Posts tagged Wisconsin
Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin workers vote to unionize
February 13, 2024 // The vote was 56-13 in favor of forming a union, according to a tally of ballots cast in an election conducted by the National Labor Relations Board and counted on Thursday. Of the 133 Planned Parenthood workers eligible to vote in the election, 69 cast a ballot, according to a press release.
Wisconsin Rapids workers vote against unionizing Ocean Spray Plant
February 8, 2024 // According to the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 965, last Friday 41 workers voted in favor of joining the IBEW local and 50 voted against.
Trump will meet with the Teamsters in Washington as he tries to cut into Biden’s union support
January 31, 2024 // During Trump's presidency, the National Labor Relations Board reversed several key rulings that made it easier for small unions to organize, strengthened the bargaining rights of franchise workers and provided protection against anti-union measures for employees. The Supreme Court's conservative majority — including three justices that Trump nominated — overturned a decades-old pro-union decision in 2018 involving fees paid by government workers. The justices in 2021 rejected a California regulation giving unions access to farm property so they could organize workers.
Warehouse Workers and Drivers at Keurig Dr. Pepper Facilities Across Wisconsin Vote Out Teamsters Union
January 31, 2024 // Workers from Keurig Dr. Pepper facilities across the Badger State have exercised their right to remove unwanted Teamsters Local 200 union officials from power at their workplaces. The ouster follows the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) January 26 certification of an election in which nearly 60% of participating drivers and warehouse workers from facilities in Oshkosh, Eau Claire, and Tomah voted to end the union’s bargaining power. Oshkosh-based Keurig Dr. Pepper driver Ray Cotts spearheaded the effort to remove the union by submitting a union decertification petition to the NLRB in November 2023 with free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation. His petition contained more than enough employee signatures to trigger a union decertification vote under NLRB rules. The NLRB held the election beginning December 22, 2023, and counted ballots on January 16.
WILL sues to preserve Act 10
January 30, 2024 // “There is no question that 2011 Wisconsin Act 10 significantly changed labor relations in Wisconsin. But since Act 10’s enactment over a decade ago, state and federal courts have repeatedly rebuffed constitutional challenges to the law by those who oppose it,” WILL wrote in its memo to the court. “Both the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin and Seventh Circuit in [the Walker case] had little trouble concluding that Wisconsin was free to distinguish between public safety and general employees, with the latter labeling this conclusion as ‘uncontroversial.’”
Wisconsin Rapids Ocean Spray workers will hold union vote in February. How does it work?
January 25, 2024 // Dillon Gorman, the business manager for IBEW 965, said he's organized and attended rallies all over the state at various companies, each time staying the required distance from the property, but offering to share more information with workers about what their options are as they leave or arrive at work. These days, it's easier to share information about unions, health care options, election information and more, as they can also easily share that online on the IBEW website. Gorman said they organized the rally in Wisconsin Rapids because workers at the Ocean Spray plant had reached out to the union for more information after they said the company recently changed some working conditions and benefit structures. On Wednesday, workers came from all over the state, including Eau Claire, Kenosha, Milwaukee, Beaver Dam and Janesville to show support.
Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin workers file for union election
January 9, 2024 // The workers filed for the election on Dec. 28 with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). A group of 160 employees will vote on whether they want to unionize. Delia, a Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin (PPWI) employee, joined the company in early 2020. She summarized her time with PPWI as, "working through the pandemic, working through the fall of Roe v. Wade, and now continuing to fight forward." The "fight forward" is a reference to the impending union election.
25 states will hike minimum wage in 2024
December 22, 2023 // Sean Higgins, an analyst at the libertarian Competitive Enterprise Institute, said many food and hospitality workers already earn more than their state minimum. He noted that employers have raised salaries to compete for a shrinking pool of applicants. “Raising state and local rates does hurt the smaller businesses, the classic mom and pop enterprises, who will employ local high school or college-age kids if they can but may not be able to justify that if the minimum rate increases,” Mr. Higgins said.
TruStage union members ratify new agreement, citing gains on wages, benefits
December 18, 2023 // During negotiations, union members and leaders said that TruStage, formerly CUNA Mutual, had over the years converted many jobs once represented by the union to nonunion and contract positions. The company provides insurance services and financial and investment products that credit unions offer their members. In addition to the two-week strike, the union conducted a broad campaign enlisting support from the public and other unions in Madison. TruStage workers were among the participants in a November labor solidarity rally at the state Capitol.
Majority of Austin, MN, Mayo Clinic Medical Assistants, Care Specialists Request Vote to Remove Steelworkers Union
December 12, 2023 // A patient care specialist at the Mayo Clinic location in Austin, MN, has just submitted to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) a petition backed by her colleagues seeking a vote to remove United Steelworkers (USW) Local 11-005 union officials from power at their facility. The patient care specialist, Erin Krulish, filed the petition with free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation.