Last Week in Southern Labor: 10/3 – 10/10

Jacob Morrison

Here’s what workers in the US South and the colonies were up to from Friday, October 3, to Friday, October 10

Union Elections

  • The National Labor Relations Board continues to be shut down, but the Public Employee Relations Board, which is responsible for overseeing state and municipal union activity in Florida is not, and McKenna Schueler rounded up the last month of activity on her substack, which you should check out. Here are a few of the interesting filings and results: 
  • 31 workers at Duval County Public Schools in Jacksonville, FL voted 19 to 0 in favor of unionizing with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Council 79
  • 10 workers at the Pace Fire Rescue District in Pace, FL unanimously voted 10 to 0 in favor of unionizing with the Santa Rosa County Professional Firefighters International Association of Fire Fighters
  • 1,156 food service workers at Broward County Public Schools in Fort Lauderdale, FL voted 119 to 3 in favor of recertifying the Federation of Public Employees as their union
  • 1,012 workers at Hillsborough County Public Schools in Tampa, FL voted 195 to 7 in favor of recertifying the Hillsborough Classroom Teachers Association as their union
  • 990 workers at Seminole County Public Schools in Sanford, FL voted 51 to 1 in favor of recertifying the Seminole Educational Clerical Association

Grievances, Unfair Labor Practices, & Court cases

  • The Trump administration, rather than trying to make a deal to re-open the government, is ratcheting tensions up, firing 4,000 more federal workers. The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) believes that doing this during a shutdown is illegal and filed a lawsuit to that effect. 
  • In addition to firing thousands more federal workers, they are threatening to violate the law by withholding backpay for furloughed federal workers. AFGE has filed a lawsuit pre-emptively in an attempt to block Trump from doing that as well
  • On Wednesday, October 8, Steve Cochran, a 13-year Volkswagen autoworker in Chattanooga, Tennessee, testified before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee on Volkswagen’s unlawful conduct over the past two years of organizing and negotiating for a first contract with the UAW.

Strikes & Bargaining

  • Missouri Senator Hawley blasted Boeing employee relations attorney Scott Mayer, who Trump nominated for a spot on the National Labor Relations Board. While a quick vote was initially scheduled, it was postponed and it’s unclear if his nomination will go through as Hawley could switch and vote against his nomination, preventing him from making it out of committee. Hawley’s frustration with Mayer comes out of the now more than two month long strike at Boeing in St Louis, where the company is refusing to offer Missouri Machinists a deal similar to the one that Seattle Machinists got when they went on strike last year
  • The Laborers International Union of North America (LIUNA) held a rally in Austin, TX last week calling for higher wages
  • Drivers for the Zachary school district in Louisiana are claiming that the company they work for – First Student – is stealing wages from the workers and potentially committee fraud. Their union, the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 1546 said they may have to strike if the company doesn’t resolve the issue

Political & Legislative

  • Missouri Senator Hawley did support two Trump appointees to the NLRB though, including Crystal Carey, an attorney for the union busting law firm Morgan Lewis. Hawley claims that he received assurances from Carey that she would continue to pursue Abruzzo’s joint employer policies, though he did not receive the assurances from her while she was at the hearing and under oath. 
  • The Economic Policy Institute released a report on how some state’s are stepping in the gap that the federal government is leaving as Trump slashes worker safety and health programs
  • Sean O’Brien had Markwayne Mullin on his podcast, where Mullin refused to commit to backing the Teamsters’ signature “Faster Labor Contracts Act,” only saying its moving “in the right direction” from the PRO Act (meaning that it does less to increase worker power than the PRO Act). The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pension committee held a hearing on the legislation last week, and O’Brien was a guest of the Republicans. Shockingly, when Bernie asked all the guests if they support the PRO Act, O’Brien demurred and wouldn’t say one way or another. 
  • The Labor movement has been unanimous in their opposition to the shutdown, calling on Republicans to come to a deal to not raise healthcare costs for Americans and re-open the government. The AFL-CIO has compiled a list of their affiliates statements on the issue. AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler said “the federal government is shutting down right now because President Trump and his administration chose chaos and pain over responsible governing. Now, countless jobs, the essential government services we all rely on and the economy powered by our workforce are in jeopardy—all because the administration wants to take one more swing at wrecking the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and throwing working people off our health care.”

Internal Union Affairs

  • The Union Veterans Council, AFL-CIO, (UVC) announced that its board of directors selected Craig Romanovich as its new executive director. The Council highlighted his work within the labor movement, where he served as chair of the Allegheny/Fayette Central Labor Council’s UVC and mobilized grassroots support for veteran and worker initiatives. He is a longtime member and former chief steward for Utility Workers (UWUA) Local 433. Romanovich is a veteran of the U.S. Army, having served from 1993 to 1998.