Posts tagged Strikes
Hotel Workers’ Union UNITE HERE Releases Travelers’ Guide to Possible Strikes as Busy Labor Day Travel Weekend Approaches
August 25, 2024 // Hotel workers’ union UNITE HERE today published a guide of travel tips to help hotel guests plan for possible strikes across the United States. Thousands of hotel workers in nine cities have now authorized strikes at Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, and Omni hotels, but hotels rarely notify guests of a strike, and travelers sometimes learn of a strike only upon arriving at their hotel and being met by a boisterous picket line. The union launched the travel guide ahead of Labor Day weekend, when millions of Americans are planning travel.
The Cases Against Sectoral Bargaining: The Practical Case
August 11, 2024 // The effect of sectoral bargaining on union corruption would be unclear. Scholars of union corruption have blamed enterprise bargaining combined with union monopoly representation for America’s unusually high levels of labor racketeering. There is truth to this, but it is also not the case that American unions involved in industries with more-sectoral-style approaches are “cleaner.” The New York City garment industry, which was exempted from various Taft-Hartley regulations on union conduct, was believed by the federal government to have been Mob influenced as recently as the 1990s. More recently, the United Auto Workers, which conducts a sort of pseudo-sectoral bargaining with the unionized Detroit Three automakers by “patterning” its contracts, was forced into a regime change after the largest union corruption scandal of the 21st century. Putting more power in the hands of America’s long-standing class of union officials, who are known for having their hands in the cookie jar, certainly is not an obvious approach to reducing or surveilling corruption in organized labor.
Hotel workers in 4 cities start voting today on whether to strike
August 8, 2024 // About 13,500 hotel workers in four cities will begin voting today on whether to strike while their new employment contracts are being negotiated, according to their union, Unite Here. The workers are located in San Francisco, Honolulu, Boston and Providence, Rhode Island. The hotels that could be affected include properties in the portfolios of Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott and Omni. The strike votes will be staggered rather than all held at once.
Opinion: Union Victories First, Job Losses Later
August 6, 2024 // But the UAW conveniently ignores its contribution to the job losses. The union halted work for a month at Deere in 2021, and the company acquiesced to a blockbuster contract. Employees received a 20% raise over five years, plus an $8,500 bonus and annual adjustments for cost of living. The strike paid off for union workers in the short term, but the increase in labor costs made layoffs more likely if harder times struck. You won’t hear about this latest turn from President Biden, who sent his agriculture secretary to the picket line to cheer on strikers in 2021. Mr. Biden calls himself the most pro-union President in history, and he happily claims credit for union wins.
New report shows greater interest in labor unions, especially among young workers
August 2, 2024 // he report is based on a 2022 survey from the Worker Empowerment Research Network (WERN), focusing on about 2,500 frontline workers in five specific low-wage industries post-COVID-19: health care, hospitality, retail, telecommunications and warehousing. These workers' opinions on unions are important because these sectors experienced the most upheaval during COVID and there has been major union activity within these industries. Unlike other surveys with broad national samples, this survey zeroes in on job satisfaction, workplace issues (e.g., wage theft, harassment, scheduling instability) and workers' attitudes toward unionization.
CHICAGO TEACHERS UNION GIVES NEARLY $1.3M TO SITTING ILLINOIS LAWMAKERS
June 10, 2024 // Since 2010, CTU has funded the political committees of 84 of 177 lawmakers currently in the Illinois General Assembly. When you look at just Democrats, it is 72% – nearly half from outside Chicago. Nearly half of current Illinois state lawmakers have received money from the Chicago Teachers Union – with nearly half of them from outside Chicago. When you look at just Democrats, it’s nearly 3 of 4 sitting lawmakers who’ve received CTU cash.
Thousands of hotel workers to rally in 18 cities ahead of contract negotiations
May 1, 2024 // Unionized hotel workers demanding significant pay raises will rally on May Day in 18 U.S. and Canadian cities, as talks are beginning with operators Marriott International (MAR.O), opens new tab, Hilton Worldwide Holdings (HLT.N), opens new tab and Hyatt Hotels Corp (H.N) , opens new tab. Talks will cover about 40,000 workers who look to secure new contracts for the first time since the pandemic. Workers want to reverse pandemic-era staffing and service cuts, as well as duplicate the big pay hikes that organized workers across the nation have been winning in the recent years.
Half of Massachusetts residents support legalizing teachers’ strikes
April 22, 2024 // Massachusetts state leaders have said they have no appetite for changing Massachusetts law to make it legal for public teachers to go on strike, but public opinion is more on the union side. In a new CommonWealth Beacon/GBH News poll, 50% of state residents favored legalizing teachers’ strikes, while 34% said strikes should remain illegal, and 16% said they were unsure or did not answer (toplines, crosstabs). The survey, conducted by the MassINC Polling Group, comes on the heels of strikes in five Massachusetts school districts over the last two years. It is illegal for public sector employees to strike in the state, but that hasn’t stopped a wave of walkouts signaling a more militant posture on the part of teachers’ unions. The longest – and most recent – strike closed schools in Newton for two weeks in late January and early February.
UAW eyes more wins in South after historic union vote at VW plant
April 22, 2024 // Unions in other industries are already moving ahead with organizing campaigns in the South and trying to learn from the UAW's playbook.
Union workers push for health care and insurance bills following coordinated strikes
March 15, 2024 // After thousands of Twin Cities union workers went on strike last week, workers are pushing for changes at the Capitol — including public health insurance open to all Minnesotans and insurance for striking workers. About 200 unionized health care, education and property service workers with the SEIU Minnesota State Council met with legislators Wednesday for an organized lobby day. “I would make the case that over the last few years here in Minnesota because of the leadership of SEIU and our allied partners, we have maybe made more progress than we have in a generation around workers and union rights,” said Gov. Tim Walz,