UE NEWS Updates

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Refresco Workers Press for Action from Private Equity Firm KKR

March 1, 2023

UE Local 115 members from the Refresco bottling plant in Wharton, NJ attempted to bring their concerns about conditions in their plant to the corporate headquarters of private equity firm KKR on Tuesday, February 28. It was the second attempt the workers have made to meet with KKR, which owns a majority stake in Refresco. For a second time, KKR refused to meet with the workers.

“We went to the building, we tried to talk to someone at KKR, and did it respectfully,” said Refresco worker Pamela Burgos. “All we’re asking for is equal rights and our rights as workers. We just want to be able to have a meeting with them so we can discuss our issues.”

Workplace Action Wins Strong Wage Gains for Local 228

February 4, 2023

On December 1, 2022, members of UE Local 228 ratified a new 32-month agreement. The local’s 500 members process immigration documents and provide petitioner support at the State Department’s National Visa Center. They are employed by federal contractor LDRM. Local 228 is one of six federal contractor units in the UE who work under the Service Contract Act (SCA). It is the sister location to Local 728, the Kentucky Consular Center in Williamsburg, KY.

Service Contract Act Locals Maintain, Improve Standards in Bridge Agreement with New Contractor

February 4, 2023

Members of Local 208 in Vermont and Local 1008 in California will begin working for a new federal contractor, IT Coalition (ITC), on February 1. ITC presently employs UE members at Local 808 in Lincoln, NE. The handoff in contractors occurs while UE's SCA Service Center locals are working under the threat of increasing automation, which could decimate bargaining unit work over the next three years.

UE Local 150-CAAMWU Holds 33rd Annual MLK Celebration

February 4, 2023

Members of UE Local 150-CAAMWU, which represents workers at Cummins Diesel, held their 33rd annual MLK Day “Workers Want Justice!” celebration at the Bloomer Hill Community Center on January 16.

The speaker, Sue Perry Cole of the NC Association of Community Development Corporations, began her remarks by honoring the late UE International Representative Saladin Muhammad, who passed away last fall.

World of Labor: Half a Million Strike in United Kingdom Despite Attacks on Rights

February 3, 2023

Economic conditions have sent workers in numerous sectors on strike across the United Kingdom for the past several months, culminating in a February 1 strike of over 500,000 workers, including teachers, civil servants, and university and railroad workers. During the day of industrial action, union leaders delivered petitions signed by more than a quarter of a million people demanding that the government withdraw its anti-strike legislation.

UE Research and Education Fund Receives Major Grant to Support Green Locomotive Project

February 3, 2023

The UE Research and Education Fund, a non-profit that supports UE’s work in a variety of areas, received a generous grant in November from the Preston-Werner foundation. This grant will allow UEREF to greatly expand the support it provides to UE’s Green Locomotive Project — a campaign to create good union jobs, address climate change, and clean up pollution in communities near rail yards.

UE Local 696 Ratifies First Contract Following Militant 20-Month Campaign

February 3, 2023

After a 20-month struggle negotiating a collective bargaining agreement with their employer, Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania (PPWP), the members of UE Local 696 ratified their first UE contract on Monday, December 12. The workers, who provide a variety of essential reproductive, gender-affirming, and sexual healthcare services across locations in Pittsburgh, Bridgeville, Moon, Somerset, Johnstown, and Greensburg, voted overwhelmingly to unionize in March of 2021.

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