Posts tagged cost of living
UAW President Shawn Fain plans to keep automakers sweating
January 1, 2024 // "I don't like what I've seen in my work career with the UAW leadership, where they were too damn close to the companies," UAW President Shawn Fain told CNN earlier this month. But when asked if things work better for his members when there's a less contentious or more contentious relationship between the UAW and the Big Three, Fain responded, "We just negotiated the most successful contracts in our history," he said. "For the last 30 years that I've been a member, we went backwards. So I like to let the body of work speak for itself," Fain said. The success of those contracts is the reason that Shawn Fain is CNN Business' labor leader of the year.
Amazon, Starbucks worker unions are in limbo, even as UAW and others triumph
December 29, 2023 // More than two years have passed since the first Starbucks stores voted to unionize in Buffalo, N.Y. Close to 380 Starbucks stores have since followed. But not one has a contract. Starbucks and Workers United, the union representing the vast majority of unionized Starbucks stores, have each accused the other of not bargaining in good faith.
Four Ann Arbor Sweetwaters’ locations unionize for better pay and clearer firing policies
December 14, 2023 // Workers at four Ann Arbor Sweetwaters Coffee & Tea locations announced that they filed to unionize with the National Labor Relations Board in an Instagram post Thursday evening. The workers at the Michigan Union, West Washington Street, Westgate Library and Meijer Ann Arbor-Saline Road locations will be organizing together as a single bargaining unit, with the goals of increasing pay, improving benefits and creating a clearer process for firing employees. The locations will be represented by Teamsters Local 243, the local chapter of the international union International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
Wisconsin’s Anti-Union Model Faces Reckoning as Top Court Shifts
December 12, 2023 // “They’ve been trying to overturn it through the legislature and the ballot box and have been wholly unsuccessful,” said Brett Healy, president of the conservative John K. MacIver Institute for Public Policy, which estimates Act 10 has saved taxpayers $16.8 billion as of this year. Act 10 also made it easier for school districts to fire low-performing teachers and retain good ones, said Walker, now president of the Young America’s Foundation, a conservative activist organization for youth. The former governor pointed to the state’s standardized test scores and graduation rates, which typically meet or exceed national averages. “We’ve seen tremendous success,” Walker added. “All the attacks they said at the time, how this would devastate schools, proved be just that—attacks. They don’t match reality.”
California faculty at largest US university system launch strike for better pay
December 4, 2023 // The California State University chancellor's office says the pay increase the union is seeking would cost the system $380 million in new recurring spending. That would be $150 million more than increased funding for the system by the state for the 2023-24 year, the office said. Leora Freedman, the vice chancellor for human resources, said in a statement that the university system aims to pay its workers fairly and provide competitive benefits. “We recognize the need to increase compensation and are committed to doing so, but our financial commitments must be fiscally sustainable,” Freedman said.
OREGON: Portland teachers union reaches tentative deal
December 3, 2023 // The tentative agreement includes a 13.8% cost-of-living increase over three years, creates new class-size thresholds, increases planning time, and provides additional support for mental and behavioral health. At the end of the three-year contract, more than 50% of district teachers will be making over $100,000. During the strike, union members rallied outside the homes and workplaces of school board members, as well as the Oregon Convention Center. A leader of another top union in Oregon who asked to remain anonymous said it isn’t surprising that PAT chose to act aggressively. They explained, “PAT is to the left of OEA [Oregon Education Association].”
Schools in Portland, Oregon, reach tentative deal with teachers union after nearly month-long strike
November 27, 2023 // Students last attended school on Halloween. The deal would provide educators with a 13.8% cumulative cost-of-living increase over the next three years and about half of all educators would earn an extra 10.6% from yearly step increases, PPS said. The agreement would also add classroom time for elementary and middle grades starting next year and increase teacher planning time by 90 minutes each week for elementary and middle-aged classrooms.
Wages are rising. Jobs are plentiful. Nobody’s happy.
November 21, 2023 //
Cornell grad students overwhelmingly vote to unionize
November 13, 2023 // Union organizers have advocated that collectively bargaining with Cornell will be a path for graduate student to address issues ranging from improving the university’s services for foreign students studying on a visa, to assisting grad students with the cost of transportation, such as Tompkins Consolidated Area Transit’s bus services or parking on campus. In addition to improved wages and compensation, CGSU has also promised to advocate that Cornell provide dental and vision insurance to graduate students “at no extra cost.”
From Hollywood to auto work, organized labor is flexing its muscles. Where do unions stand today?
November 9, 2023 // There are also limits for organizers under current labor law. That means that what worked in auto workers' labor campaign, for example, may not look the same or be possible in other industries. Larger, more established unions typically have more bargaining power — and that's reflected in new contract wins seen today. “We have a labor law that was designed in the era in the 30s and 40s, when auto plants of 10,000 workers (were organizing)," he said. Starbucks is “split into these small coffee shops of 15 workers. ... They need to join together to have any kind of bargaining power against a big employer. But our labor law isn’t structured to help them do that,” Colvin said. Service jobs can also be hard to organize due to part-time work and high turnover rates. The same can be said for Amazon warehouses, where there have been pushes for unions.