UE in the News

“When it became clear that we were not getting our jobs back, I remember thinking I did not want to deal with this again. That’s when UE organizers said to us “you know, you could just take the shop.” They shared with us what workers at Republic Windows were able to do in Chicago back in 2008, and after a week we decided we could do this. The shop was successful, we had really talented staff, and we wanted to keep doing what we love.

“A lot of us just had a cartoonish refusal to be defeated. Like what, we’re just going to let ourselves be defeated? Gotta keep fighting somehow.”

Members of the United Graduate Workers of UNM and community supporters held a picket Thursday morning to bring attention to the university’s resistance to include non-discriminatory protections in the graduate workers’ union contract.

Held in front of the same building where the negotiations were set to take place, the group gathered carrying signs and repeated chants aimed at the unfair working conditions they experienced while at UNM.

“Right now, the situation would have been far worse without the union,” says Jocelyn, a representative of UE Local 696. “We've already stepped up and tried to alleviate the current staffing crisis, post [Roe’s overturn] by coordinating coverage, working extra shifts and overtime, and covering multiple positions throughout the workday where there's shortages.”

Graduate student workers at New Mexico State University and their supporters rallied in front of the university's administration complex Thursday to demand administrators meet with union leaders to discuss immediate relief from tuition costs.

The university employs about 900 graduate students as teaching and research assistants, paying them a minimum stipend of $18,435. The employees, who also attend classes in working toward their graduate degrees, pay the university about $6,189 in tuition and fees, according to report compiled by NMSU Graduate Workers United.

"It's a problem we have to pay so much of our salaries to cover tuition costs," said Bryson Stemock, an NMSU graduate research assistant.

The world's largest beverage bottler has been fined $49,724 by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration for "serious violations" that could endanger employees at their plant in Wharton.

Employees of the Refresco bottling factory and community groups rallied outside the facility on Nov. 15 to demand better working conditions and recognition of their union. A week later, OSHA began a series of inspections at the plant that continued through last week.

An OSHA citation and notification dated May 19 lists four "serious violations" including wet walking surfaces on four occasions, employee exposure to continuous noise levels at 217% of the permissible action level exposure limit, failing to document the basis for determining that all hazards in a permit space had been eliminated, and failure to certify that propane-powered forklift and electric pallet jack operators had been trained and evaluated.

The City Council approved in a 10-1 vote a $3.3 billion gross operating budget Tuesday night that will raise the minimum wage for city employees to $15 an hour. It goes into effect July 1.

The budget includes $32.8 million for a new step pay raise program for city workers. It will be based on years of service with a 3% wage increase for each step. Roughly 80% of the workforce will qualify for the plan. Virginia Beach employs 7,400 full- and part-time workers.

“It’s a major step in the right direction,” said Charles Brown, organizer of the Virginia Beach City Workers Union, UE Local 111.