Posts tagged Wisconsin
Act 10 lawsuit: Wisconsin judge strikes down parts of bill
July 9, 2024 // "The issue was, are people receiving equal treatment?" UW-Milwaukee Professor Emeritus Mordecai Lee said. Republicans argue that Act 10 solved Wisconsin’s deficit problem, while Democrats say it hurts schools and public employee pay.
Opinion: Trump, Republicans Must Resist Dem-Funding Union Leadership’s Attempt To Con Them
July 3, 2024 // A new report from the Center for Union Facts, first reported by the Daily Caller News Foundation, shows that the Teamsters spent $9 million on politics between 2019 and 2022. Of that, a staggering 99% funded Democrat-aligned groups and anti-Trump media outlets. More than $2.6 million in Teamsters political donations went toward registered Democrats and Democratic campaign arms. The Teamsters also funded anti-Trump activist groups that plan to bury a second Trump presidency in litigation. Given that nearly all of the Teamsters political spending went to Democrats and far-left causes, it would be reasonable to assume that rank-and-file union members uniformly vote Democrat. That is not the case: In 2020, 40% of households with a union member voted for Trump.
Biden, Trump battle for blue-collar voters as steel merger looms
June 30, 2024 // But Rudy Sanetta, a maintenance worker at US Steel, prefers Trump on the economy and because of his stance on gun rights. "I like him for his resistance to the politicians," Sanetta said of Trump. "The other guy, I have no confidence." Working class voters "are the most pivotal because they're the ones who have actually demonstrated that they're willing to select either Trump or Biden," said Jonathan Cervas, a political scientist at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.
Teaching doctors to unionize
June 27, 2024 // Once mostly self-employed or part of physician-owned groups, doctors are increasingly employees of hospitals or private equity firms. And, as employees, they have a right to organize, prompting unions of all stripes to make the case. Doctors who’ve joined say they’re persuaded by a desire to reclaim control over their lives, and to bargain for better pay and work conditions that they believe private equity and hospital ownership threaten.
Workers at Americold Logistics Win Campaign to Remove Teamsters Union from Workplace
June 10, 2024 // Garcia filed the petition on May 16 with the NLRB, the federal agency responsible for enforcing federal labor law, which includes administering elections to install (or “certify”) and remove (or “decertify”) unions. Garcia’s petition contained support from a majority of employees, which is more than is required to trigger a decertification vote under NLRB rules. When it became clear that the election would be scheduled, Teamsters Local 695 disclaimed recognition on May 23, 2024, stating in an email to the employer that the union “unequivocally disclaims its interest in representing and collectively bargaining for the unit at Americold in Darien, Wisconsin…that this will end processing of the Petition.” On May 24, NLRB Region 18 acknowledged the union disclaiming recognition, meaning no election would be needed since the workers’ desired result – the removal of the union – had already been accomplished.
Strike Halts Work At Many SE Wisconsin Construction Sites
June 10, 2024 // Roughly 800 members of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 139 went on strike last Saturday for better pay. That’s caused work stoppages at construction sites in Milwaukee, Waukesha, Racine, Kenosha, Washington and Ozaukee counties. Some of the job sites where work came to a standstill include a parking garage near Froedtert Hospital, apartments on the east side of Milwaukee, the Milwaukee County Human Services building and a new recreation center at Marquette university, union officials said.
‘Fearful, divisive, scary’: Madison employer accused of union busting by employees for layoffs
June 3, 2024 // OPEIU Local 39 said the employer has retained the services of Littler Mendelson, a law firm known for helping companies like Starbucks avoid unions. The losses of OPEIU representation at ACU has alarmed the workers as declines in union membership are correlated with wage stagnation and rising income inequality. Nationally, union density has declined from 20 percent of all wage and salary workers in 1983, to 10 percent as of 2023, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Wisconsin unions argue for overturning 2011 law that ended nearly all collective bargaining
May 30, 2024 // Public worker and teachers unions argued Tuesday that their lawsuit seeking to strike down a Wisconsin law that drew massive protests and made the state the center of a national fight over union rights should be allowed to proceed, even as the Republican-controlled Legislature sought to have it dismissed. It is the first challenge to the law known as Act 10 since Wisconsin’s Supreme Court flipped to liberal control last year.
Workers at Milwaukee’s Trade hotel seek union, accuse employer of unfair labor practices
May 24, 2024 // The employer had not filed a request for an election as of Thursday afternoon, and the complaint filed with the NLRB was not available on the agency’s website.