Posts tagged working conditions
Nurses union to pay HCA Healthcare $6.2M over 2020 strike
June 21, 2024 // A local unit of SEIU has been ordered to pay HCA Healthcare's Riverside Community Hospital $6.2 million for conducting a 10-day strike in 2020. An arbitrator last month ordered the payment after it was found last year that nurse labor union SEIU Local 121RN violated a collective bargaining agreement with the hospital by holding the strike in June 2020.
Disneyland Unionization Shuts Down Attractions: 2,000 Cast Members Gear Up for Major Protests
June 6, 2024 // Nearly 2,000 cast members have voted to unionize at Disneyland Resort in California, sparking concerns from the House of Mouse, so much so that the company is rumored to be looking into closing down experiences and attractions amidst the possibility of protests breaking out.
Commentary: Public employers should not collect dues for unions
June 3, 2024 // A bill passed last year in Arkansas is one that Washington state lawmakers should add to and propose, pass and send to the governor of our state. The Arkansas law prohibits school districts from deducting dues from employees' paychecks. Educators can pay a union on their own, of course. The new law also requires union member applications to contain a notice letting public workers — again, paid by taxpayers — know of their “rights to join or refrain from joining a labor organization.”
The Delivery Business Shows Why Unions Are Struggling to Expand
May 29, 2024 // But the union has also suffered losses. Yellow, a trucking company that employed 24,000 Teamsters, shut down and filed for bankruptcy protection last year. Amazon and FedEx said they were confident in their approach to managing and compensating workers. Amazon said it had made investments that bolstered pay and benefits at its delivery contractors. FedEx said its nonunion model allowed it to quickly increase pay whereas UPS’s union employees were bound by the terms of five-year contracts.
Climbing Gyms Are Unionizing. What Does That Mean For Our Community?
May 23, 2024 // Kim and her coworkers countered with their own campaign. Throughout February, they published bubble-lettered posts on Instagram such as “7 Reasons to Join a Union” and “Union Busting Bingo,” which warned employees to beware messages like, “This will make it an ‘Us’ vs. ‘Them,’” and, “Give us a chance to fix things.” They also hosted in-person “solidarity climbs” with affinity groups that included Escalamos, ParaCliffHangers, and Queer Crush, trying to rally pro-union sentiment within each gym’s community. On Sunday nights, employees met virtually with a unionized employee at VITAL—a New York City-based gym that, since its unanimous vote to form a union in 2022, has been seen as a success story by organizers nationwide—who walked Touchstone workers through the process and implications of unionizing.
Wesleyan Grad Students Move to Unionize
April 25, 2024 // Graduate students at Yale had their union recognized in January 2023, and Harvard graduate students had their first contract with the administration in January 2021. UConn has had a graduate and postdoc union since 2013. Sagarian said one of the biggest drivers for the Wesleyan students to unionize was the issue of pay equity across departments. Sagarian said that the graduate students in music have historically tended to make less than graduate students in other departments.
Disney Reacts to Mickey Mouse, Cinderella Unionization – What Happens Next?
April 22, 2024 // The move comes after the group announced a union organizing effort in February, a process that often faces challenges before reaching the stage of filing for a vote. However, on Wednesday, the union revealed that it had submitted cards signed by over two-thirds of the 1,700 employees, requesting the National Labor Relations Board to oversee an election. President of Equity, Kate Shindle, highlighted the historical context, noting that character performers at Disneyland Resort have remained non-unionized since the park’s inception in the 1950s. She emphasized the disparity as other workers in the park unionized over the years. The momentum for union organizing has surged, particularly following significant contract victories that resulted in substantial pay raises for union members, including those at Disney World in Orlando, Florida.
SA introduces bill advocating for on-campus unionizing efforts
April 18, 2024 // Leaders of Syracuse University’s Student Association have developed a bill establishing the assembly’s support of on-campus unionization efforts, SA President William Treloar announced during its Monday meeting. The bill, titled “Supporting Student Unions,” intends to put SA’s commitment to all unionizing groups on campus into writing. The association plans to vote on the bill during its next general assembly meeting on Monday, April 22. Throughout the meeting, Treloar emphasized the importance of the presence of student workers unions on campus, citing efforts for improving wages, working conditions and contractual benefits. “There have been massive unionization efforts across campus recently that really started with graduate students,” Treloar said. “This effort has been taken over by several different groups of students looking for better working conditions.”
Indiana Graduate Workers Coalition endorses 3-day strike
April 15, 2024 // In January, IGWC submitted 1,300 union cards to Indiana University President Pamela Whitten, per a release. IGWC also asked IU to hold a union election and bargain with the union. The union indicated that its correspondence was not answered by university officials. IGWC led a four-week strike of graduate workers in 2022. That strike resulted in IU raising yearly minimum salaries for graduate workers from $15,000 to $22,000, per a release.