Michael Reynolds, a member of UE Local 150, testified at a Heat Safety Town Hall last night about the struggles faced by city workers across the state working outside in the increasingly hot weather.
The members of UE Locals 208, 808, and 1008 fighting to save their jobs from union-busting layoffs received some powerful help last month. Four Members of Congress and an Orange County Supervisor have sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary and the Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to urge them to stop union busting.
UE Local 625, whose members build high-quality circuit breakers and high-voltage equipment at two locations, have successfully restored their right to wear union shirts on the shop floor. The conflict began in 2022 when their employer, Hitachi Energy, unilaterally imposed a new dress code which prohibited members from their wearing union shirts at work.
With the slogan “Resist, Restore and Revitalize!” the 13th Biennial Convention of statewide UE Local 150 convened at the Franklinton Center at Bricks on August 10 and 11. Local 150 members from across North Carolina shared their experiences fighting for fair wages and dignity, and building their union, in one of the least unionized states in the country.
Statement of the UE officers.
In the face of rising working-class militancy, anti-union forces have launched various legal attacks on the labor movement, using the false claim that union involvement in protests demanding a ceasefire in Gaza is somehow “anti-Semitic.” Most prominently, the federal monitor charged with rooting out corruption in the United Auto Workers has engaged in wildly inappropriate behavior, in a clear attempt to use his immense legal power over the union to shut down their criticism of Israel. The National Right to Work Committee and union-busting law firms like Jones Day have also launched a series of legal cases, including some against UE locals, aimed at undermining union shop and exclusive representation.
After over a year of organizing and turning members out to actions, city worker chapters of Local 150 successfully pressured Durham and Charlotte City Councils to approve millions in raises for public workers in the 2024-2025 fiscal year. On average, full time workers in Durham on the general step plan will receive a raise of over $8,000. Workers with more years of service will receive higher wage increases with some totaling over $15,000. In Charlotte, members won a six percent raise and an increase in the minimum starting salary, which is now $23 dollars an hour.
After difficult and complicated negotiations, UE Local 642 members, who work at Harborcreek Youth Services (HYS) ratified a one-year contract on June 20. HYS is a behavioral health residential facility for male juveniles. The one-year agreement includes a 2.75 percent wage increase.
In June, Mexico held federal, state and local elections. Claudia Sheinbaum, who had been the mayor of Mexico City, was elected the country’s first woman president. Her party, Morena, also gained a majority in both houses of the legislature and won at many other levels.
Sheinbaum has pledged to continue the progressive reforms that the current president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, popularly known as AMLO, has put into place. These include improved rights in the workplace, requirements for democratic union elections, and strengthening social safety nets, like reforming the pension system to better support lower income workers when they retire.
In July, both the United Kingdom and France held national elections. In both countries, parties representing “labour” or working class perspectives did better than expected.
In the UK, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, from the Conservative Party, lacked credibility with the public and faced growing public discontent. Much of this was fueled by extremely high prices, with inflation over 11 percent at one point, and only dropping recently. This has been one of many impacts of the British exit from the European Union, or “Brexit” as it was commonly called.
On July 24, a Texas federal district court issued an injunction in a case brought by billionaire Elon Musk’s company Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) against the National Labor Relations Board. The injunction prohibits the NLRB from proceeding with a trial charging SpaceX with committing unfair labor practices. In a troubling decision, the court found that SpaceX was likely to win its case arguing, in essence, that the authority of NLRB Administrative Law Judges, and that of the five members of the NLRB, to whom ALJ decisions can be appealed, is unconstitutional.
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