The National Labor Relations Board was created by the Wagner Act in 1935 to enforce the protections to workers under the law, including the right to organize. In order to function it needs the funding to pay for its investigation of complaints, the legal staff needed to enforce its mandate in offices around the country and the many other functions it is charged with doing.
But for many years, it has been woefully underfunded, which makes it virtually impossible to carried out its major function to protect America’s working people. Despite rising inflation, its funding has not increased since 2014 when Republicans won control of Congress and revived their decades-old campaign to scuttle protections for the rights of working people to organize. For full details, see the article in Labor Notes by clicking on the link below.
In the face of difficulties in getting the federal government to act, many local governments are taking action to protect workers’ rights. For example, while the federal minimum wage still stands mired at $7.25, fifty-two cities and towns across the country have raised the minimum wage, many are now in the range of $15/hour – affecting some four million workers whose annual income has been boosted by about $7,800. Twenty localities now require companies to provide paid sick days.
State laws are following suit. New Jersey has a statewide paid sick leave law, New York State recently enacted a law protecting pay for independent freelance workers after New York City passed one five years ago.
The latest retail chain employees to begin a drive toward unionization were the workers at the REI store in SoHo, Manhattan. They unionized their store in March. Now workers at an REI in Berkeley, CA has filed for a union election. Among the grievances they list is the chronic understaffing that has put a terrific strain on a worker trying to do a job that was meant for more than one person. It has also resulted in employees who are part-time now working 40 hours a week without the same benefits of health care, time-off, and overtime pay as full-timers. Another is the large disparity in pay among full-time workers.
More Perfect Union, 7/9
BIG IAM WIN AT ALASKA AIRLINES
Five thousand customer service and ramp workers, members of the Machinists Union (IAM), at Alaska Airlines have just won a three-year contract providing for raises from 16 to 25 percent.
STARBUCKS UNION DRIVE ROLLS ON
Starbucks workers are continuing to o organize into the independent union Workers United, From April to June Starbucks workers left their counters and walked out on strike in Seattle and three other locations in Washington State and at stores in Massachusetts, Virginia, and South Carolina to protest the company’s union-busting tactics.
CASINO WORKERS SET TO STRIKE
Some 6,000 members of Unite Here Local 54 that staff the casinos in Atlantic City, New Jersey, are set to strike at any day now.
RR WORKERS SET STRIKE VOTE
The Teamsters Union affiliate, Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen are currently taking a national strike vote but a strike at this point is unlikely, say labor observers. This is because railroad workers are not governed by the normal labor laws. They are, instead, subject to the provisions of the Railway Labor Act which empowers the President to convene a board to negotiate a final settlement of railway labor matters.
Who Gets the Bird, 6/25, 7/2
STRIKE VOTE OK’d AT HARPER COLLINS
Workers at HarperCollins publishers have voted to authorize a strike if the company refuses to agree to a fair contact. Issues that the union is pushing for include pay, stronger job protection, better family leave benefits and a greater commitment for diversifying staff. Another issue arose after HarperCollins bought out Houghton Mifflin Harcourt trade division and the company’s refusal to include Houghton’s employers in Boston in the union’s bargaining unit or recognize their seniority as HarperCollins employees. The union, UAW Local 2110, represents workers in the editorial, legal, sales, design, marketing, and publicity departments. The current negotiations come after a year in which the company posted record profits.
In an earlier post, we described how workers in various museums around the country – scientists, educators, administrative staff, art handlers, gift shop clerks, ushers, and others – are organizing into unions. Here are some of the latest union wins in this field:
Carnegie Museum Workers in Pittsburgh, representing the city’s Museum of Natural History, Museum of Art, Science Center, and Andy Warhol Musum.
Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.
Milwaukee Art Museum.
Portland Museum of Art.
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York.
Museum of Tolerance and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles.
Latest figures compiled by the AFL-CIO continue to provide evidence that the American workplace, in many instances, is an unsafe place. Particularly significant is the fact that, in a very large number of cases, workplace fatalities are the result of company neglect, particularly in non-union shops where there is no one to push for needed safety precautions.
Another major factor is the weakening of safety regulations, the reduction of the budget and staff at the Occupational Safety and Health Agency, the federal body that is charged with making and enforcing safety rules, and the meager penalties doled out to companies that are found to violate the rules.
The shocking figures below list only work-related fatalities, not the vastly higher number of serious injuries on the job. They are for the year 2020, the last year for which the AFL-CIO completed a tally of job related deaths in the United States.
Number of workers killed on the job: 4,764.
Number of workers killed each day: 350
Estimated number of workers who died from occupational diseases: 120,000.
Number of worker deaths caused by workplace violence: 765.
https://www.spotlightonlabor.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/icon.png500500Paul Beckerhttps://www.spotlightonlabor.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/spotlight_logo_.pngPaul Becker2022-06-22 17:10:232022-06-22 17:10:23DEATH ON THE JOB
UNDERFUNDING THE NLRB
The National Labor Relations Board was created by the Wagner Act in 1935 to enforce the protections to workers under the law, including the right to organize. In order to function it needs the funding to pay for its investigation of complaints, the legal staff needed to enforce its mandate in offices around the country and the many other functions it is charged with doing.
But for many years, it has been woefully underfunded, which makes it virtually impossible to carried out its major function to protect America’s working people. Despite rising inflation, its funding has not increased since 2014 when Republicans won control of Congress and revived their decades-old campaign to scuttle protections for the rights of working people to organize. For full details, see the article in Labor Notes by clicking on the link below.
Labor Notes, 7/6
LOCAL ACTIONS TAKE LEAD ON WORKER RIGHTS
In the face of difficulties in getting the federal government to act, many local governments are taking action to protect workers’ rights. For example, while the federal minimum wage still stands mired at $7.25, fifty-two cities and towns across the country have raised the minimum wage, many are now in the range of $15/hour – affecting some four million workers whose annual income has been boosted by about $7,800. Twenty localities now require companies to provide paid sick days.
State laws are following suit. New Jersey has a statewide paid sick leave law, New York State recently enacted a law protecting pay for independent freelance workers after New York City passed one five years ago.
Portside, 6/28
2nd REI STORE FILES FOR UNION ELECTION
The latest retail chain employees to begin a drive toward unionization were the workers at the REI store in SoHo, Manhattan. They unionized their store in March. Now workers at an REI in Berkeley, CA has filed for a union election. Among the grievances they list is the chronic understaffing that has put a terrific strain on a worker trying to do a job that was meant for more than one person. It has also resulted in employees who are part-time now working 40 hours a week without the same benefits of health care, time-off, and overtime pay as full-timers. Another is the large disparity in pay among full-time workers.
More Perfect Union, 7/9
BIG IAM WIN AT ALASKA AIRLINES
Five thousand customer service and ramp workers, members of the Machinists Union (IAM), at Alaska Airlines have just won a three-year contract providing for raises from 16 to 25 percent.
STARBUCKS UNION DRIVE ROLLS ON
Starbucks workers are continuing to o organize into the independent union Workers United, From April to June Starbucks workers left their counters and walked out on strike in Seattle and three other locations in Washington State and at stores in Massachusetts, Virginia, and South Carolina to protest the company’s union-busting tactics.
CASINO WORKERS SET TO STRIKE
Some 6,000 members of Unite Here Local 54 that staff the casinos in Atlantic City, New Jersey, are set to strike at any day now.
RR WORKERS SET STRIKE VOTE
The Teamsters Union affiliate, Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen are currently taking a national strike vote but a strike at this point is unlikely, say labor observers. This is because railroad workers are not governed by the normal labor laws. They are, instead, subject to the provisions of the Railway Labor Act which empowers the President to convene a board to negotiate a final settlement of railway labor matters.
Who Gets the Bird, 6/25, 7/2
STRIKE VOTE OK’d AT HARPER COLLINS
Workers at HarperCollins publishers have voted to authorize a strike if the company refuses to agree to a fair contact. Issues that the union is pushing for include pay, stronger job protection, better family leave benefits and a greater commitment for diversifying staff. Another issue arose after HarperCollins bought out Houghton Mifflin Harcourt trade division and the company’s refusal to include Houghton’s employers in Boston in the union’s bargaining unit or recognize their seniority as HarperCollins employees. The union, UAW Local 2110, represents workers in the editorial, legal, sales, design, marketing, and publicity departments. The current negotiations come after a year in which the company posted record profits.
Publishers Weekly, 7/5
Museum Workers Choosing Unions
Labor BriefsIn an earlier post, we described how workers in various museums around the country – scientists, educators, administrative staff, art handlers, gift shop clerks, ushers, and others – are organizing into unions. Here are some of the latest union wins in this field:
Carnegie Museum Workers in Pittsburgh, representing the city’s Museum of Natural History, Museum of Art, Science Center, and Andy Warhol Musum.
Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.
Milwaukee Art Museum.
Portland Museum of Art.
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York.
Museum of Tolerance and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles.
Frye Art Museum in Seattle.
Philadelphia Museum of Art.
AFL-CIO Website
DEATH ON THE JOB
Labor BriefsLatest figures compiled by the AFL-CIO continue to provide evidence that the American workplace, in many instances, is an unsafe place. Particularly significant is the fact that, in a very large number of cases, workplace fatalities are the result of company neglect, particularly in non-union shops where there is no one to push for needed safety precautions.
Another major factor is the weakening of safety regulations, the reduction of the budget and staff at the Occupational Safety and Health Agency, the federal body that is charged with making and enforcing safety rules, and the meager penalties doled out to companies that are found to violate the rules.
The shocking figures below list only work-related fatalities, not the vastly higher number of serious injuries on the job. They are for the year 2020, the last year for which the AFL-CIO completed a tally of job related deaths in the United States.
Number of workers killed on the job: 4,764.
Number of workers killed each day: 350
Estimated number of workers who died from occupational diseases: 120,000.
Number of worker deaths caused by workplace violence: 765.
AFL-CIO website
Also, for earlier information on workplace deaths and injuries including descriptions of numerous incidents, see Confined Space – Weekly Toll: The Last Shift, 1/17.