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Local and National Union News
Teamsters go to war against Republic Services.
July 9, 2025 | The union is aggressively expanding a nationwide strike for fair contracts at Republic Services, one of the nation’s largest and wealthiest waste management companies. More than 2,000 Teamsters are currently on strike or actively honoring picket lines in major cities across the country with more strike extensions expected in the coming hours and days. “Republic Services has been threatening a war with American workers for years — and now, they’ve got one,” said Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien. Learn more here. PHOTO/The Vacaville ReporterO'Brien: ‘Tell UPS your good union job is not for sale.’
July 8, 2025 | UPS is trying to buy your job. Managers and their underlings are going to come into your barns and ask you to sign up for this “voluntary severance plan.” We need to be protecting our jobs, and we need everybody, again, to reject this scam. Watch the video to learn how we're going to do it – as one, unified force.
Elsewhere in the News
APWU, U.S. Postal Service Finalizes 3-Year Contract
July 17, 2025 | COLLECTIVE BARGAINING | The American Postal Workers Union, which represents more than 190,000 clerks, mechanics, vehicle drivers, custodians and administrative personnel, has ratified a new three-year labor contract with the U.S. Postal Service that will run through Sept. 20, 2027. The deal covers annual general wage increases, full semi-annual cost-of-living adjustments, recruitment and retention, work rule changes, the first differential increase for night work in 30 years, and use of postal support employees to provide the agency operational flexibility. “This contract, with no givebacks or concessions, provides a strong foundation for us to build on in the years to come,” said APWU President Mark Dimondstein in a news release. … “At a time when government workers are facing layoffs and attacks on their union rights, this contract will protect postal workers through the turbulent years ahead.” FreightWaves
Inflation Accelerated in June as Tariff’s Push Up Costs
July 15, 2025 | ECONOMY | Inflation rose last month to its highest level since February as President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs push up the cost of a range of goods, including furniture, clothing and large appliances.Consumer prices rose 2.7% in June from a year earlier, the Labor Department said Tuesday, up from an annual increase of 2.4% in May. On a monthly basis, prices climbed 0.3% from May to June, after rising just 0.1% the previous month. … The uptick in inflation was driven by a range of higher prices. The cost of gas rose 1% just from May to June, while grocery prices increased 0.35. Appliance prices jumped for the third straight month. Baltimore Banner
The Long and Bitter Detroit Newspaper Strike
July 14, 2025 | LABOR HISTORY | On July 13th, organized labor will mark the 30th anniversary of the Detroit Newspaper Strike/Lockout, the longest and one of the most bitter labor battles in the history of the American newspaper industry. On that date, 2,500 union workers at the Detroit News, Detroit Free Press and the Detroit Newspaper Agency went on strike against two of the largest newspaper chains in the country---Gannett and Knight Ridder. The six unions representing the strikers were: Teamsters Local 372 and Local 2040, representing truck drivers, district managers and mailers; Newspaper Guild of Detroit, Local 22, representing editorial employees at the Free Press, editorial and maintenance employees of The News; Pressmen Local 13-N, representing press operators for the two papers; Detroit Typographical Union Local 18, representing type setters and page designers; and Local 289-M, representing paper and plate handlers. … The papers imported hundreds of scab laborers and private security guards and housed them in area hotels. Deadline Detroit
Week Ending 07/12/2025
• Labor Notes: Amazon workers defy dictates of automation
• Baltimore Brew: Baltimore Sun fires its longtime cartoonist
• Teamsters: Allegiant Air wastes millions; won’t pay pilots
• Teamsters: ‘We’ll die on our feet before we live on our knees’
• The Hill: Immigrants working our most dangerous jobs have rights, recourse
• Mother Jones: Labor Dept. backtracks on cancelled grants for women
• AFGE: Supreme Court allow’s unlawful downsize federal workforce
• The Packer: 70% of farmworkers aren’t returning to CA farms following ICE raids