuel and underserved communities. While the 'union bonus' incentives we advocated for were not included, the bill retains provisions that strengthen prevailing wage, apprenticeship and domestic content standards throughout."
Unions: Freeze contributions, use Covid relief funds to offset proposed hikes in public workers’ health care premiums
August 8, 2022 // Some of the state’s top union leaders are requesting that public employees’ health care contributions be frozen at current levels and that federal Covid relief funds be used to help offset proposed rate increases for those workers’ health insurance. In a letter to Gov. Phil Murphy obtained by POLITICO, the leaders of the New Jersey State AFL-CIO, Communications Workers of America, New Jersey State Policemen’s Benevolent Association and other public employee unions say the steep proposed rate increases to the State Health Benefits Program would “cause a financial crisis for New Jersey workers, the public and State and local governments.” State Health Benefits Program, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, Christi Peace, Division of Pensions & Benefits, Jennifer Sciortino, New Jersey Association of Counties and the state League of Municipalities,
What happened to the Apple store union campaign?
August 5, 2022 // “This isn’t Starbucks, where you have 10 employees and can make the decision to organize quickly,” says Dave DiMaria, a representative for IAMAW. “Towson took tons of planning and education. We had all our dominos painstakingly set up before we took this thing public.” Now, Towson workers have elected a bargaining committee and are preparing to negotiate a contract. “We’re in that transition period now,” says Kevin Gallagher, a member of the bargaining committee. “But we’ve been getting a lot of reach outs from other stores. So the idea that it’s gone silent is incorrect; it’s just that stores are attempting to organize as quietly as possible to not bring the wrath that we got or that Atlanta got.” Deirdre O’Brien, John Logan, Beth Allen, communications director at CWA,
Workers at America’s Test Kitchen vote to join union
July 22, 2022 // The employees, now members of ATK United (CWA Local 1400), will begin bargaining for a contract with the Boston-based media company that for almost 30 years has produced food-related magazines, books, and TV shows. The new union unit includes editors, test cooks, and producers for the company’s video, TV, and podcast content. The test kitchen employees have been organizing for several months around concerns about conditions, including what they say is low pay, expensive health care costs, understaffing, and high turnover. Brian Franklin, competitive salaries; affordable healthcare plans; improved benefits and wellness programs; increased subsidization of commuting costs; transparent and consistent processes for hiring, performance reviews, promotions, and pay raises; a sincere commitment to diversity at all levels,
Biden NLRB Counsel Rewrites Labor Law History
July 18, 2022 // Prior to the approval of the Taft-Hartley amendments, Big Labor bosses would often present to employers pro-union cards purportedly signed by a majority of their workers and demand to be granted monopoly-bargaining privileges over those employees based on those cards alone, without a vote. Recognizing that many employees signed so-called “union authorization” cards only after being “cajoled, coerced and intimidated,” and in some cases “beaten up,” by Big Labor agents, Congress sought to prevent monopoly-bargaining regimes from being installed when a majority of workers didn’t want one. Lauren McFerran, U.S. Supreme Court’s 1969 Gissel decision, Cemex Construction Materials Pacific, Hannaford Bros. Co., Flomatic Corp., and S.S. Logan Packing Co. , John P. Serpa and 1966 Aaron Brothers cases, Dominick Manoli, Linden Lumber,
Labor union tells FTC it supports Microsoft’s Activision acquisition
July 5, 2022 // “Microsoft’s binding commitments will give employees a seat at the table and ensure that the acquisition of Activision Blizzard benefits the company’s workers and the broader video game labor market,” CWA President Christopher Shelton said in the letter to the FTC.
NLRB’s Top Prosecutor Seeks Big Changes, Faces Uphill Battle
June 28, 2022 // Abruzzo has signaled it’s one of the many decisions she intends to undo from the Trump era, when cases were spearheaded by her predecessor Peter Robb, who was widely seen by organized labor and Democrats as favoring employers. Biden later fired Robb. “The hypocrisy is off the charts when you think about the employee rights,” Nix said. “When she gets done with the job, she ought to apply for the lobbyist job at the AFL-CIO, because she’s going even farther than union officials have even imagined.” John Logan, San Francisco State University, pro-union experts,
How Microsoft’s union agreement could shape the rest of the tech industry
June 21, 2022 // It remains to be seen how Microsoft’s neutrality agreement will impact broader tech labor organizing efforts—including among its own staff. A former Microsoft employee and tech worker organizer who asked not to be named tells Fast Company that a major shortcoming of the agreement was that it only applies to Activision, which could create a “division” between Microsoft employees. pro-labor tech workers
Top Five Labor Law Developments for May 2022
June 17, 2022 // Geodis Logistics, Video game testers, No Tax Breaks for Union Busting Act,
Microsoft signs ‘labor neutrality agreement’ with union representing Activision Blizzard employees
June 15, 2022 // Due to significant workplace issues within the larger video game industry, such as poor scheduling and hire-and-fire cycles, unionization efforts have been growing on a grassroots level for at least the last four years. The CWA agreement with Microsoft marks one of the most significant steps forward for the overall movement, and while Microsoft’s responsibilities all amount to simply staying out of the way, it remains one of the most pro-union moves by a major industry player to date.