Posts tagged St. Louis
Thousands of Boeing workers who build fighter jets and weapons go on strike
August 4, 2025 // The vote followed a weeklong cooling-off period after the machinists rejected an earlier proposed contract, which included a 20% wage increase over four years and $5,000 ratification bonuses. Boeing warned over the weekend that it anticipated the strike after workers rejected its latest offer, which did not further boost the proposed wage hike. However, the proposal removed a scheduling provision that would have affected workers' ability to earn overtime pay. “We’re disappointed our employees rejected an offer that featured 40% average wage growth and resolved their primary issue on alternative work schedules,”
Boeing’s contract offer rejected by union members
July 29, 2025 // Union members who assemble Boeing's (BA.N), opens new tab fighter jets in the St. Louis area have "overwhelmingly voted" to reject the company's contract offer on Sunday, with the company now preparing for an imminent strike. Boeing's proposal, which was sent on Tuesday to more than 3,200 members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) District 837, included a 20% general wage increase over four years and a $5,000 ratification bonus, as well as more vacation time and sick leave.
Protests Go Beyond Immigration to Include Array of Left-Wing Causes
June 15, 2025 // “In this moment we must all stand together,” said Becky Pringle, the head of the National Education Association, the largest individual union in the country and one of the groups that sprang into action as the protests emerged in Los Angeles. Local chapters of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, a Communist Party offshoot of the Workers World Party, have also played a leading role, working with local leftist groups to post information about new demonstrations from California to Maine.
Commentary: Teachers Need to Ditch Their Union
April 16, 2025 // The California Teachers Association, which considers itself “the co-equal fourth branch of government,” per former Democratic State Senate leader Dom Perata, is no better. As the Freedom Foundation notes, the union reports its political expenditures under three separate filings: The Issues Political Action Committee (PAC); The Association for Better Citizenship (ABC); and, The Independent Expenditure Committee (IEC).
Starbucks workers strike in six cities across the US with multiple supporters arrested
March 14, 2025 // In Chicago, 11 employees were arrested after staging a sit-in at one of the city’s first union Starbucks locations. Five people were arrested in Pittsburgh as well. Chicago police told the Seattle Times that strikers were arrested for criminal trespass “on signed complaints from an affected business.”
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.)
Marquette University uses religious exemption to squash unionizing efforts
November 30, 2024 // e-track employees from Marquette's Klingler College of Arts and Sciences. (Ericka Tucker) by Heidi Schlumpf View Author Profile hschlumpf@ncronline.org Follow on Twitter at @heidischlumpf Join the Conversation Send your thoughts to Letters to the Editor. Learn more November 25, 2024Share on FacebookShare on TwitterEmail to a friendPrint By day, students at Marquette University may have Daniel Collette as their philosophy professor, but at night, he could be their Uber driver or DoorDash delivery person. The divorced dad of two also has had to give blood to make enough money to make ends meet. Collette is a full-time faculty member at the Jesuit university in Milwaukee and he has a doctoral degree. But as a "non-tenure-track" employee, he makes about a third less than other faculty on the tenure track. The typical non-tenure-track salary at Marquette is about $43,000, according to faculty who spoke to NCR. (Marquette does not publish salary information.) "I am truly tired to the bone," Collette told NCR. "It affects me, my health, my kids — and my students as well. The fact of the matter is that I'm not able to give them the same attention I would if I could just do my one job." Collette has joined other non-tenure-track faculty from Marquette's Klingler College of Arts and Sciences who are seeking to unionize to address issues of salary, workload and other disparities between tenure-track and non-tenure-track employees. He says the union could be "life-changing" for him. But Marquette is using a religious exemption to refuse to recognize the union — a move the pro-union faculty and their supporters say goes against the school's own mission and Catholic identity. "Continuing our strong partnership with faculty and staff — without needing to engage the union as an outside third party that may not share our same values — is the best way to deliver our Catholic, Jesuit mission and serve our students," Monica MacKay, senior director of university communication, said in a statement provided to NCR. Catholic social teaching strongly supports the right of workers to unionize. Pope Francis has spoken out in support of unions, as have the U.S. bishops. "Catholic social teaching supports the right of workers to choose whether to organize, join a union, and bargain collectively, and to exercise these rights without reprisal," says the bishops' document "Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship." Marquette faculty and their supporters — including nearly 600 students and 75 tenured faculty who have signed petitions of support — question how the university's decision squares with its Catholic identity and mission. One sign at a Nov. 8 pro-union protest asserted: "Jesuit values = livable wages." Advertisement "They are essentially claiming a First Amendment right for a Catholic university to not follow its own mission," said Chris Gooding, an assistant teaching professor of theology and member of the union's steering committee. "That is not so much a right to religious freedom as it is a right to hypocrisy." In October, more than 65% of full-time, non-tenure-track faculty in the college of arts and sciences signed authorization cards expressing their desire to collectively bargain with the university through the United Campus Workers-Wisconsin union. On Oct. 25, university administration announced it would not sign an agreement to recognize the union. Religious colleges and universities don't have to accept elections overseen by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), thanks to a decision during President Donald Trump's first administration that broadened the definition of religious freedom. They can, however, voluntarily choose to recognize unions and negotiate with them. Since that NLRB decision in 2020, Boston College, Seattle University, and St. Leo University in Florida have claimed the religious exemption, while St. Louis University instead chose to recognize a union of graduate student workers. St. Louis, Fordham, Loyola University Chicago, Georgetown and Santa Clara universities also all collectively bargain with faculty unions, according to Marquette's union organizers.
Boeing to lay off over 2,200 workers in US states of Washington and Oregon
November 18, 2024 // Boeing will lay off more than 2,200 workers in the U.S. states of Washington and Oregon, according to filings posted on Monday, as part of the debt-heavy U.S. planemaker's plan to cut 17,000 jobs, or 10% of its global workforce.
Missouri lawmakers and teachers union demand a state audit of charter schools
September 14, 2024 // Fitzpatrick said previously his office’s audit of SLPS is part of a larger effort to inspect more schools in the state. The state auditor’s office is also investigating the Independence School District in Jackson County, the Kingston K-14 School District in Washington County and the Francis Howell R-III School District in St. Charles County. The auditor’s office said it is reviewing SLPS’ 2023-24 school year through July 31. Officials said that staff members are not limited to that time frame, but that they will work closely with the Board of Education throughout the process and will try not to overlap a separate third-party investigation into Scarlett’s hiring practices and other personnel matters that are currently in process.
St. Louis KIPP Charter High School Educators’ Vote to Remove Unwanted AFT Union Bosses is Now Official
June 3, 2024 // “AFT union officials never stood up for us and instead undermined our students’ success,” stated Johnston. “This was especially on display when union officials called a divisive strike to demand we abandon our classrooms and our students. I’m grateful for my colleagues who have decided to set our school on a better path without the union.” The KIPP High School educators are not the only charter school employees who have removed unwanted unions with free legal aid from the National Right to Work Foundation. In 2023 in San Diego, CA, employees of Gompers Preparatory Academy prevailed in 2023 after a nearly four-year effort to vote out the San Diego Education Association (SDEA) union, an affiliate of the National Education Association (NEA).