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Service & Solidarity Spotlight: 1,100 UAW Members at Blue Cross Blue Shield Michigan Go on Strike

Working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our Service & Solidarity Spotlight series, we'll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.

About 1,100 Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan workers who work call center and claims processing jobs went on strike Wednesday. The workers are members of the International Union, United Automobile,  Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW). They walked off the job in pursuit of a fair contract.

“These people are the heart and soul of Blue Cross Blue Shield,” said Steve Dawes, director of UAW Region 1D. “They are the ones who take care of the people when they are in the most important time of need in their life. When the CEO of this corporation makes well above $15 million a year and it takes a new hire here 22 years to reach top rate, we have a serious problem with this company.

Kenneth Quinnell Thu, 09/14/2023 - 07:54

Service & Solidarity Spotlight: Are You ‘All In’ with UAW Members?

Working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our Service & Solidarity Spotlight series, we'll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.

Union contracts for 150,000 International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW) members at the Big Three automakers expire Sept. 14. It will take the unity and strength of every UAW member, union, community and political ally to win what autoworkers and every worker deserves. The Big Three have made extreme profits over the past decade. Workers deserve fair pay and the Big Three can afford it. You can show your support.

Add your name and sign the petition to show you’ve got 150,000 UAW members’ backs!

To get the very latest news about Big Three bargaining, tune into UAW President Shawn Fain’s Facebook Live this Wednesday, Sept. 13, at 5 p.m. ET.

Kenneth Quinnell Wed, 09/13/2023 - 08:16

Service & Solidarity Spotlight: IAM Wins Campaign for 100-Plus New Members at North Dakota Farming Equipment Manufacturer

Working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our Service & Solidarity Spotlight series, we'll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.

The Machinists (IAM) Organizing Department won a hard-fought two-year campaign to represent 103 workers at Vaderstad Inc., an agricultural equipment manufacturer in Wahpeton, North Dakota. Production workers at the facility make air seeders and tillage equipment.

“This group stuck together and was determined to win a voice on the job and a better life for themselves, their families and their communities,” said IAM Organizing Department Grand Lodge Representative Dennis Mendenhall. “They ran their campaign from the inside and remained united through every anti-union tactic they encountered.”

Kenneth Quinnell Tue, 09/12/2023 - 09:57

Service & Solidarity Spotlight: Miners at Cleveland-Cliffs Northshore Join USW

Working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our Service & Solidarity Spotlight series, we'll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.

The United Steelworkers (USW) welcomed workers at Cleveland-Cliffs’ Northshore Mining as the newest members of the union. There are approximately 400 workers in the mine in Babbitt, Minnesota, and plant in Silver Bay, Minnesota. They authorized the union using card-check. “Mining in Minnesota provides essential support for our local communities, our domestic steel industry and our nation’s critical infrastructure,” said USW District 11 Director Emil Ramirez. “We’re honored that workers at Northshore chose our union.”

Kenneth Quinnell Mon, 09/11/2023 - 10:00

Service & Solidarity Spotlight: Working People Respond to Hurricane Idalia

Working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our Service & Solidarity Spotlight series, we'll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.

But union members also are affected by hurricanes, and we respond by taking care of each other. While many were prepared for Hurricane Idalia, there were still many who were affected negatively. Unions have responded not only with rescue and recovery efforts, but by doing wellness checks on fellow union members, raising funds, and gathering and distributing supplies to needy families.

You can do your part. AFL-CIO houses a Union Community Fund for disaster relief. Any resources given above and beyond what is needed for Hurricane Idalia will be used to support future relief efforts. Contributions can be made via credit card: go.aflcio.org/relief

Or by mail to: 
Union Community Fund
Note in the memo line: “Disaster Relief Efforts”
815 Black Lives Matter Plaza NW
Washington, DC 20006

Kenneth Quinnell Fri, 09/08/2023 - 10:33

Service & Solidarity Spotlight: USW’s Conway: How a First Union Contract Provides Workers a Seat at the Table

Working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our Service & Solidarity Spotlight series, we'll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.

In an editorial for the St. Louis/Southern Illinois Labor Tribune, United Steelworkers (USW) International President Tom Conway said: “Workers who want to band together for better futures often face prolonged and brutal anti-union campaigns from employers hellbent on holding them down....

“When bullying fails to stop workers from organizing, many employers simply shift gears and try to thwart bargaining. More than one-third of companies use anti-union attorneys to derail negotiations, and a quarter threaten to close workplaces in an effort to sabotage contract talks, among other abuses, according to new research by Cornell University.”

Read the full editorial.

Kenneth Quinnell Thu, 09/07/2023 - 10:03

Service & Solidarity Spotlight: Staten Island Ferry Workers Win New Contract After 13 Years

Working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our Service & Solidarity Spotlight series, we'll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.

Approximately 120 Staten Island Ferry workers who have gone without a pay raise since 2009 announced a collective bargaining agreement that guarantees them an immediate salary increase of 28.55%. The bump is retroactive, which means six-figure sums in back pay. The workers, members of the Marine Engineers’ Beneficial Association (MEBA), work as engineers, captains and mates, and they voted 94% to approve the contract, which goes through January 2027.

Kenneth Quinnell Wed, 09/06/2023 - 10:01

Service & Solidarity Spotlight: UAW Files Unfair Labor Practices Charges Against Big Automakers, Alleging ‘Willful Refusal to Bargain’

Working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our Service & Solidarity Spotlight series, we'll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.

The International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW) filed unfair labor practice charges against General Motors and Stellantis, accusing the carmakers of illegally refusing to bargain in good faith. Contracts with the “Big Three” automakers (GM, Stellantis and Ford) are set to expire in two weeks. UAW is seeking a 46% wage increase over four years, more paid time off, and the elimination of tiers that leave newer workers with paltry pay and benefits.

“I'm sad to report that the Big Three are either not listening, or they are not taking us seriously,” Fain said. “Both General Motors and Stellantis have failed to give us any economic counters. GM and Stellantis’ willful refusal to bargain in good faith is not only insulting and counterproductive, it’s also illegal. That’s why…our union filed unfair labor practice charges, or ULPs, against both GM and Stellantis with the National Labor Relations Board.”

Kenneth Quinnell Tue, 09/05/2023 - 09:08

Economy Gains 187,000 Jobs in August; Unemployment Up Slightly at 3.8%

The U.S. economy gained 187,000 jobs in August, and the unemployment rate rose slightly to 3.8%, according to figures released Friday morning by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. This strong jobs report shows the continued success of President Biden's policies.

August’s biggest job gains were in health care (+71,000), leisure and hospitality (+40,000), social assistance (+26,000), construction (+22,000) and professional and business services (+19,000). Employment declined in transportation and warehousing (–34,000) and information (–15,000). Employment showed little change over the month in other major industries, including mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction; manufacturing; wholesale trade; retail trade; financial activities; other services and government.

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rate rose for adult men (3.7%), White Americans (3.4%) and Asian Americans (3.1%) in August. The jobless rates for teenagers (12.2%), Black Americans (5.3%), Hispanics (4.9%) and adult women (3.2%) showed little change over the month.

The number of long-term unemployed workers (those jobless for 27 weeks or longer) edged up in August and accounted for 20.3% of the total number of people unemployed.

Kenneth Quinnell Fri, 09/01/2023 - 11:58

Service & Solidarity Spotlight: University of Illinois Chicago Faculty End Strike After Reaching Tentative Contract Agreement

Working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our Service & Solidarity Spotlight series, we'll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.

Classes resumed at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) after faculty, members of UIC United Faculty/AFT, agreed to a tentative contract and suspended their strike that started last week. The four-year deal ends the faculty’s second strike in nine years. It increases minimum salaries for nontenure-track faculty to $60,000 and for tenure-track members to $71,500 in the contract’s first year. It also increases average annual salaries by 17.75% over the next four years and provides improved job protections for nontenure-track faculty.

Kenneth Quinnell Fri, 09/01/2023 - 09:59

Service & Solidarity Spotlight: Shuler: State of the Unions Is Strong with Record Public Support, Unprecedented Activism and Organizing this Labor Day

Working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our Service & Solidarity Spotlight series, we'll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.

AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler and AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Fred Redmond delivered an inaugural State of the Unions address on Tuesday where they released new polling, which underscores the American people’s support of unions—especially that of young workers—and their view of unions as critical to growing the middle class and providing opportunities for working people to thrive. Additionally, both officers stressed that with this unprecedented level of support, working people in unions are prepared to organize like never before, hold big corporations accountable and restore America’s promise for all.

“The idea of a union may sound complicated, but in reality, unions are just a group of people coming together. They are about each of us becoming the most powerful version of ourselves that we possibly can,” Shuler said. “And there is nothing better than finding that power alongside the people we work with and being a part of something bigger than ourselves. That’s all a union is. It’s that simple. People in this country have been searching for their power for a long time now, young people especially.”

You can read President Shuler’s full remarks here.

Kenneth Quinnell Wed, 08/30/2023 - 09:38

Service & Solidarity Spotlight: Nearly 90% of Duke Graduate Students Vote ‘Union Yes’

Working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our Service & Solidarity Spotlight series, we'll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.

Duke Graduate Students Union won a historic, landslide victory, becoming one of the largest unions in North Carolina. Their union victory is the first such victory at a private university in the South and the largest union victory in North Carolina since 2008. The students campaigned for respect and the freedom to thrive while working at one of the wealthiest private universities in the nation, which fought to deny them their freedom to join together in a union.

Kenneth Quinnell Tue, 08/29/2023 - 09:38

Service & Solidarity Spotlight: UAW Votes 97% in Favor of Strike Authorization

Working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our Service & Solidarity Spotlight series, we'll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.

The 150,000 members of the International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW) voted 97% in favor of strike authorization if the Big Three automakers (Ford, General Motors and Stellantis) refuse to reach a fair deal.

“Our union’s membership is clearly fed up with living paycheck-to-paycheck while the corporate elite and billionaire class continue to make out like bandits,” said UAW President Shawn Fain on Friday. “The Big Three have been breaking the bank while we have been breaking our backs.”

The union demands wage increases, the elimination of tiered wages and benefits, the return of cost-of-living allowances and defined benefit pensions and retiree health care, the right to strike over plant closures, significant increases to current retiree benefits, and more paid time off.

“Our members’ expectations are high because Big Three profits are so high. The Big Three made a combined $21 billion in profits in just the first six months of this year,” Fain said. “That’s on top of the quarter-trillion dollars in North American profits they made over the last decade. While Big Three executives and shareholders got rich, UAW members got left behind. Our message to the Big Three is simple: record profits mean record contracts.”

Kenneth Quinnell Mon, 08/28/2023 - 10:00

Service & Solidarity Spotlight: Redmond: 60 Years After the March on Washington, Let’s Recommit to the Fight for Justice

Working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our Service & Solidarity Spotlight series, we'll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.

On the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Fred Redmond wrote an op-ed for Word in Black:

Sixty years ago this month, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and delivered perhaps his most famous speech to a quarter of a million people….

But what often gets lost in its brilliance is the why. Why were a quarter of a million people gathered on the National Mall in the first place? They were there for civil rights and economic justice, they were there for the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

When Dr. King finished his address, he handed the microphone back to A. Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin—prominent Black labor leaders and the chief architects of the March—recited a list of the demands the labor, faith, and civil rights movement leaders would deliver to President Kennedy.

They demanded equal access to jobs, public accommodations, and voting rights. They called for full employment and a raise in the federal minimum wage. And Randolph and Rustin led the tremendous crowd in a pledge to persist until every demand had been fulfilled….

But 60 years later, working people have seen so much of that progress stalled, reversed, and in some cases, completely erased.

Continue reading.

Kenneth Quinnell Fri, 08/25/2023 - 10:02

Service & Solidarity Spotlight: LIUNA Members in Columbia, Missouri, Secure Contract with 6% Pay Increases

Working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our Service & Solidarity Spotlight series, we'll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.

Members of Laborers (LIUNA) Local 955 in Columbia, Missouri, voted to ratify their new contract with the city and will see a minimum 6% pay increase if the City Council approves the final contract. The contract covers some 230 service and maintenance workers for the city, including public works, utilities and the airport. 

“We are decently excited about this, we didn't get everything we wanted, there are still some concerns regarding wage compression next year, and we still have the issue of paid family leave,” union representative Andrew Hutchinson said. “The rallies and the community picnic that was held by union workers did this, because we know a quality workplace for us is a quality living space for the city of Columbia.”

 

Kenneth Quinnell Thu, 08/24/2023 - 10:55

Service & Solidarity Spotlight: Supermajorities of Faculty at Howard and Frederick Community Colleges Vote to Join AFT

Working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our Service & Solidarity Spotlight series, we'll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.

Workers at Howard Community College (HCC) and Frederick Community College (FCC) in Maryland filed for official union recognition on Aug. 21. More than 80% of the 170 faculty at HCC and 100 faculty at FCC petitioned the state Public Employee Relations Board to join the American Association of University Professors, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and AFT-Maryland. HCC faculty are fighting for respect and job security. FCC faculty also are organizing for respect and an end to ever-increasing workloads, abusive management, unclear and inconsistent policies, and inadequate and stagnant compensation.

“I support FCC faculty’s unionization effort because the history of the institution shows that no existing organization, including FCC's board of trustees and various state and regional accreditation organizations, will protect faculty and other employees from abusive administrators,” said FCC math faculty member Greg Coldren. “The solidarity and power we are creating with our union will ensure our protection.”

 

Kenneth Quinnell Wed, 08/23/2023 - 10:02

Service & Solidarity Spotlight: New Poll Shows Two-Thirds of Americans Support SAG-AFTRA, WGA Strikes

Working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our Service & Solidarity Spotlight series, we'll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.

AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler released the following statement in response to the new nationwide poll, conducted by Data for Progress—showing a strong majority of voters support the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and SAG-AFTRA—as members continue their strikes and negotiate for fair pay and employment protections.

“This latest poll confirms what we’ve been hearing across the country: The American people strongly support the striking writers, performers and other media professionals, and overwhelmingly agree that they should be compensated fairly and protected from studios using AI to replace human workers,” said Shuler. “Voters understand that this isn’t just about one industry—this is about all of us—and unions need to have a seat at the table to take on the existential threat AI poses to our livelihoods and economy.”

Read more details on the poll.

Kenneth Quinnell Tue, 08/22/2023 - 09:43

Service & Solidarity Spotlight: CWA Members Take Over Airports with Rallies for Fair Contracts

Working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our Service & Solidarity Spotlight series, we'll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.

After a year of stalled negotiations for a new contract, members of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and passenger service members of the Teamsters (IBT) at American Airlines rallied outside 10 airports as part of a national day of action to demand better pay, more job security and better working conditions.

“Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, passenger service workers risked their own health and safety to continue serving the flying public and aided the airline industry’s economic recovery along the way,” said CWA President Claude Cummings Jr. “These workers deserve respect and they deserve a contract that recognizes their value to the company and the industry. It’s time for American Airlines to stop stalling and get serious at the bargaining table.”

Kenneth Quinnell Mon, 08/21/2023 - 12:12

Service & Solidarity Spotlight: IBEW Local 4 Reaches Agreement with St. Louis NBC Affiliate KSDK, Ends Boycott

Working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our Service & Solidarity Spotlight series, we'll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.

Members of the Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 4 ratified an agreement with St. Louis NBC affiliate KSDK that ends a monthslong boycott by the union. The new contract includes raises, new jobs and a guarantee to hire union members to replace retirees. Local 4 led a boycott of the station until a fair contract was secured. “Going into this contract negotiation we had concern about the ongoing reduction of our bargaining unit we’ve experience[d] in the last few years that was contrary to what they had assured us when we gave them some allowances a few years ago,” said Local 4 business manager and financial secretary Mike Pendergast. “The real issue for us was putting a thumb in the dam to stop that work from going away.”

Kenneth Quinnell Thu, 08/17/2023 - 08:43

Service & Solidarity Spotlight: New Jersey Labor Movement Rallies with Striking Nurses at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital

Working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our Service & Solidarity Spotlight series, we'll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.

United Steelworkers (USW) Local 4-200 nurses on strike at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital were joined on the picket line by New Jersey State AFL-CIO officers—President Charles Wowkanech (IUOE) and Secretary-Treasurer Laurel Brennan (Workers United)—hundreds of union members, union leaders, activists and elected officials. The message was clear: management needs to bargain in good faith and offer a fair and equitable contract that includes safe staffing ratios for essential health care workers.

“The pandemic clearly illustrated the dedication and resilience of these workers who risked their health to battle COVID on the front lines of patient care” said Wowkanech. “Now, with the pandemic behind us, we see even more clearly how understaffed hospitals are and how this is having a direct adverse impact on patient care and hospital staff.”

Kenneth Quinnell Wed, 08/16/2023 - 09:52