Posts tagged Sherrod Brown
Sherrod Brown, weighing his political future, launches pro-worker organization
March 26, 2025 // But Brown said the institute is not political or partisan. Its first national poll did not mention his name but rather explored how politicians talk about the economy. The political dialogue is “fundamentally flawed” and “doesn't reflect the reality of workers' lives,” he said. Brown, 72, is weighing whether he'll run for office ever again, he said, after losing his bid for a fourth term to Cleveland businessman Bernie Moreno last year. Before that, the Ohio Democrat had spent three decades in Congress and consistently won statewide elections even as the former bellwether state turned reliably Republican in the era of Donald Trump.
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.
Bernie Moreno, former car dealer elected to Senate, says Fain is a hack not helping workers
November 12, 2024 // Moreno did try to save jobs back in 2018 when General Motors announced it would permanently close its Lordstown Assembly plant in northeast Ohio, which built the Chevrolet Cruze sedan. As the Free Press reported in 2019, Moreno met with GM leaders, proposing to buy 150,000 to 180,000 Cruze cars to start a global ride-hailing company similar to Uber. GM CEO Mary Barra rejected the idea. GM shuttered Lordstown that spring.
Senator’s bill would override SUPCO ruling in workplace
June 14, 2024 // Many times, when a worker has this clause in a contract and then wants to pursue some kind of violation against the company, employees are forced to go to arbitration rather than directly to a courtroom. Typically, both sides must go along with what the arbitrator decides. If approved, the bill would override a 2018 Supreme Court ruling decision in the case Epic Systems v. Lewis, which allowed employers to continue to enforce the arbitration clause in employee contracts.
Opinion: Empowering worker autonomy: Resisting union pressure
February 8, 2024 // Neutrality agreements are hardly the only trick up the UAW’s sleeve. Unions frequently pressure employers to adopt card check as the preferred method for determining employee preferences regarding union representation, as opposed to a secret ballot election. In this process, workers are compelled to publicly declare their stance on unionization by either signing or refraining from signing “authorization” cards. Undue pressure, threats, and intimidation often result. Despite the reluctance of most employers to yield to union demands for card check, certain unions, including the UAW in Washington, DC, are advocating for new legislation mandating employers to accept card check. Moreover, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) recently issued a decision that could potentially eliminate elections in favor of authorization cards in a broader range of circumstances.
Feds: Carpenters union gets $183M of stimulus to restore cut pensions
August 18, 2023 // The retirement plan covering nearly 5,400 Southwest Ohio union carpenters got a nearly $183 million government bailout on Tuesday, according to an announcement by the federal Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. The money comes from a program aimed at shoring up pension plans, created as part of the broader stimulus package enacted in 2021 in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak. The money will benefit members of the Southwest Ohio Regional Council of Carpenters Pension Plan, which in 2019, slashed pension benefits for thousands of members by an average of 18% to remain solvent. PBGC’s approval enables the plan to restore benefits previously suspended and to make payments to retirees to cover prior benefit suspensions, the federally chartered corporation said in a statement. The funding will enable the plan to pay retirement benefits without reduction for many years into the future.
Senate Democrats offer resolution to let staff organize
June 26, 2023 // Sen. Sherrod Brown and 19 of his Senate colleagues introduced a resolution Thursday that would extend legal protections to staffers who unionize. The group of pro-labor Democrats, plus Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, comes a year after the House adopted a resolution allowing its employees to organize. “Every worker should have a right to organize and have a voice in their workplace — and that is why I have spent my career fighting for the dignity of work,” Brown said in a statement. “With this resolution, we can finally secure the fundamental legal right of U.S. Senate staff to join together as union members to advocate for themselves and have a voice on the job.”
Opinion: Unions, Washington Lackeys Exploit Ohio Rail Tragedy to Fatten Coffers
June 7, 2023 // the unionistas are pushing for a permanent requirement that all carriers use a minimum of two-person crews. This, despite the fact that the ill-fated Norfolk-Southern train itself had not two but three crew members. Mandating two on a crew would have done nothing to avert the disaster. It’s not responsive to the challenge at hand. Moreover, the make-work provisions will not affect Norfolk-Southern-sized railroads. It will primarily hurt the smaller regional and short-line railroads, which are more likely to use a one-man crew.
Auto workers union and Sanders blast GM for wages at U.S. battery plant
May 2, 2023 // United Auto Workers (UAW) union President Shawn Fain and U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders on Thursday criticized a General Motors joint venture battery plant for paying workers much less than assembly plant employees even though it benefits from hefty U.S. government tax credits. Workers at the Warren, Ohio, joint venture Ultium Cells LLC plant start at $16.50 an hour rising to $20 an hour after seven years while union workers at a nearby Ohio GM assembly plant that closed in 2019 made $32 an hour or more.
Dems’ rail-strike challenge: Save the economy and your ties to unions
December 2, 2022 // Progressives pushed for paid sick leave in any agreement, and party leaders glided a two-step solution through the House. It may not survive the Senate buzzsaw.