UE NEWS Updates

“The idea that you can come to work under terms that you did not agree to should have gone out with the 13th Amendment,” AFA-CWA President Sara Nelson, one of the most well-known labor leaders in the U.S. told attendees at two UE-sponsored virtual events on Wednesday, May 31. (The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution outlawed slavery and involuntary servitude.)

In a virtual press conference and a webinar, the Association of Flight Attendants president and Rev. Richard Freeman, the president of the Pennsylvania Interfaith Impact Network, joined leaders of UE Local 506 to make the case that workers having the right to strike over grievances mid-contract is the best way to resolve workplace disputes swiftly and fairly.

The UE NEWS takes a look at some economics news from the past few months — from a worker’s point of view.

UE’s 78th Convention will be held from September 17-21 at the Wyndham Grand Hotel in downtown Pittsburgh, with the theme “Building Strike Power.” The official convention call was mailed to all UE locals on May 17.

“We’re looking forward to getting everyone together in person for the first time in four years,” said UE General President Carl Rosen. “It’s especially important for us to be meeting in this time of an upsurge in organizing and workers fighting for justice on the job.”

A new study, conducted by the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, details the thousands of new, high-quality jobs that can be created through the manufacture of “green locomotives” at Wabtec’s Lawrence Park facility in Erie.

The study estimates the number of new jobs that would be created in the plant at between 2,600 and 4,300. In addition to direct jobs in the plant, the increased production would add between three and five thousand new jobs in Erie County due to increased demand for goods and services. The total employment impact throughout the U.S. would be between 9,860 and 14,960 jobs.