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Media Unionization Wave Continues: Worker Wins
Our latest roundup of worker wins begins with organizing efforts at a publishing giant and includes numerous examples of working people organizing, bargaining and mobilizing for a better life. The end of 2019 saw a flurry of wins for working people, so this is the second in several posts that will cover the victories of the last quarter of the year.
Employees at Media Giant Hearst Magazines to Join Writers Guild: Employees at one of America’s oldest major magazine publishers are forming a union, becoming the latest big media organization to join the ranks of organized labor. Editorial, photo, video and social media employees working at 24 major Hearst publications voted to be represented by the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE). The publications covered include Elle, Esquire, Town & Country, Cosmopolitan and others. Elle Culture Editor Julie Kosin, also a union organizer, said: “We’re excited to be a part of the labor movement among our peers, and most importantly create a fair and equitable workplace for the future of this industry.”
Chicago Teachers Union End Strike with New...
No Más! The Working People Weekly List
AFL-CIO
Every week, we bring you a roundup of the top news and commentary about issues and events important to working families. Here’s the latest edition of the Working People Weekly List.
No Más! Campaign Calls for Chilean Government to Protect Human Rights: "Since last October, sparked by a hike in public transportation fares, a broad alliance of Chile's unions and other social movements have been protesting against low wages, the high cost of basic necessities and persistently high social inequality. The country's extreme model of privatization of most public services and basic programs in health care, social security and education has guided most public policy since the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship (1973–1990). Since October, the Central Unitaria de Trabajadores (CUT), Chile's largest labor organization, has convened three general strikes, the largest of which brought more than 1 million people into the streets."
Washington Labor Leader Jackie Jeter Retiring: "Longtime labor activist Jackie Jeter (ATU), president of the Metropolitan Washington [D.C.] Council, AFL-CIO,...
Get to Know AFL-CIO's Affiliates: Seafarers
Next up in our series that takes a deeper look at each of our affiliates is the Seafarers.
Name of Union: Seafarers International Union (SIU)
Mission: To represent the best-trained, most efficient crews in the world as a dynamic, politically active organization dedicated to protecting the membership’s job security in the face of the ever-changing needs of the industry.
Current Leadership of Union: Michael Sacco serves as president of the Seafarers International Union of North America, having first been elected to the position in 1988. He also serves as president of his home union, the Seafarers International Union; Atlantic, Gulf, Lakes and Inland Waters, which he has been a member of since 1958. Sacco also serves as president of the AFL-CIO's Maritime Trades Department. The Brooklyn-born Sacco served in the U.S. Air Force and he and his wife, Sophie, have four children.
Augustin Tellez serves as executive vice president, David W. Heindel serves as secretary-treasurer and SIU has six vice presidents.
Number of Members: 80,000.
Members Work As: Professional...
Washington Labor Leader Jackie Jeter Retiring
Chris Garlock
Longtime labor activist Jackie Jeter (ATU), president of the Metropolitan Washington [D.C.] Council, AFL-CIO, will retire at the end of January after a lifelong career in the labor movement.
In addition to her incredible leadership with the council, Jeter served as an elected official with the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 689 in Forestville, Maryland, for more than 25 years. She began as a shop steward for rail operations in 1994 and was elected assistant business agent, first vice president and financial secretary-treasurer before becoming president in 2007. With every new position, Jeter set a historical precedent as the first African American woman to hold those offices.
Jeter also made history at the council when she became its first female president in 2016. Previously, she served on the council’s executive board from 1996 to 2002.
Jeter told the council that now is the right time for this decision. “When I retired from the ATU, I promised myself that I would give back to those who have given me energy, strength and unconditional love...
No Más! Campaign Calls for Chilean Government to Protect Human Rights
CUT
Since last October, sparked by a hike in public transportation fares, a broad alliance of Chile's unions and other social movements have been protesting against low wages, the high cost of basic necessities and persistently high social inequality. The country's extreme model of privatization of most public services and basic programs in health care, social security and education has guided most public policy since the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship (1973–1990). Since October, the Central Unitaria de Trabajadores (CUT), Chile's largest labor organization has convened three general strikes, the largest of which brought more than 1 million people into the streets.
The government reacted to the protests with repression and violence reminiscent of the Pinochet era, leading to the deaths of at least 29 people, thousands of grave injuries and numerous rapes while protesters were in police custody. In response, 18 members of the U.S. House of Representatives called on the U.S. Embassy in Chile to defend the fundamental rights of the Chilean people and...
A Friend of the Workers: Labor Podcast and Radio Roundup
In addition to the AFL-CIO's own "State of the Unions," there are a lot of other podcasts out there that have their own approach to discussing labor issues and the rights of working people. Here are the latest podcasts from across the labor movement in the United States.
Building Bridges: Which of the 2020 Candidates Is a Friend of the Workers?: "With Shaun Richman, program director for the Harry Van Arsdale Jr. Center for Labor Studies at SUNY Empire State College....[We] talk about what the top Democratic Party contenders for the presidency are proposing to better the 'state of the state' of working men and women, as they ready themselves for the Iowa caucuses. We’ll also discuss who supports and the likelihood of the passage of the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, which is scheduled to be introduced in the House of Representative in early February."
Heartland Labor Forum: Neoliberalism: "This week on the Heartland Labor Forum: Recently workers in France and Colombia have shut down their economies when confronted with pension reforms, which attacked their livelihoods....
Safety in the Skies: What Working People Are Doing This Week
AFL-CIO
Welcome to our regular feature, a look at what the various AFL-CIO unions and other working family organizations are doing across the country and beyond. The labor movement is big and active—here's a look at the broad range of activities we're engaged in this week.
Actors' Equity:
Members representing all 28 Equity Liaison Areas convened last July in Minneapolis, MN for a two-day conference w/ staff & members of Council to focus on ways to grow leadership capacity & advance the goals of Equity 2020.
Read more in the Member Portal- https://t.co/ieOIUylvmn pic.twitter.com/ozf9fxVAjG
— Actors' Equity (@ActorsEquity) January 23, 2020
AFGE:
The @USDA's request to the FLRA is not consistent with the law or the facts. #1u https://t.co/AOEIFDKlx6 pic.twitter.com/jF0Qg3C6df
— AFGE (@AFGENational) January 23, 2020
AFSCME:
Public service workers in Puerto Rico work 24/7...
‘State of the Unions’ Podcast: Healing a Community
AFL-CIO
On the latest episode of "State of the Unions," podcast co-hosts Julie and Tim talk with Rev. Leah Daughtry, CEO of "On These Things," about Reconnecting McDowell, an AFT project that takes a holistic approach to revitalizing the education and community of McDowell, West Virginia, and how her faith informs her activism.
Listen to our previous episodes:
Talking to Fire Fighters (IAFF) General President Harold Schaitberger about the union’s behavioral health treatment center dedicated to treating IAFF members struggling with addiction and other related behavioral challenges. The discussion also addresses the toll of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on firefighters and their families, the response of the IAFF in its wake, and the life of a firefighter.
A chat with the podcast team on their favorite episodes of 2019.
A discussion with Cas Mudde, a political scientist at the University of Georgia, on the resurgence of right-wing politicians and activists across the world, much of it cloaked in populist, worker-friendly rhetoric.
...
Get to Know AFL-CIO's Affiliates: Plasterers and Cement Masons
AFL-CIO
Next up in our series that takes a deeper look at each of our affiliates is the Plasterers and Cement Masons.
Name of Union: Plasterers and Cement Masons (OPCMIA)
Mission: To protect and promote the quality of the industry and the livelihood of members, to promote cement and plaster, to recruit and train skilled craftsmen to meet the demands of the industry, and to hold the union responsible to this commitment for the future of the industry and the welfare of all those who earn their living in it.
Current Leadership of Union: Daniel E. Stepano serves as the general president for the OPCMIA, a role he has served in since 2016. He first joined the union as a plasterer in 1980 in Pittsburgh for Local No. 31. After many years of service to the local and beyond, he was appointed international vice president in 2004. At that year's international convention, he was elected to serve as vice president. In 2007, he became executive vice president for the OPCMIA and was re-elected to the role before becoming president.
Kevin D. Sexton serves...
A Win for Nurses and Patients: Worker Wins
Our latest roundup of worker wins begins with nurses banding together to make patients' lives better and includes numerous examples of working people organizing, bargaining and mobilizing for a better life. The end of 2019 saw a flurry of wins for working people, so this is the first in several posts over the next week that will cover the victories of the last quarter of the year.
California Nurses Win New Master Contract: Nearly 4,000 registered nurses at eight Tenet hospitals in California approved a new master contract. The nurses are members of California Nurses Association/National Nurses United (CNA/NNU). The new agreement enhances recruitment and retention, assures eight-hour rest periods between shifts, adequate breaks, scheduling improvements, better health and safety, wage increases, and protections for the nurses' health care. “We are very proud of what we’ve achieved with this new contract. It is a testament to what registered nurses can accomplish collectively when we stand together as committed patient advocates,” said Ginny Gary, an registered nurse at the Los Alamitos Medical Center...
