Posts tagged South Carolina
U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders hosts rally in Durham to raise minimum wage
June 2, 2023 // Sanders addressed the crowd of supporters virtually because of the debt ceiling vote. Right now, the minimum wage in North Carolina is $7.25. Sanders hopes to raise the minimum wage to $17 an hour. The rally to raise the wage tour will continue over the next couple of days and will make stops in Nashville, TN and Charleston, S.C.
Union of Southern Service Workers rallies at Labor Department to protest unsafe work conditions, deliver complaint
April 6, 2023 // The new Union of Southern Service Workers and affiliated workers staged a rally outside the U.S. Department of Labor’s downtown Atlanta office on Tuesday to demand stronger workplace protections and federal enforcement of safety regulations. About 50 USSW organizers and workers from Family Dollar, Waffle House and other companies converged on the Department of Labor’s office at 61 Forsyth St., before marching to Centennial Park.
GOP Rep. Joe Wilson Reintroduces National Right To Work Act To Prevent Mandated Union Dues
February 28, 2023 // “As we near the fifth anniversary of the Janus v. AFSCME Supreme Court decision this June, which clarified the constitutional rights of all public-sector workers in America to refrain from joining or paying a union as a condition of employment, it’s time to expand worker choice to all private-sector workers in America, too,” Austen Bannan, senior policy analyst at Americans for Prosperity, told the Daily Caller
Workers at Columbia SC Sonic restaurant set to strike soon.
February 6, 2023 //
Labor union wants more SC auto workers, manufacturers split on response
January 18, 2023 // The UAW has about 55,000 members working in the southern states — about 15 percent of union active members nationwide — building Daimler trucks in North Carolina, SUVs in Tennessee, and automotive and airplane parts in Alabama. About 2,500 members live in South Carolina, but most are retirees or surviving spouses. The number of working UAW members in South Carolina statewide is 364. Palmetto state’s lack of members is consistent with the state’s overall ranking of having the lowest percentage of unionized workers nationwide — just 2 percent, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Right-to-Work battle looms in Michigan: Businesses fear repeal by Democrats
December 5, 2022 // Michigan business groups are wary of Democrats’ calls to repeal Right-to-Work laws when they take charge in Lansing early next year, saying the state instead should focus on economic policies that attract jobs. Business Leaders for Michigan, the Michigan Chamber of Commerce and chamber leaders from the state’s two largest cities — Detroit and Grand Rapids — all urge caution. But Democrats — who are backed heavily by unions including the Michigan Education Association and United Auto Workers — say the move prioritizes workers and labor rights.
A new union is born in the South
December 1, 2022 // USSW workers and staff are bullish on their new union, believing that its fusion of labor and human rights organizing will help them secure livable wages, stronger safety protections, control over their work schedules, and new respect for the African Americans and Latinos who make up the majority of their members. They are encouraged by the growing public approval for labor unions and the increase in worker protest during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially among essential or frontline workers. They are also building off of nine years of organizing through Raise Up — the Southern expression of the Fight for $15 and a Union and an affiliate of the sprawling Service Employees International Union. Raise Up veterans like Gas and Smalls, and the Durham, North Carolina-based Ieisha Franceis and Jamila Allen, will be critical to the USSW's success. Beginning in September 2020 and continuing over the next year, Franceis and Allen led three walkouts that forced their employer, Freddy's Frozen Custard and Steakburgers, to agree to their demands for raises, paid leave for employees in quarantine, and new sanitation procedures. Franceis was initially hesitant about striking, but she trusted the much younger and more soft-spoken Allen, who had been meeting with Raise Up organizers for a year and gently prodding her coworkers to take collective action.
WFAE journalists want to become the first public radio station in the Carolinas to unionize. Will they succeed?
November 28, 2022 // WFAE may become the first public radio station in the Carolinas to form a union. On Tuesday, a group of content staff members — hosts, reporters, producers and other journalists — announced their intention to unionize in tweets issued under the handle @wemakewfae. More than 70% of WFAE’s content staff signed on to a petition to form a union, the organizing committee said in the tweet thread and accompanying press release. The petition does not include newsroom managers.
New service union seeks to inspire labor movement in South
November 22, 2022 // Organizers of USSW seek to supplement, rather than compete with, existing movements like Starbucks Workers United. The group will join the nearly 2 million members of the Service Employees International Union, and its demands include better pay, fair grievance processes, safe workplaces, health care benefits and consistent scheduling.