Last Week in Southern Labor: 3/7 – 3/14

Jacob Morrison

Here’s what workers in the US South and the colonies were up to from March 7 to March 14

New Campaigns

  • 5 workers at Titan Truck & Equipment in Overland, MO filed a petition to hold a union election with the International Union of operating Engineers (IUOE) Local 513
  • 3 workers at HHS Government Services LLC in Ft Eustis, VA filed a petition to hold a union election with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) District 4
  • 18 workers at UFCW Local 1996 in Suwanee, GA filed a petition to hold a union election with the Federation of Agents and International Representatives (FAIR)
  • 24 workers at New Orleans Regional Transit Authority in New Orleans, LA filed a petition to hold a union election with the Teamsters Local 270
  • 51 workers at Nelson Tree Service in Pikeville, KY filed a petition to hold a union election with the IBEW Local 369
  • 10 workers at Imperial in Joplin, 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

Election Results

  • 1 worker at AGL Services Company in Atlanta, GA voted 1 to 0 in favor of unionization with IBEW Local 1997
  • 13 workers at Appalachian Power in Bluefield, WV voted 10 to 1 in favor of unionization with IBEW Local 978
  • 34 workers at ADT in Maryland Heights, MO voted 4 to 23  in favor of decertifying IBEW Local 1 as their union
  • 18 workers at AEP Texas in Aransas Pass, TX voted 15 to 3 in favor of unionization with IBEW Local 738
  • 18 workers at Starbucks in Tampa, FL voted 11 to 2 in favor of unionization with Starbucks Workers United, as did another location in St Louis, MO (11 to 4). 17 workers at a location in Louisville, KY voted 6 to 9 against unionization
  • 13 workers at Public Television 19 in Kansas City, MO voted 0 to 8 in favor of decertifying the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians (NABET-CWA) as their union
  • 24 workers at Johnson Controls Fire Protection in North Little Rock, AR voted 2 to 22 against unionization with the UA’s Road Sprinkler Fitters Local 669
  • 30 workers at Georgia Power in Atlanta, GA voted 15 to 8 in favor of unionization with IBEW Local 84
  • 6 workers at the Children’s National Hospital in DC withdrew their petition for a union election with the DC Nurses Association
  • 2 workers at the News Tribune Company in Jefferson City, MO withdrew their petition for a union election with the Teamsters Local 235M/16M
  • 4 workers at the Uyghur Human Rights Project in Washington, DC withdrew their petition for a union election with the Teamsters Local 639

Grievances, Unfair Labor Practices, & COURT CASES

  • A new report out of Northwestern University details the Big Brother type tactics that Amazon employed when fighting the Retail Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) drive in Bessemer, Alabama

Strikes & Bargaining

  • Bus drivers in Baton Rouge, LA, unionized with the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 1546 ended their strike against the Capital Area Transit System (CATS) in the city last week after the city agreed to withdraw their illegal imposition of a contract on the workers and go to arbitration. The strike lasted 6 days
  • Bus drivers in Mobile, AL, unionized with ATU Local 770, engaged in a 1 day sickout against the city’s private transit company Wave to attend a city council meeting and protest the city’s bad faith bargaining. 
  • International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees (IATSE) 492 (covering Tennessee, Kentucky, and Northern Mississippi), is striking a Memphis venue which is now trying to bring in scabs, per a report from a 492 member
  • Fairfax Education Unions in Virginia continue to try to fight a budget from the county board of supervisors that would underfund their contract by $150M
  • UE Local 150, representing public sector workers in North Carolina, is opposing a plan to raise health insurance premiums
  • Train company CSX is attempting to further automate operations – SMART-TD is opposing the plan, and requesting that the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) deny approval
  • Teamsters are holding practice pickets at United Natural Foods Inc (UNFI) across the country including in Florida and Georgia because the company is stalling at the bargaining table
  • Volkswagen continues to stall at the bargaining table, UAW members held a rally outside the plant to protest
  • Workers at recently unionized Wells Fargo locations – including in the South – recently increased pressure on management to agree to a deal

Political & Legislative

  • Both houses of the Kentucky legislature passed a bill to weaken workplace safety rules in the state, although it did include an amendment to make it not quite as bad. It now heads to Governor Andy Beshear to sign, and he hasn’t said what he will do one way or another
  • The Mississippi Senate passed a bill to study replacing state government jobs with AI, now heads to the House. In better news, both houses of the legislature passed paid parental leave for state employees (although not teachers-you sure about that?), with the House passing it 118-0. It now heads to the Governor for signature
  • Efforts continue in Missouri to overturn a ballot initiative that would raise the minimum wage and institute paid sick leave. The House passed a bill that would repeal the initiative’s tying the minimum wage to inflation and overturn the sick leave entirely. It needs to be approved one more time in the House before heading to the Senate
  • Alabama Democrats are introducing legislation to maintain their overtime tax cut in the state, although the Economic Policy Institute points out that these policies are ripe for abuse, further complicate the tax code, encourage excessive hours of work and exert downward pressure on base wages
  • In good news for federal workers, two federal judges ordered the reinstatement of illegally fired probationary employees at the VA, Agriculture, Interior, Energy, Defense, Commerce, Education, HHS, HUD, Homeland Security, Labor, Transportation, EPA, USAID, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and Treasury departments. In his ruling, one of the judges called the government’s arguments a “sham” and “lies.”
  • In good news for private sector workers, Gwynne Wilcox is now back at work as a member of the National Labor Relations Board
  • In bad news for federal workers, Postmaster General DeJoy supposedly has inked a deal with DOGE to cut 10,000 jobs at the post office, postal unions are opposed
  • The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) is joining others in filing suit against the administration’s cancellation of collective bargaining with TSA employees
  • Elon Musk is publicly and explicitly calling for privatization of Amtrak
  • The Budget Lab at Yale determined that Trump’s push to lay off half of the IRS would cost the government $350B over 10 years in lost revenue from tax evasion. Some audits of big companies are likely being closed as we speak
  • Congress passed a budget, with the help of 10 Democratic senators, who said in large part they were doing this to support federal workers, despite the fact that federal worker unions opposed the continuing resolution because it would allow the illegality of DOGE & CO to go unchecked. Amid the bad news though, the National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE-IAM) was able to secure a permanent fix to a problem that could’ve resulted in a 50% pay cut for federal fire fighters within the CR. However, even they ultimately opposed passage, weakening Senate Democrats position further
  • The US Senate approved Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Labor – Lori Chavez DeRemer. Unions reacted generally positively, with varying levels of skepticism. The Teamsters, of course, were the most effusive, thanking “President Trump for boldly nominating here.” The AFL-CIO meanwhile emphasized their skepticism, saying they “remain clear-eyed that she’s joining an administration that’s been openly hostile to working people.”
  • The AFLCIO is raising alarms about the February jobs report, noting “a harsher job market than we’ve seen in years.”
  • The National Education Association (NEA) is blasting the Trump administration’s decision to cut funding for schools and food banks to buy food from local farmers and ranchers
  • Public sector unions reacted with disgust to Elon Musk’s sharing a tweet saying that Hitler didn’t kill Jews, “public sector workers did.”

Internal Union Affairs

  • The reform caucus within IATSE – the Caucus of Rank and File Entertainment Workers (CREW) – released a slate of resolutions they are taking to the 2025 convention, all aimed at giving more power to rank and file members, chief among the resolutions being the implementation of one member one vote for leadership elections