Posts tagged pay and benefits
PHILADELPHIA: SEPTA must negotiate contracts with nearly all its labor unions amid looming financial crisis
September 18, 2023 // The authority projects an annual operating deficit of $240 million beginning next July 1 as the last of its federal pandemic aid is spent, a situation dubbed the “fiscal cliff” that afflicts most transit systems in the United States. Riders have not returned in pre-COVID 19 numbers, and changing travel patterns have accelerated in the last three years. SEPTA and the state’s other public transit agencies are pushing for the legislature to adopt a measure that would give them a greater share of the sales tax to support operations. Uncertainty about finances makes it difficult to say “yes” to increased pay and benefits for TWU Local 234, which represents operators of buses, trolleys, and transit trains, SEPTA CEO Leslie S. Richards said Tuesday during a hearing of the state House Transportation Committee at the agency’s headquarters.
Blandin Paper Strike Ends After Union Ratifies New Contract Agreement
August 14, 2023 // The previous contract expired June 30, and 166 employees represented by Teamsters Local 346 went on strike on July 15. UPM Blandin general manager Scott Juidici said in a statement that the agreement helps position the mill for the future and that he is looking forward to “restarting operations in a safe and efficient manner.” Jeff Oveson, the president of Teamsters Local 346, tells Lakeland News that members narrowly accepted the offer. He says no one wins in a strike, but they feel like they “did well.”
Trader Joe’s staff walkout at Hadley store, local unions join in protest
July 3, 2023 // The union representing up to 15,000 workers employed at 65 major hotels in Los Angeles and Orange counties said that their members are on strike. The union promised whatever action they take would include a peaceful sit-in at Los Angeles International Airport. Contract agreements are unresolved with the remaining hotels, which include the Ritz-Carlton, JW Marriott LA Live, the Beverly Hilton, Fairmont Miramar, Anaheim Hilton, and Four Seasons Regent Beverly Wilshire.
Insider Reaches Strike Resolution With $65,000 Minimum Salary
June 15, 2023 // Kayla Cobb Wed, June 14, 2023 at 2:14 PM CDT·3 min read Insider and its union have reached a resolution. “We have a tentative agreement on a contract that will give our members more money and job protections and resolve our ULP,” a tweet from the Insider Union account reads. The strike is now over and workers will return to the office tomorrow. “Insider is pleased to have reached an agreement with its newsroom union on a Collective Bargaining Agreement. The CBA formalizes many of the company’s existing practices, policies and benefits, including top of the market competitive pay, freedom to work from anywhere in the U.S., 16 weeks of parental leave and many successful DEI initiatives. With this contract, we will continue to offer pay and benefits at the high-end of our industry,” a spokesperson for Insider told TheWrap. This tentative agreement on a new contract includes a $65,000 minimum salary for employees, on par with such publications as The New York Times. It also includes a just cause clause, a layoff moratorium through the end of the year, raises of over 10% during the term of the contract and over $400,000 in healthcare reimbursements. It also includes $2,200 in tax-free cash for employees to spend on mental health and prescriptions as well as a revised raise structure.
340,000 UPS workers are voting whether to authorize a massive strike
June 8, 2023 // The vote results will be announced next week on June 16, the union said. Strike authorization votes are routine during contract negotiations, and almost always pass. A nationwide UPS strike would be the largest work stoppage in US history. The union represents more than half of UPS’s total global employee base – 340,000 UPS Teamsters – which includes drivers and package sorters. Voting will occur in person both at local union halls and at the gates of UPS facilities, according to the Teamsters.
As Alabama coal miners strike nears end, a look at why it started, and how it failed
March 2, 2023 // After 700 days, hundreds of striking coal miners in Brookwood, Alabama will be returning to work soon — but without the better contract that they’ve been fighting to get. The United Mine Workers of America, the union at the center of the purported longest strike in Alabama’s history, asked Warrior Met Coal to allow the miners to return to work at the company’s four locations starting Thursday. The decision was announced in a Feb. 16 press release. “The status quo is not good for our members and their families,” said UMWA president Cecil Roberts in the statement. “I sincerely hope that Warrior Met leadership will accept this offer, get our members back to work, engage in good faith bargaining and finally sit down face-to-face with us to resolve this dispute for the betterment of all concerned.”
Starbucks could be forced to bargain with workers who rejected union
January 25, 2023 // A U.S. labor board official is seeking a rare order requiring Starbucks Corp (SBUX.O) to collectively bargain with workers at a Florida store, even after they voted against unionizing by a nearly two-to-one margin. The regional director of the National Labor Relations Board's Tampa, Florida office filed a complaint on Tuesday claiming unlawful threats, retaliation and surveillance by Starbucks managers were so severe that holding a new election at the store would be futile.
Union membership grows the fastest of any state in Tennessee over the past two years
January 24, 2023 // The number of Tennessee workers belonging to labor unions has grown over the past two years at the fastest rate of any state in the country. Fueled by a growth in unionized government employees, building trades and autoworkers, union membership in Tennessee jumped by more than 39% from the pandemic low in 2020 to reach 163,000 members last year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. For all its gains, however, organized labor still represents only a fraction of workers in Tennessee, especially in the private sector. Last year, 5.5% of all workers across Tennessee were union members, or only about half of the 10.1% share of workers nationwide who belong to a labor union, according to the statistics bureau.
EDITORIAL: Starbucks strike unveils the downside of unions
November 18, 2022 // Colorado’s Democratic legislature and governor aren’t likely to consider a right-to-work law. In recent years, they have expanded options for public sector unionization, a move to counter plummeting private sector membership. Voters rejected a right-to-work ballot measure in 2012. Over 10-plus years, dynamics have changed. Voters have twice chosen to lower income taxes for employees, so they may be open to protecting them from compulsory and coercive unions. When union contracts can’t keep up with market forces, they burden their members — as acknowledged on Thursday. Under these circumstances, the law should free all workers, public and private, from compulsory membership and dues. Maybe it is time to try the ballot again, in a serious effort to protect employees and their and their jobs.