Posts tagged health
Despite rising number of strikes, union memberships remains low
September 7, 2023 // While the rate of work stoppages in 2023 is on pace to break the record set last year, union membership is still lagging at a record-low. So far, there have been 251 strikes in 2023, compared to 417 in 2022, according to data compiled by Cornell University’s Labor Action Tracker. Last year’s 10.1% unionization rate was the lowest on record, however, and workers have a long way to go to reach the 20% rates not seen in 20 years. While no comprehensive data exists detailing the success rate of recent worker strikes or labor disputes nationwide, some union workers have gotten their way this year.
Labor unions expand into legislator offices
January 23, 2023 // “Unionizing staffers in legislative offices makes no sense because it creates more problems than it solves,” says Brigette Herbst, senior organizing director for AFFT and a former state legislative staffer, “How does unionization work with the long and unpredictable hours during a legislative session? How will elected officials handle untrustworthy staffers? Union organizers haven’t answered these important questions.” Labor unions have also turned their focus to legislative staffers at the state level.
Judge sentences former Illinois state lawmaker Thomas Cullerton to a year in prison for embezzlement
June 22, 2022 // Prosecutors said that within weeks of being sworn in as a state senator, Cullerton was added to the payroll of the Teamsters union as an organizer. As a union organizer, Cullerton was expected to work 40 hours a week to attract new members, support union picket lines and attend union events. During his three years with the union, Cullerton collected $248,828 in payments and benefits. "Indeed, he was a ghost payroller who invariably did little to nothing over this three-year period," prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memo. "The defendant’s immediate supervisors tried to get Cullerton to work, but he was, in the words of one supervisor, 'never available.' ... So rare was the defendant present for work that the union did not even bother to keep track of his use of vacation time – because he was effectively on a permanent vacation." Brett Rowland, Judge Robert Gettleman, John Lausch Jr., Amarjeet Bhachu, Erika Csicsila,
California grocery workers vote on strike authorization
March 23, 2022 // Thousands of southern and central California grocery workers have started voting on whether to authorize their union to call a strike against several major supermarket chains
Rep. Tlaib tells striking Great Lakes Coffee workers they deserve better
February 28, 2022 // U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib joined more than 200 people who rallied in support of striking Great Lakes Coffee Roasting Co. workers in Detroit on Wednesday, telling the baristas and cooks they deserve better pay and work conditions.
NYPD sergeants union members fear loose spending rules, indictment of president Ed Mullins will bring more
February 25, 2022 // Rocco Parascandola, New York Daily News Thu, February 24, 2022, 7:34 PM·5 min read Loose expense reimbursement rules at the Sergeants Benevolent Association — detailed in the indictment of its longtime president, Ed Mullins — have many of its 12,600 members asking whether other union officials improperly spent union money.
Opinion: When the Feds Won’t Protect Workers, Tennessee Leaders Should Step Up
February 17, 2022 // The Department of Labor has made a bold move to sweep union corruption under the rug. And unless state leaders step in, Tennessee workers may pay the price.