Last Week in Southern Labor: 2/28 – 3/7

Jacob Morrison

Here’s what workers in the US South and the colonies were up to from February February 18 to March 7

All information on Florida’s public sector union elections comes from McKenna Schueler’s monthly round up of Florida union news. You can check it out on her website, caringclassrevolt.substack.com, where you can get more information about Florida labor as well as exclusive details about union elections referenced here. 

New Campaigns

  • 5 workers at Mondelez Global in Springfield, MO filed a petition to hold a union election with the Teamsters Local 823
  • 14 workers at Newbold Services in London, AR filed a petition to hold a union election with the Laborers International Union of North America (LIUNA) Local 360
  • 6 workers at the Children’s National Hospital in Washington DC filed a petition to hold a union election with the DC Nurses Association
  • 11 workers at Sertec in Alexandria, VA filed a petition to hold a union election with the United Association of Plumbers and Steamfitters (UA) Local 602
  • The employer filed a petition to hold a union election after a majority of the 2 workers at News Tribune Company in Jefferson City, MO demonstrated support for unionization with the Teamsters Local 235M/16M
  • 4 workers at the Uyghur Human Rights Project in Washington DC filed a petition to hold a union election with the Teamsters Local 639
  • 6 firefighters at the city of Melbourne, FL’s fire department have filed a petition to unionize with the Melbourne Fire Fighters Association (an IAFF affiliate)
  • 6 cops at the Volusia County Department of Corrections in Daytona Beach, FL filed a petition to unionize with the International Union of Police Associations (IUPA) 
  • The International Union of Security, Police, and Fire Professionals of America (SPFPA) is trying to raid a unit of 22 security guards at the Catholic University of America in Washington DC who are currently represented by an affiliate of the Police Benevolent Association (PBA)

Election Results

  • 102 workers at the Jacksonville Housing Authority in Jacksonville, FL voted 77 to 1 in favor of unionizing with the Independent Association of Public and Private Employees (IAPPE)
  • 246 workers at the South Florida Water Management District in FL voted 90 to 41 in favor of unionizing with the International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) Local 30 
  • 636 blue- and white-collar workers at the Nassau County school district in Fernandina Beach, FL voted 210 to 11 in favor of recertifying the Nassau Educational Support Personnel Association as their union
  • 61 workers at FSCX in Ft Rucker, AL voted 31 to 17 in favor of unionization with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW) 
  • 17 workers at Reconsidered Goods in Greensboro, NC voted 15 to 0 in favor of unionization with the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union (RWDSU)
  • 10 workers at Southeast Service Corporation in Tampa, FL voted 8 to 2 in favor of unionization with the IUOE
  • 140 workers at Radial in Locust Grocer, GA voted 42 to 68 against unionization with RWDSU
  • 23 workers at Copart in Lebanon, TN withdrew their petition for unionization with the Copart Collective
  • 67 workers at Gold Bond Building Products in Pryor, OK voted 37 to 26 in favor of decertifying their union, the United Steel Workers (USW) Local 13-1141
  • Employees for the police department at the University of Central Florida withdrew their petition to hold a union election with the Florida PBA
  • Cops at the Palm Beach County school district in FL withdrew their petition to unionize with the Palm Beach PBA 
  • 60 cops at the Clermont Police Department in Clermont, FL voted 42 to 0 in favor of unionizing with the Florida PBA
  • 309 cops at the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office in FL voted 102 to 180 against unionizing with the Florida State Lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP)
  • 38 supervisory workers at the South Florida Water Management District voted 9 to 15 against unionization with IUOE Local 30
  • 141 blue-collar workers at the city of Vero Beach, FL voted 85 to 0 in favor of recertifying the Teamsters Local 769 as their union
  • 206 blue-collar workers at the city of Palm Bay, FL voted 149 to 2 in favor of recertifying the National Association of Government Employees (NAGE) as their union
  • 519 workers at the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University in Tallahassee, FL voted 170 to 4 in favor of recertifying the United Faculty of Florida (UFF) as their union
  • 95 teachers at the Liberty County school district in Liberty, FL voted 42 to 3 in favor of recertifying the Liberty Education Association as their union
  • 457 Teachers and support staff at the Okeechobee County school district in Okeechobee, FL voted 136 to 7 in favor of recertifying the Okeechobee County Education Association as their union 
  • 371 support staff at the Seminole County school district in Sanford, FL voted 111 to 4 in favor of recertifying the Seminole County School Bus Drivers’ Association as their union
  • 126 blue-collar workers employed by Monroe County in Key West, FL voted 50 to 0 in favor of recertifying the Teamsters Local 769 as their union
  • 266 teachers and support staff at the Washington County school district in Chipley, FL voted 121 to 5 in favor of recertifying the Washington County Education Association as their union
  • 46 workers at the city of Lighthouse Point, FL voted 21 to 2 in favor of recertifying the Federation of Public Employees (FPE) as their union
  • 157 workers at the city of Margate, FL voted 33 to 2 in favor of recertifying FPE as their union
  • 156 supervisory workers at the Lake County school district in Tavares, FL voted 26 to 7 in favor of recertifying the Service Employees International Union-Florida Public Sector Union (SEIU-FPSU) as their union 
  • 256 teachers at the DeSoto County school district in FL voted 81 to 5 in favor of recertifying the DeSoto County Educators Association in Arcadia as their union 
  • 668 workers at the city of Orlando, FL voted 171 to 6 in favor of recertifying SEIU-FPSU as their union 
  • 30 workers at Florida City, FL  voted 5 to 0 in favor of recertifying the Teamsters Local 769 as their union 
  • 97 workers at the city of Boynton Beach, FL voted 26 to 3 in favor of recertifying the SEIU-FPSU as their union

Strikes & Bargaining

  • Immediately after Ultium workers in Spring Hill, TN joined the UAW, they joined the nationwide contract and saw a 35% raise overnight. They just finished negotiating a local agreement which members ratified by 98%. The local agreement included a $3,000 ratification bonus and 100% employer provided health insurance
  • Bus drivers in Baton Rouge, LA, unionized with the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 1546 are on strike against the Capital Area Transit System (CATS) in the city, saying their employer is not negotiating with them in good faith
  • Interest arbitration for the contract negotiations between the postal service and the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) will begin on March 17, with Dennis Nolan servicing as the neutral arbitrator
  • The Communications Workers of America (CWA) began contract negotiations with AT&T Southwest, covering workers in Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas, and Arkansas. The current collective bargaining agreement expires on April 12
  • CWA members working for Red Cross in District 1 and 2-13 (including workers in Virginia) ratified a new contract. The new agreement includes raises, increased retirement contributions, and additional pay for work on holidays, according to the union
  • Still in bargaining for a new contract a year and a half later, Piedmont Airlines passenger service and ramp agents in Charlotte, NC, who are unionized with CWA, took out a billboard criticizing management for raking in record profits and refusing to give workers a raise
  • The Teamsters has a great video highlighting workers at Southern Glazer’s in Fort Worth, TX who recently unionized with the Teamsters Local 745 talking about how unionization changed their life
  • Nurses unionized with National Nurses United at Mission Hospital in Asheville, NC held a rally last week to call attention to unsafe working conditions and staffing levels in the hospital that they say led to the necessary death of a man in the emergency room.

Political & Legislative

  • Texas Governor Greg Abbott celebrated the firing of a state employee in the Real Estate Commission for having pronouns in his email signature, despite the fact that the employee received glowing performance reviews and was “an essential member of the division” according to his supervisor. This is the free speech party
  • An Alabama icon has been ordered sold off by DOGE: the Freedom Riders Museum in Montgomery
  • A new study found that, since 1975, nearly $80T has been redistributed from the bottom 90% to the top 1%, and that if inequality was the same today as it was in 1975, the median income would be double what it is today
  • Senator Bernie Sanders reintroduced the PRO Act in the Senate, to applause from the labor movement, but no Republicans are sponsoring it, including supposedly pro-worker Josh Hawley.
  • Josh Hawley did introduce, Cory Booker and with union support, the Faster Labor Contracts Act, which would require companies to begin bargaining with a union 10 days after workers unionize, but its unclear what penalties or enforcement mechanisms the legislation has
  • The Trump administration has executed multiple anti-worker actions this week. Under the Biden administration, the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service was made available to facilitate card check union elections for free. Now, Josh Eidelson reports for Bloomberg that it appears the agency will no longer facilitate card check at all. A Department of Veterans Affairs memorandum has been leaked detailing plans to lay off 83,000 people. Some probationary employees have already been let go, including some in Birmingham. At the IRS, where 6,000 workers have been fired, the agency is poised to close audits of large corporations and wealthy individuals because they don’t have the staff to do it. Railroad workers are frustrated at the billions that are sitting in bureaucratic limbo, which will only be further marred down by the firing of staff at the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA). The Trump administration also unilaterally canceled a collective bargaining agreement and all collective bargaining rights with TSA agents and their union – the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), citing in part lies about official time use, which AFGE notes accounts for less than half a percent of hours worked at TSA. Offices of the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) are being closed due to DOGE, and the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) oppose the closures
  • Some anti-worker actions from the administration have been paused though. A district court ruled that the firing of Gwynne Wilcox was illegal and must be reversed. This will now be appealed to the DC Circuit court, where the decision will likely be affirmed, and then to the Supreme Court, where the outcome is unclear. The Merit Systems Protections Board ordered the USDA to rehire 6,000 workers who were illegally fired, at least for the next 45 days, though it’s unclear if the USDA will do as instructed. The MERIT Act has been introduced in Congress, which would reinstate all federal employees who were illegally fired by the Trump administration
  • In some good news for federal workers, Donald Trump is reining Elon Musk in after a tense cabinet meeting according to the New York Times. Trump reportedly made it clear at the meeting that cabinet secretaries have authority at their agencies, not Musk.
  • Unions have reacted in different ways to the announcement of the Trump tariffs. Although it doesn’t matter now because it looks like he’s pausing them again for some reason. Nevertheless the different responses from unions when they thought that tariffs were happening was interesting. The Machinists Union called on the administration to end “all tariff actions” against Canada – no mention of Mexico though. The AFL-CIO said that the blanket tariffs “run the risk of causing unnecessary economic pain for America’s workers.” The American Federation of Musicians called the tariffs “misguided.” IFPTE called the Canadian tariffs “nonsensical.” The United Auto Workers meanwhile strongly praised the actions without reservation, saying “We are glad to see an American president take aggressive action on ending the free trade disaster that has dropped like a bomb on the working class” and that they are in “active negotiations” with the Trump administration to “end the free trade disaster.”
  • Economy wide, the Trump administration’s antics are starting to wreak havoc. February saw more job losses in that month than any February since 2009 – and it’s not just government, though government leads in job losses. The retail sector also suffered amid declining consumer confidence
  • The FAA last week delayed flights to and from airports in Miami, Ft Lauderdale, and Orlando due to space launch debris from SpaceX