Posts tagged working conditions
Kaiser mental health workers prepare to strike, this time in Southern California
October 16, 2024 // The previous Kaiser mental health strike, which involved Northern California mental health workers, took place in 2022 and lasted almost 10 weeks. Those workers ultimately won certain concessions, such as higher wages and more hours each week to handle patient care duties such as charting and responding to emails. Southern California mental health workers say they are now asking Kaiser to match what their colleagues in the north of the state receive.
J.D. Vance slammed for announcement seen as ‘attacking workers’ right to organize’
October 15, 2024 // "You asked about the PRO act. The problem with the PRO act is that in some ways it doubles down on a lot of the failed things that we have done, instead of looking at American labor policy as something that's going to be better for the 21st century than it was in the 20th century," Vance replied. ADVERTISEMENT The official presidential campaign for Vice President Kamala Harris took to social media, saying, "J.D. Vance announces he and Trump oppose the PRO Act, a bill that would strengthen the power of workers to organize and collectively bargain for better wages, benefits, and working conditions." The Harris campaign also shared a video of Harris in which she vows to "pass the PRO Act and end union-busting once and for all."
Opinion: Why union workers are abandoning the Democratic Party
October 15, 2024 // Scott Sauritch, the president of United Steelworkers Local 2227, drew significant public attention recently when he told a writer for the New Yorkerthat despite being a longtime Democrat, he would be voting for Donald Trump in November. He also said that most of the current rank-and-file members of the union planned on doing the same. “I don’t care what you see on TV,” Sauritch said. “The grunts in the lunchroom love Trump.”
Fired dancers, protesters picket Dallas Black Dance Theatre’s season opener
October 15, 2024 // Dozens of protesters came out on Friday from labor organizations including the Dallas AFL-CIO, Actors’ Equity, Young Active Labor Leaders and American Federation of Musicians. Those picketing also passed out flyers explaining what happened to the fired dancers. AGMA, along with the fired dancers and community members, said they will picket at every DBDT performance this season. They picketed at the DanceAfrica Festival and Marketplace at Klyde Warren Park on Saturday.
Why the protests at American Dream? Workers try to unionize, clash with employers
September 19, 2024 // They’re cleaning staff trying to organize and join part of the union 32BJ Service Employees International Union, and they’ve been protesting the treatment of several of their fellow workers at American Dream. Among their grievances, 32BJ alleged that two people working at the mall as cleaning staff — Jose Terán and Luis Verela — were fired because of their union organizing efforts by HSA Cleaning, a company the mall contracted for cleaning services.
States are pushing back with anti-labor laws as union popularity grows, policy experts say
September 18, 2024 // Growing union organizing across the country has triggered an anti-labor legislative response in some states, but cities and counties are increasingly pushing back, a new report found. The report, released this month by the New York University Wagner Labor Initiative and Local Progress Impact Lab, a group for local elected officials focused on economic and racial justice issues, cites examples of localities all over the U.S. using commissions to document working conditions, creating roles for protecting workers in the heat and educating workers on their labor rights.
OPINION Why don’t unions have to stand for reelection?
September 16, 2024 // The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that 7.4 million workers in the private sector belonged to labor unions in 2023. Yet according to a new study from the Institute for the American Worker, which promotes market-oriented labor reform, fewer than 400,000 of those unionized employees — about 5 percent — have ever voted in an election for the union that represents them. Like me, the vast majority of employees in unionized workplaces were hired after the union had already been voted in. Most unions have never been required to confirm that they have the support of current workers by winning a recertification election. In some workplaces, a lifetime has elapsed — that isn’t hyperbole — since the union was first certified. The United Auto Workers organized General Motors’ Michigan plants in 1937 and has represented the employees who work there ever since. Never once has it had to stand for reelection. What kind of “workplace democracy” is that?
The Accidental Success of the NLRA: How a Law about Unions Achieved Its Goals by Giving Us Fewer Unions
August 30, 2024 // The Wagner Act was passed to promote labor peace. It aimed to keep commerce flowing by promoting collective bargaining, and thus unionism. Taft-Hartley reversed one part of that policy: it helped make unionism, and thus collective bargaining, less common. But by doing so, it finally achieved labor law’s original goal. The labor market today is more peaceful than at any time in the last century. And that peace owes in large part to the relative scarcity of unions. That lesson is worth keeping in mind in contemporary debates. Today, voices on both sides of the aisle laud the benefits of unionism. They speak of unions as vehicles of workplace democracy—a productive way for workers to express their collective discontent. But unions have not always funneled discontent through peaceful channels: when given too much power, they have disrupted the avenues of commerce.
Sign language interpreters in Clovis schools file to become bargaining unit. Why now?
August 28, 2024 // The group currently serves 61 students from elementary to high schools. Houts said the district has a shortage of interpreters and some students are going to classes without the services, which has become a legal issue. “So (we need) a contract that would increase wages and improve working conditions so those staffing ratios are not deficient,” she said. The goal for the group is to provide a better package so that interpreters can stay and serve students in the long term. Kelly Avants, Clovis Unified spokesperson, said not all interpreters work eight hours a day, but there is “a range of up to $78,000 for a full-time person near the top of the salary schedule.” The district also pays $15,055 per person per year for the health benefit plan and contributes nearly 27% of an employee’s retirement plan.
Casting Assistants Unanimously Vote to Unionize With Teamsters Locals
August 14, 2024 // Ninety-one casting assistants employed by top studios supported unionizing with Locals 399 and 817 in a National Labor Relations Board vote.