Posts tagged Flint
UAW Faction Seeks to Oust President Fain in Sign of Union Unrest
August 6, 2025 // Turnout at some locals has been small. At the Sterling Heights plant that voted over the weekend, 63 workers showed up with all but one voting to oust Fain, Pillsbury said. The plant has 6,200 employees. If the union challenges any of the victories because of low voter turnout or for any other reason, he said he wants enough wins to maintain the six victories needed to push ahead.
Video Game Union Organizers’ New Tactic for Workers: Don’t Unionize, Technically
March 21, 2025 // On Wednesday the Communications Workers of America announced the launch of a new direct-join organization, United Videogame Workers-CWA, at a labor-organizing panel at the Game Developers Conference. The group — not a certified union, but something more like a large-scale organizing group — is open to a wide range of workers in the field across employers, from full-time employees to contractors to former staffers who have been laid off. The group’s first initiative will be to circulate a petition addressing recent industry workforce cuts, while it is later planning on producing a worker “bill of rights” that will demand specific workplace standards.
Commentary: Unions are bad for cities
August 16, 2024 // The truth is that unionization doesn’t even increase wages for all union members. Single-salary schedules ensure that senior members earn the most and new members the least, regardless of value or merit. While union leaders may brag about the union member premium — the ostensibly higher wages that unionized workers earn — it only exists for older members, where it exists at all. What’s more, unions’ seniority layoff system protects longer-serving union members before anyone else. The most junior employees are the first to be let go and the last to be rehired. Last-in-first-out layoffs do nothing to improve productivity, but they do a lot to protect senior members.
Ascension Genesys nurses union reaches tentative agreement before strike
May 24, 2024 // Teamsters union officials say that the strike planned for Friday has been suspended. Nurses are told to report to work for their scheduled shifts.
University of Michigan Lecturers’ Union to vote on strike authorization
April 23, 2024 // Contract ratification requires that an overall majority of voting members approve the contract, with majority approval on at least two campuses. In a statement to TV-5, university spokeswoman Colleen Mastony said the university has negotiated in good faith, offering an annual 3% salary increase over the next four years and a $2,000 lump-sum payment in the first year. She called the offer fair, saying she hopes both parties can reach an agreement soon. “A work stoppage would undermine the progress both parties have made over the past six months. It also would also needlessly hurt students during a critical period in the academic year,” Mastony said.
Flint teachers union holds illegal teacher strike
March 14, 2024 // Flint schools have been shut down more than any other district in Michigan in recent years as a result of their response to COVID-19. Still, the school district got $156 million, more than 10-times the state average per student. According to MISchoolData,org, Flint schools have about 2,900 students enrolled in 2023-24.
General Motors workers in Michigan reject United Auto Workers’ deal
November 9, 2023 // The union’s historic concessions from the automakers are a far cry from the UAW’s stated goals during the strike. UAW President Shawn Fain had repeatedly demanded 40% pay raises, the reintroduction of pension plans and a reduced four-day workweek. The union did not secure pension plans or a reduced work week, and the pay increases top out at just over 20%.
Flint Taxpayers Pay For Employees Doing Union Business, City Doesn’t Track How Much
March 28, 2022 // In states like Michigan that permit public sector workers to unionize and engage in collective bargaining, some government employees also become officers in those unions. Michigan permits these union officer/public employees to use a specified amount of their hours on the job to do union work, rather than the job they were hired to do. This practice is called “union release time.”