Posts tagged raises
Metro Transit workers, including drivers, overwhelmingly vote to authorize strike
September 14, 2023 // While some may be ready to strike, voting to authorize a strike does not mean a strike will happen. But it does give union leadership the ability to call a strike if it becomes necessary, the union said. "The members have the final say in that. They will tell us what they want to do. They have the final vote on the contracts," Timlin said. "It's really how far they are prepared to go on this. That's the reality." Workers are asking for pay raises to include the cost of living, safety solutions, better shift differentials and more one-piece runs. Negotiations with the Metropolitan Council started back in March and contracts expired at the end of July.
Here’s why the US labor movement is so popular but union membership is dwindling.
September 6, 2023 // Labor laws in the US make it more difficult for employees to form unions: Around 27 states have passed "Right to Work" laws, making it more difficult for workers to unionize. These laws provide union representation to nonunion members in union workplaces– without requiring the payment of union dues. It also gives workers the option to join a union or opt out. Workplace sectors that were traditionally union strongholds, now make up less of the workforce, such as manufacturing, transportation, and construction.
Staten Island Ferry workers union agrees on $103 million labor contract with NYC after 13-year delay
September 5, 2023 // After 13 years without one, the Staten Island Ferry workers’ union has reached a deal with Mayor Eric Adams’ administration on a labor contract that ensures retroactive raises and establishes new scheduling and vacation protocols. The deal, announced by Adams on Monday, ensures salary increases of at least 38% for all Staten Island Ferry captains, assistant captains, mates and engineers, as calculated from the retroactive Nov. 7, 2010 start date of the contract through the Jan. 4, 2027, end date. The contract will cost city taxpayers a total of $103 million. Renee Campion, Adams’ Labor Relations commissioner, explained the wage structure means Staten Island Ferry mates will earn $124,400 annually at the end of the contract if they’ve been on the payroll since 2010. By comparison, a Staten Island Ferry mate earned $51,000 in 2010.
Will Starbucks’ union-busting stifle a union rebirth in the US?
August 28, 2023 // Many baristas say one Starbucks strategy in particular has discouraged workers from unionizing. In May 2022, Schultz announced that Starbucks would give certain raises and benefits to workers at its more than 9,000 non-union stores, but not offer those raises and benefits to its unionized workers. Starbucks insists it would be illegal to impose any raises or benefits on its unionized stores without first negotiating about them, but the NLRB’s general counsel asserts that this policy constitutes unlawful discrimination against Starbucks’ unionized workers. Under this policy, Starbucks has given its non-union workers, but not its unionized ones, a more relaxed dress code, increased training, faster sick leave accrual and, most important, credit card tipping. (Workers at the first few Starbucks stores to unionize had asked early on for credit card tipping.)
UPS and Teamsters reach tentative agreement, likely averting strike
July 25, 2023 // The Teamsters called the five-year contract "overwhelmingly lucrative," adding that it "raises wages for all workers, creates more full-time jobs, and includes dozens of workplace protections and improvements." The new contract raises starting pay for part-timers to $21 an hour, up from the current contracted pay of $15.50, and includes catch-up raises for longtime workers. Full-time workers will see their top hourly rate go up to $49 an hour. "Rank-and-file UPS Teamsters sacrificed everything to get this country through a pandemic and enabled UPS to reap record-setting profits," Teamsters president Sean O'Brien said in a statement. "We demanded the best contract in the history of UPS, and we got it."
Student Activists Are Turning Their Attention to the Labor Movement
June 22, 2023 // Last year, the Young Democratic Socialists of America’s Red Hot Summer program trained hundreds of young people to organize their workplaces and helped launch union drives representing thousands. This year’s program hopes to be even bigger, writes YDSA’s cochair. Student workers across the country are engaged in an unprecedented wave of labor organization. Spurred on by the support of organizations like the Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA), of which I am cochair, undergraduate student workers have launched union drives on nearly thirty public and private campuses in the United States. These workers are fighting for increased pay, improvements to scheduling and hours, sick pay, and better health care. They are also fighting for issues that go beyond bread and butter, like removing Israeli products from dining halls.
San Jose city workers ask for raises amid vacancies
June 13, 2023 // City employees are asking for more money to compensate for the additional work on their plates as the city struggles to fill more than 900 vacant positions -- or 14% of the workforce, according to city data. However, city officials have pushed back against these pay demands, saying they are limited by overall budget concerns because they predict an $18.8 million shortfall next fiscal year. During Tuesday's City Council meeting, hundreds of Staff Up San Jose members rallied outside city hall as elected leaders voted to approve contracts for three other unions -- San Jose Police Dispatchers' Association, Association of Building, Mechanical and Electrical Inspectors and the Peace Officer Park Ranger Association. City data reported that these 265 employees will receive a 5% raise next year, 4% the following and 3% in the 2025-26 fiscal year.
Oregon state workers warn of possible strike in fight for raises
June 12, 2023 // The union that represents more than 22,000 state government employees on Thursday asked its members to commit to a potential strike as negotiations continue for a new contract. Service Employees International Union Local 503, which represents about half the state workforce, is behind that push and negotiating for a new contract for state workers. The union announced the move in a rally with more than 1,000 workers across from the state Capitol. Meanwhile, inside the Capitol, Republican senators on strike kept the Senate from working on Thursday, as they have since May 3. The union’s plan for workers to sign a “strike pledge” and commit to a possible walkout underscores unhappiness about unsatisfactory wages and raises as negotiations proceed for a new two-year contract to succeed the agreement that expires on June 30.
Starbucks Union Demands Company Bargain A National Contract
May 24, 2023 // The company's insistence on separate contracts for more than 300 organized stores has made the process unworkable, union president says. Fox said Starbucks should agree to a broad contract that sets a national minimum wage, “fair scheduling” procedures, guaranteed minimum hours and an agreement for union elections moving forward, among other provisions. Regions and individual stores could then add supplemental agreements if they choose to. But Starbucks said Workers United should stick to negotiating individual contracts since the union has been organizing stores one by one.
UCSB dining hall employees campaign to unionize amid poor conditions, low pay, harassment
May 23, 2023 // UCSB Residential Dining operates four dining commons — Carrillo, De La Guerra, Ortega and Portola — that serve over two million meals a year and employ a part-time student staff of under 500. The Nexus spoke to five Student Dining Labor Union (SDLU) organizers, including second-year sociology and history of public policy double major and lead organizer Cole McCarthy and second-year financial math and statistics and data science double major Christopher Pang. The other students spoke on condition of anonymity. The push for unionization quietly began in April 2022 with the meeting of a small cohort of Ortega Dining Commons workers. McCarthy said the effort “developed rapid support” and expanded to the other three dining halls.