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Local and National Union News
Amazon workers strike at major West Coast hub
July 26, 2023 | Amazon workers organizing with the Teamsters at the company’s major air hub in Southern California walked off the job [last] Sunday in an unfair labor practice (ULP) strike over retaliation workers have faced for union organizing. The KSBD warehouse in San Bernardino is a crucial cog in Amazon’s logistics network and the largest air facility on the West Coast. The walkout in San Bernardino comes as Amazon workers nationwide organize in droves in a fight for better pay, safer working conditions, and a voice on the job, including Amazon Teamsters from Palmdale, California and Skokie, Illinois, who are currently on strike and extending their picket line to facilities across the country. Learn more here.Teamsters invite Harris to rank-and-file presidential roundtable
July 23, 2023 | Yesterday, the Teamsters Union officially invited Vice President Kamala Harris to sit down with rank-and-file Teamsters for a member roundtable following the recent announcement of her candidacy for U.S. President. “The Teamsters look forward to welcoming Vice President Kamala Harris to International Union headquarters in the near future to meet with our members directly,” said Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien. “As we have said throughout this process, our members’ voices must be heard at all levels of our government to ensure the needs of working people are put first." All major candidates for President participated in roundtables between March 2023-2024.Disneyland cast members authorize a strike *
July 23, 2023 | * Update: Tentative agreement announced. In a direct response to Disney executives’ refusal to negotiate in good faith and the company’s numerous unfair labor practices, Teamsters at Disneyland overwhelmingly voted to authorize a strike. In California, 6,000 of the over 14,000 cast members at Disney are Teamsters. At Disneyland, these workers, including resort parking and transportation staff, attraction hosts, and animal care workers, are fighting for higher wages, better benefits, fair attendance policies, seniority rights, safer working conditions, and greater respect on the job. Learn more here.O’Brien takes on Big Business at RNC
O’Brien to take the podium at tonight's Republican National Convention
July 15, 2023 | Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien will address the American worker — and the nation at 10 pm EDT tonight. Teamsters labor, and Teamsters votes, will not be taken for granted. According to the Associated Press, a number of networks have announced special programming for the prime-time portions of the convention and prime-time speeches. Tune in. You don’t want to miss it!
Elsewhere in the News
Week Ending 07/26/2024
• Paid parental leave access is increasing in the US
• NFL, players union in talks about 18-game season
• Md. set to finalize its heat standard for workers
• What does a likely Harris-Trump matchup mean for Labor?
• What power does the president really have over labor rights?
• NLRB withdraws appeal of decision enjoining ‘joint employer’ rule
• WNBA players, bargaining power soaring, seek expert advice on labor deal
Public Officials Should Use Their Bully Pulpit to Support Worker Unionizing and Bargaining
July 26, 2024 | WORKERS' RIGHTS | Americans’ support for unions is surging. Increasing numbers of workers are fighting to unionize and negotiate fair contracts, and Americans are heavily siding with workers during labor disputes.1 In response, a growing number of public officials are vociferously supporting workers in organizing fights and pushing back against aggressive anti-union rhetoric used by corporations and anti-worker politicians. By using the bully pulpit—a public official’s ability to gain attention and sway key actors through public speech and private convenings because of their prominent position… Center for American Progress
It’s Been 15 Years Since Last Federal Minimum Wage Hike
July 25, 2024 | WAGES | Former U.S. President Barack Obama had been in office for just over six months when the federal minimum wage was raised to a paltry $7.25 an hour—where it remains today, 15 years later. Wednesday marked exactly a decade and a half since the federal wage floor was last lifted, an occasion that advocates used to tout state-level pay hikes and make the case for a long-overdue national increase, particularly as the nation's billionaires and corporations do better than ever. …Years of inaction and obstruction by corporate-backed lawmakers in the U.S. Congress have spurred states and localities to raise their minimum wages well above the federal floor. Common Dreams
Project 2025: Eliminate Unions
July 24, 2024 |COMMENTARY| […] In “Project 2025: Presidential Transition Project,” the Heritage Foundation unveiled its 900-page wish list for a new Trump presidency and a compliant Supreme Court. Trump’s victory last time was a surprise, and many corporate types view his chaotic term as a missed opportunity. This time Heritage, which is a mouthpiece for big employers, has compiled a long list of people they want Trump to hire and appoint, and a scorched-earth plan for his first 180 days. Day 1 they want to fire the best National Labor Relations Board general counsel we’ve had in my lifetime, Jennifer Abruzzo…. From there, the plan is to bulldoze the protections U.S. workers have built up over 100 years of determination, sacrifice, and unity. It’s ugly: abolish overtime pay laws, outlaw public sector unions entirely, get rid of health and safety protections, eliminate the federal minimum wage by letting states set their own, make it harder to receive unemployment, put children back to work like in the 1920s. Labor Notes ~Related: The AFL-CIO created Project 2025 and Unions to help workers navigate the plan’s anti-worker agenda.
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