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Local 1498 Reopener Wins Improved Wages, Tuition Coverage and Health Care

December 21, 2023

UE Local 1498-Graduate Workers United won $1600 in tuition coverage and a six percent wage increase in reopener negotiations with New Mexico State University this fall. “These are important wins for us and ensure that grads will have at least one class covered and a bit more money in our pockets come spring,” said Local 1498 President Alexander Allison. Combined with the 6.8 percent wage increase won in the initial year of their first contract, graduate workers at NMSU have won a combined 12.8 percent raise since joining UE.

Cornell Grad Workers Tackle Administration’s Union-Busting, Form CGSU-UE

December 16, 2023

From November 6 to 9, graduate workers at Cornell University voted with a 96 percent majority to form a union with United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America. 1,873 grad workers voted yes, and 80 voted no; 60 percent of eligible voters voted. The results were ratified by the NLRB on November 20. Cornell Graduate Students United-UE now represents over 3,000 graduate workers in Ithaca, Geneva, and New York City.

Local 1466 Reopener Raises Wages, Aligns Future Negotiations with Other Campus Unions

December 14, 2023

The 1,600 graduate workers in United Graduate Workers-UE Local 1466 secured a six percent raise at the University of New Mexico in their recent compensation reopener negotiations with the university’s administration. This raise will go into effect at the outset of the spring 2024 semester, on top of the 10 percent raise negotiated in Local 1466’s first contract, which went into effect on December 22, 2022. Over the past year, the members of Local 1466 have raised the minimum pay for graduate workers 23.5 percent.

Green Locomotive Project Featured at Labor Communications Convention

December 14, 2023

UE organizer Ryan Calbreath spoke about the Green Locomotive Project at the International Labor Communications Association (ILCA)’s bi-annual convention at the end of November. Calbreath was part of a panel on messaging to the labor and environmental movements about climate change, hosted by ILCA Vice President Howard Kling, the Retired Director of the University of Minnesota’s Labor Education Service.

Auto Contracts a Step Forward for Entire Working Class

November 27, 2023

The contracts won by the UAW at the “Big Three” automakers this year are a major victory for the working class. Workers engaged in creative, militant tactics and won not only significant economic improvements but also important measures to strengthen their union and exert control over production and investment decisions. Their victory makes it clear that if workers exercise the power to withhold their labor, they can shape the future, including the economic transitions necessary to address climate change.

Making Local 728 “A force to be reckoned with”

November 15, 2023

Local 728 President Kevin White writes, “Being a union officer, specifically one with a local that has achieved so much in such a short period of time, ranks among the greatest accomplishments of my life. While the responsibility of serving as a union leader can at times be as stressful as it is rewarding, anyone who’s ever bargained a contract knows there’s no other occasion where those peaks and valleys of emotions are so prevalent. That was the reality of the UE Local 728 Bargaining Committee for most of the month of October 2023.”

Feds Close Loophole, Cleaner Trains on the Way

November 15, 2023

After months of pressure from grassroots advocates and UE members, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officially gave states some power to regulate locomotive emissions in early November. This ruling clears the way for California’s In-Use Locomotive Regulation to be implemented, but the fight for jobs in the green economy and clean air in rail yard communities is far from over.

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