UAW local 2110 based in New York City is breaking new ground organizing workers at cultural institutions across the region. Like all workers, they are fighting for fair wages, benefits, work and life balance and respect at work. To date, workers at these institutions have voted overwhelmingly to join our union:
Workers at an Apple store outside Baltimore have formed the tech giant’s first retail union in the U.S., marking another high-profile victory for the labor movement this year.
Employees at the company’s Towson Center store voted 65 to 33 in favor of joining the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, according to a vote count conducted Saturday by the National Labor Relations Board. Board officials have not certified the results yet to make them official.
The president of the machinists union, Robert Martinez Jr., immediately called upon Apple to start negotiating a contract, and praised the Apple workers for what he called a “historic victory.”
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.
UAW LOCAL LISTS WINS AT CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS
United Auto Workers Website
BALTIMORE STORE: FIRST IN APPLE CHAIN TO ORGANIZE
Workers at an Apple store outside Baltimore have formed the tech giant’s first retail union in the U.S., marking another high-profile victory for the labor movement this year.
Employees at the company’s Towson Center store voted 65 to 33 in favor of joining the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, according to a vote count conducted Saturday by the National Labor Relations Board. Board officials have not certified the results yet to make them official.
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