Detailed preparation and refusal to back down helped Local 1008 win 54 months’ worth of back wages for three UE members who had been misclassified.
Local 1008 members Duy Nguyen, Ho Tran and Bridget Morrison had not been receiving the pay rate that they should have been, given that they work directly and communicate directly with officers of the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
On Friday evening August 31, UE won a significant National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) election to defeat a corrupt company union among 650 Hallcon workers located in eight states. UE won the election with almost 75% of the mail ballot vote.
This spring and summer have been busy for UE Local 222, an amalgamated local which represents town and school board workers across the state of Connecticut.
On Monday night members of UE Local 896/COGS, which represents graduate employees at the University of Iowa, discussed and approved plans for their recertification campaign this fall. They made plans for a grassroots campaign to reach out to the 2,000 graduate employees on campus and recruit election volunteers in every department.
UE’s General Executive Board, meeting from August 22-24, reviewed the union organizational and international work, discussed the issues of immigration and jobs, and made plans for the Fall 2018 regional council meetings and UE participation in the 2018 elections.
UE Locals 155, 716, 1177, and 1077 entered negotiations for a new national agreement this summer with a strong program of change for rail crew drivers across the country.
Members of UE Local 329 who work for Kennedy Valve ratified a new four-year contract in June. The agreement includes wage increases of 3.2, 1.9, 1.4 and 1.3 percent and increases the pension multiplier for current employees by $3.
A delegation of UE officers, leaders and staff joined UE’s Canadian partner union Unifor for their Canadian Council meeting from August 17-19 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. “They were very welcoming and continued to display the kinds of progressive political and trade-union principles that are fully in sync with the UE,” said UE Director of Organization Gene Elk.
UE's Director of International Strategies Kari Thompson traveled to Hiroshima, Japan in early August to bring UE's commitment to peace, denuclearization, and a reduction in military spending to the 2018 World Conference Against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs. Longtime UE ally Zenroren, a Japanese trade union confederation representing over 1.2 million workers, hosted Thompson.
Workers from cities around North Carolina, the state Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), the University of North Carolina and the Cummins Rocky Mount Engine plant gathered at the Teamsters Hall in Raleigh on August 18 and 19 to celebrate Local 150’s 20 years of struggle and to plan strategy for the next two years.
If you like what you read, please consider subscribing to the UE NEWS — for as little as $5/year you can support great labor journalism and receive the print edition of the UE NEWS four times per year.
You can also sign up to receive monthly UE NEWS Bulletins via email, or follow UE on Facebook or Twitter.