Posts tagged Pennsylvania

Independent Contracting in 2025
January 8, 2025 // Independent contractors forgo workplace benefits that employees receive. Portable benefits are a way to give them access to benefits untethered from employment with one employer.
Opinion: How Biden betrayed union workers by giving them what they wanted
January 7, 2025 // This would hurt the blue-collar American workers whom Biden prioritizes, many of whom wanted the deal to go through. But what’s good for rank-and-file members and what ego-sensitive union leaders want are not always aligned. United Steelworkers leaders were apparently peeved that Nippon had not sought the union’s blessing before making a takeover bid, as other prospective buyers had. (Those other suitors, however, had not offered nearly as generous terms and, in at least one case, blocked U.S. Steel from conducting due diligence on the offer.)
Steelworkers Union Applauds as Biden Blocks Sale of US Steel to Japanese Giant
January 4, 2025 // The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, a federal committee that has the power to review certain transactions involving foreign investment in the United States to evaluate a deal's impact on national security, decided to forgo making a formal recommendation about whether the deal should be allowed to proceed last week. The proposal also became ensnared in election year politics, with both presidential candidates saying that U.S. Steel should remain a domestically-owned firm. Rust Belt lawmakers in both parties, including Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) and Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio)—both of whom lost re-election in November—and Vice President-elect JD Vance, an Ohio Republican, expressed opposition to the deal.
461 employees at ZeniMax Online Studios have unionized
December 20, 2024 // Another union has formed within Microsoft in a bid to 'create protections against layoffs and workplace exploitation.'
Hundreds of U.S. Steel workers rally in Clairton in support of Nippon deal
December 14, 2024 // Some speakers took aim at United Steelworkers union leaders, who have maintained opposition to the deal. USW president Dave McCall has continued to say that there aren’t enough guarantees in writing for the company’s union workers. Kurt Barshick, the vice president of U.S. Steel’s Mon Valley Works, said that the hundreds of workers who showed up for the rally were the true voices of the company’s union workers, and that they favored the deal. He suggested that union leadership was overly focused on a separate, less generous acquisition offer made by Cleveland Cliffs Steel.
Union Boss Under Fire as Atlantic City Casino Smoking Battle Heats Up
December 6, 2024 // Ray Jensen, assistant director of United Auto Workers (UAW) Region 9, called for the resignation of Donna DeCaprio, president of Local 54 Unite Here, accusing her of failing to protect casino workers from the dangers of secondhand smoke. Jensen's union represents dealers at three Atlantic City casinos and is currently involved in litigation to end smoking in gambling establishments.
A Fresh Look at the Independent Workforce with New BLS Data
November 27, 2024 // New BLS data reveal the size and growth of the independent workforce, preferences for independent work over W-2 employment, and key demographic and industry trends
SEPTA and unions reach contract agreement, avoiding a strike in the Philadelphia region
November 21, 2024 // SEPTA and the unions representing suburban and city transit workers have come to a tentative 1-year agreement, avoiding a transit strike in the Philadelphia region. Action News has learned Wednesday that the agreement includes a 5% wage increase, as well as a pension increase. However, there were no concessions to healthcare. They also made "significant improvements" in safety, including a pilot program on eight buses for bulletproof enclosures around drivers.
Potential triple strike could ‘shut region down,’ says union boss
November 20, 2024 // Three large unions in greater Philadelphia are all threatening to strike at the same time in a move that could "shut the region down," according to one union president. Unions representing SEPTA operators in both the city and suburbs are currently negotiating new contracts, as is the union representing more than 9,000 municipal workers. All three unions have voted to authorize strikes if talks break down. The presidents of the three unions met for breakfast Tuesday morning in Northern Liberties at Spring Garden Restaurant.

Myths vs. Facts: Public Workers’ Janus Rights
November 7, 2024 // ALEC’s model Public Employee Rights and Authorization Act can help states reach full compliance. Its comprehensive reforms reiterate workers rights by ensuring that workers are unambiguously informed of their rights, have ample windows to make membership decisions, and can make labor decisions on an annual basis.