With what the UE NEWS believes to be the largest “yes” vote of any NLRB election among graduate workers, the 3,300 graduate workers at Johns Hopkins University voted by a margin of 2053-67 to be represented by Teachers and Researchers United/UE. The voting took place on January 30 and 31, and is the culmination of years of JHU grad workers fighting for a living wage and fair working conditions.
Meeting on January 28 and 29, UE’s General Executive Board unanimously endorsed a statement demanding that Congress “immediately begin a process of bringing our nation’s railroads under public ownership.” The statement notes that “the private owners of our nation’s Class 1 railroads have shown themselves utterly incapable of facing the challenge of the climate crisis, dealing fairly with their own workers, or even meeting the most basic needs of their customers.”
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. took his last stand supporting city workers in Memphis, Tennessee demanding the right to collectively bargain. The 1,300-strong sanitation workers’ strike in 1968 was sparked by the deaths of two Black city workers who had been crushed on the job by a malfunctioning truck.
As the nation celebrated the King holiday, the Virginia Beach City Workers Union, UE Local 111 honored his real legacy as they gathered at the Virginia Beach City Council meeting on Tuesday to request that the council pass a resolution in support of Collective Bargaining.
In a National Labor Relations Board election held on January 10 and 11, graduate workers at Northwestern University voted by 1,644 to 114 to join Northwestern University Graduate Workers-UE. They organized to win competitive pay, support for international students, a fair grievance process, sustainable transportation options, and other improvements.
UE General President Carl Rosen joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast yesterday to talk about UE’s Green Locomotive Project, the right to strike, and how young workers are driving a surge in organizing.
“The American working people have realized that there is a fundamental problem about the way our economy is organized,” Rosen told host Ed “Flash” Ferenc.
In this op-ed reprinted in the UE NEWS, economist Mark Weisbrot explains how misunderstanding of inflation and the economy distorts American politics and can influence not only elections but also the most important economic policy decisions that our government makes — and warns of the danger posed by the Federal Reserve Board’s interest rate hikes.
Over twenty stewards and officers from five Vermont UE locals and six shops gathered at the Vermont Workers’ Center for a two-day steward training on December 8 and 9.
“The steward’s training provided me with ample information, tools, and contextual examples to equip me and better prepare me for representing and aiding my colleagues, going forward,” said Ryan Southworth, a Local 203 steward at City Market in Burlington.
After a 20-month struggle, the members of UE Local 696 at Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania ratified their first UE contract on Monday, December 12. The three-year agreement will raise wages by an average of over $2 per hour in the first year, and guarantees a path to a $20/hour minimum base wage with at least three years of service.
UE’s national officers submitted a comment to the National Labor Relations Board on December 6, encouraging the board to adopt a proposed rule that would make it easier for workers employed by “joint employers” (such as workers at a McDonalds franchise) to secure their rights under our nation’s labor laws.
UE Local 613 ratified a new four-year agreement on October 14 that secures contract wins long-sought by the union. For the first time, members will be compensated based on salary step scales — an improvement much desired by the local’s rank and file. The initial placement of Local 613 members will guarantee everyone a minimum increase of $2,000 in the first year of the agreement, with most members receiving a significantly larger increase based on their years of service and current salary.
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