UE NEWS Updates

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Long Struggle, "Rally for Respect" Lead to Pay Raises and No-Concession Contract

March 5, 2013
Greenfield, MA

After eight months of struggle and three contract extensions, UE Local 274 members who drive, dispatch, and maintain buses for the Franklin Regional Transit Authority (FRTA) approved a new contract on February 6. The agreement brings a 1.5 percent general wage increase retroactive to July 1, 2012, the expiration date of the old contract; a 3 percent raise in July 2013; and 2.4 percent in July 2014. The contract will expire on January 31, 2015. The union also negotiated a $100 increase in the clothing allowance for maintenance workers.

Workers at USCIS Chicago Center Win First Contract, Major Gains

February 19, 2013
Chicago

Workers at the U.S. Customs and Immigration Service Center (USCIS) in Chicago were fed up with pay cuts and insults from supervisors. They began organizing last August, and on October 18 they voted nearly unanimously for UE in a National Labor Relations Board Election to UE. They then got down to the work of building their new union, UE Local 1118, and preparing to negotiate with the company, federal contactor FedConsulting Inc. (FCi).

Local 1187 Makes Major Gains In Second Contract Since Plant Reopened

February 14, 2013
Elk Point, SD

With the new contract ratified on January 14, the resurgence of UE Local 1187 is complete. The new agreement restores the contract provisions the local gave up to facilitate the reopening of the plant in March 2011, and adds significant gains in wages and other areas. The workers at Load King - who manufacture truck trailers - have come a long way since 2010, when the previous corporate owner closed the plant and seemingly broke the union.

Local 741 Defeats Attack, Then Negotiates Good Contract

February 14, 2013
Sparta, OH

Contract negotiations for workers in the Highland Local Schools were delayed for several months past the old contract's June 30, 2012 expiration date because of an effort by an anti-union group to get rid of UE Local 741. The local soundly defeated that attack, and then overcame a terrible set of management proposals, and an anti-union lawyer representing the school board, to negotiate a three-year contact with good wage increases and other improvements.

UE Marches in Erie on MLK Day

January 21, 2013
Erie, PA

UE Local 506 and community members marched in Erie on Martin Luther King Day, January 21, 2013. UE has long embraced the principles of Martin Luther King. UE members joined Dr. King in the Washington March for Jobs and Freedom, August 28,1963, and King lent his support to UE organizing campaigns and strikes in the 1960s.

Workers at Chicago USCIS Center Vote Overwhelmingly to Join UE

October 23, 2012
Chicago

Workers at a U. S. Citizenship and Immigration Service Center in Chicago have chosen to join UE in an National Labor Relations Board election on October 18, by a margin of 36 to 1. These workers have the same employer - Fed Consulting Incorporated - as the members of UE Local 208 in St. Albans, Vermont and Local 1008 in Laguna Niguel, California, and perform similar work processing forms for the federal government.

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