Posts tagged West Virginia
Frontier, CWA strike new labor union contract
September 6, 2023 // A CWA rep told Fierce the agreement covers both customer service representatives – including call center workers in Ashburn – and broadband technicians. Frontier and CWA continued to negotiate on a new union contract after the previous one expired August 19 at 11:59 p.m. In July, CWA members voted to give union leaders authority to call a strike if CWA and Frontier “failed to reach a fair settlement.” As part of the deal, Frontier is committing to creating additional jobs, which will consist of 25 full-time regular Outside Plant technicians and 10 full-time regular Engineering Assistants, said the CWA rep.
Commentary: Analysis shows $17 minimum wage could exacerbate rising prices, pushing child care costs up 20%
August 15, 2023 // Such massive cost increases would almost certainly price some families out of child care completely. Some parents who want to work would be pushed out of the labor force, leading to lower household incomes. Households that have only one parent and must use child care would be more likely to turn to non-licensed, typically illegal, child care. On top of that, child care jobs would be lost, even as employment among child care workers, declined by 18.2% between 2019 and 2022. While not all parents want or need full-time child care, a $17 minimum wage could also hurt families who use only part-time child care or even occasional babysitters. For example, a family who currently pays $10 per hour for 10 hours of after-school care per week would face an extra $70 per week, or $3,640 per year, in added costs.
Op-ed: Placing teachers unions’ power above students’ lives
July 11, 2023 // Ms. Weingarten is the head of the powerful American Federation of Teachers union, and Mr. Pompeo’s assessment notwithstanding, President Biden’s secretary of homeland security, Alejandro Mayorkas, just appointed her to serve on the Department of Homeland Security’s school safety council. According to Mr. Mayorkas, the council will advise the department on school safety and help it “counter the evolving and emerging threats to the homeland.”
Commentary: How the Teachers Union Broke Public Education
June 7, 2023 // School closures were not just an issue that impacted teachers, kids, and parents—this policy will have decadeslong ripple effects that will reverberate through every aspect of society. While savvy middle class and affluent families may opt for charter and private schools as a solution, the poorest and most vulnerable children, such as my former students, will remain trapped in a rotting system. The children who never catch up will grow into damaged, illiterate adults who cannot participate in the labor force and who are plagued by social dysfunction and decay. Ultimately, the union will achieve its vision of remaking the world—only it will be a broken, disfigured world that no one wants.
Kentucky Coinkydink
May 4, 2023 // The teachers who conducted the Kentucky sickout were officially unaffiliated with the Kentucky Education Association. They formed a Facebook group and called it KY 120 United. After the protests were over, they solidified their organization and eventually turned it into a union, affiliating with AFT, which previously had no real presence in the state. KY 120 United has had an uneasy relationship with KEA ever since. KY 120 United was recognized as a labor organization by the Fayette County Schools in 2021, but the school board rescinded that recognition last month, stating that the union had failed to file required paperwork. A district spokesperson said the union had to “show through bylaws and a democratic method that they represent our employees in order to ensure this is truly a representative group.”
Senate panel advances Biden Labor nominee Julie Su
April 26, 2023 // “Today’s party-line vote is another reminder that Julie Su is no Marty Walsh, who advanced in a bipartisan 18-4 vote only two years ago,” said Michael Layman, a top lobbyist at the International Franchise Association, in a statement following Wednesday’s vote. The AFL-CIO is fighting back, running ads in Arizona and D.C. backing Su’s efforts to counter wage theft in California. The ads tell viewers that workers are “tired of getting ripped off by big corporations.” The labor federation is also mobilizing its members to lobby senators. “We’re going to defend Julie against these baseless corporate special interests attacks,” AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler told reporters last week. “Every senator, especially those that haven’t yet said that they’ll vote yes, needs to be aware of how much this confirmation means to working people’s lives.”
Four states advance bills prohibiting union dues deductions
April 21, 2023 //
Biden’s ‘nightmare’ Labor nominee under fire from small businesses, contract workers
April 5, 2023 // "As the chief enforcer of AB 5, Julie Su was a nightmare for freelancers and small businesses in California. She has no business being Labor Secretary after her track of failure," said Freelancers Against AB 5 founder Karen Anderson. Wes Snyder, the owner of a FASTSIGNS franchise in Arizona, criticized Su’s stance on franchise liability. "This business model gives anyone the opportunity to experience the transformative power of entrepreneurship while strengthening their local communities," he said. "Julie Su wants to rob us of this opportunity – she will turn the American dream into the American nightmare."
Video: ALEC’s Labor of Love: A History of Championing Worker Freedom
March 10, 2023 // Today, ALEC debuts its first episode, “Worker Freedom,” in our 50th anniversary video series. The episode features ALEC champions Scott Walker (45th Governor of Wisconsin), Matt Hall (Michigan House Minority Leader and ALEC Board of Directors Member), and Vinnie Vernuccio (Senior Fellow, Mackinac Center), discussing ALEC’s pivotal role in securing Worker Freedom policy wins across the states. In some states, private sector workers can be forced to join, leave, or pay fees to a union as job requirement. The Right-to-Work Act, which ALEC task forces approved as a model policy, provides a solution to this issue. It prevents private employers from requiring or banning union membership (or fees) as conditions for employment, giving workers in Right-to-Work states a guaranteed right to support a union or not to support a union without this choice affecting their hiring or job security.