Posts tagged pay and benefits
‘Time is running out.’ University unions rush to organize before the Trump White House
December 17, 2024 // Between 2012 and 2023, the number of unionized graduate student and postdoctoral workers more than doubled, from roughly 64,000 to 150,000. Faculty unions also increased by 7%, from 374,000 to 402,000, in the same period, the report said. Today, more than a third of graduate-student and postdoctoral workers are unionized while a quarter of faculty are. “Among faculty, the drive for unionization has been strongest among non-tenure track faculty,”
Seattle Art Museum security staff goes on strike
December 2, 2024 // About two dozen picketing security staffers — or Visitor Service Officers — and supporters shouted slogans and handed out flyers as downtown tourists looked on, visitors entered the museum and passing vehicles honked. “After more than two years of unsuccessful negotiations, SAM VSO Union workers are striking now until the board and museum leadership recognize their needs and offer a fair contract,” the flyer reads.
OPINION: For Workers, Strikes Offer High Risk, Low Reward
September 30, 2024 // The only way to avoid union retaliation is cancelling membership entirely. Beyond the rank-and-file, consequences of union strikes impact consumers, too. Last year, the healthcare industry, for example, saw the largest work stoppage in United States history as 75,000 hospital employees across five states plus Washington, D.C. walked off the job
Op-Ed: Hochul needs to shut down this pricey home-health-care power grab
September 25, 2024 // And bidders are all too likely to fold: “The political world does not mess” with 1199 SEIU,” snarks Empire Center health-industry expert Bill Hammond. “Any bidder with the slightest understanding of what they were getting into when entering into this contract would know what that meant when [1199 SEIU] put that piece of paper in front of them.” Unionizing 200,000 caregivers would be a huge win for 1199, which already boasts 450,000 members. Yet it would defeat the purpose of the program — which, again, is to help family members, not unionized employees, to care for loved ones.
Workers Say Plant Eligible for $2 Billion in Public Funds Is Union-Busting
September 4, 2024 // Eos’s Pittsburgh-area battery plant got subsidies aimed at ‘good clean jobs.’ Its workers say they’re getting fired for unionizing.
SkyWest Airlines facing federal lawsuit over alleged ‘fake company union’
August 14, 2024 // SkyWest Airlines, the largest regional airline in North America, is facing legal action over an alleged “fake” company union that the airline operates and the allegedly retaliatory firings of flight attendants who were engaged in union organizing efforts. A lawsuit was filed by the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA-CWA) in October 2023. The US Department of Labor also filed a lawsuit last month against the company over the “company union”, alleging SkyWest Inflight Association (SIA) did not perform its legal duties as a representative agency and barred two employees from running in an election for leadership positions due to their support for an independent union at the airline.
Texas sees surge in union membership, defying state’s anti-union history
August 14, 2024 // In total, there are about 586,000 union workers in Texas, a fraction of the millions who work here. And yet, the increase is somewhat remarkable given the state's long history of hostility toward unions. And nationwide, union membership dipped during the same time. Texas is one of 26 so-called right-to-work states. Texas lawmakers first passed that law in 1993. The law allows for workers the option to not pay unions due and the right to work in a unionized workplace without being a part of the union itself. And more recently, the Republican-controlled Legislature passed a law aimed at stopping local governments from enacting progressive-leaning worker protections and other policies.
Sports’ Next Big Labor Movement
June 10, 2024 // Harry Marino led the charge to unionize minor league baseball players, eventually securing massive pay and benefit increases. Now he is turning his attention to a larger project: organizing non-union sports workers from coaches to stadium workers. He joins the show to explain what worked with the minor leagues and how he intends to build on that success with this next project under his new organization, Sports Solidarity.
ATLANTA SKY BATTLE AS FLIGHT ATTENDANTS RALLY FOR BETTER PAY AND UNIONIZATION AT DELTA’S DOORSTEP
May 22, 2024 // Delta Air Lines maintains a stubborn stand against the tide of unionization, holding firm on the belief that direct relationships with employees outpace union-led dialogue. This has been their mantra for over two decades, a period throughout which the airline claims superiority in employee communication and improvement implementation.
California’s Early-Career Doctors Unionize, Demand Fair Pay and Conditions
April 9, 2024 // Increased pay, overtime compensation, housing stipends and more manageable schedules are at stake. Unions representing residents have bargained for fertility benefits to support delayed family planning. Dr. Berneen Bal, a third-year psychiatry resident at Kaiser’s Oakland Medical Center, said some colleagues have even traveled out of state where it’s cheaper to freeze eggs. “As more residencies have unionized, it’s put greater criticism on this training structure that we’ve all just accepted for so long,” Bal said.