Every week in the south, workers organize new unions, they bargain for new contracts, they fight for good legislation and against bad legislation, and they put the boss in their place. These are all of the stories we could find from June 26th to July 3rd.
New Campaigns
113 workers in 5 bargaining units have gone public with their union campaigns – all in Florida’s public sector
- 16 workers at Volusia County in Holly Hill, FL filed a petition to hold a union election with the International Association of EMTs and Paramedics (NAGE-SEIU) Local 5000
- 8 workers at Manatee County in Bradenton, FL also filed a petition to hold a union election with NAGE-SEIU Local 5000
Campaign Updates
- Bernie Sanders is supporting workers in Florida as they try to unionize. Specifically, 400 workers at maritime company BAE systems in Jacksonville, FL who are seeking to unionize with the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers (so says Senator Sanders – I can’t find an election petition with the NLRB). Sanders notes that the company has hired union busters at the same time it has laid off 200 workers (25% of the staff), and at the same time that it is paying its CEO $17M per year. He also noted the significant federal funds that the company gets, saying in his letter to the company: “BAE received at least $12.6 billion in federal funds last year alone and more than $170 billion total in federal contracts since 2007. The American people do not want their taxpayer dollars going to large corporations that abuse and disrespect their workers while spending obscene amounts of money on stock buybacks and dividends.” Sanders also highlighted a recent preventable death at BAE in Jacksonville, a lack of training of new workers, and inhumane conditions such as having to work in 115 degree rooms with no ventilation.
- Pharmacy techs at the University of Kansas in Kansas City, Kansas have been organizing for a year and a half and finally had a union election – but due to errors that were not the fault of the workers, their ballots arrived to them late and were subsequently returned late. The PERB (the NLRB equivalent for Kansas public sector employees) counted the ballots that made it in before the deadline, but did not count the majority of the ballots that came in after. According to that count, a narrow majority of workers voted against unionization (by 1 vote), but workers organized, held a rally, and were able to secure an order from the PERB to get all the votes counted. It’s unclear when the remainder of the ballots will be counted.
Election Results
148 workers across 8 bargaining units unionized, and 9,180 workers in 20 bargaining units in Florida’s public sector recertified their unions. Those recertifications passed by 96% – less than 4% of people who participated in those elections wanted their unions to be decertified. And yet, under a new Florida law the vast majority of those workers would’ve lost their unions – 7,795 workers in 17 bargaining units would’ve seen their unions dissolved. That law took effect last week, so next month we’ll see it start to take a toll on Florida’s public sector labor movement.
- 7 workers at Amentum Services, Inc. in Houston, TX voted 6 to 0 in favor of unionization with (https://www.nlrb.gov/case/16-RC-388519)
- 21 workers at Starbucks Corporation in Roswell, GA voted 9 to 3 in favor of unionization with the Workers United a/w SEIU (https://www.nlrb.gov/case/10-RC-387258)
- 88 workers at REM Services, Inc. and Transdev Services, Inc., as joint employers in Houston, TX voted 71 to 0 in favor of unionization with the TEAMSTERS LOCAL UNION NO. 988 (https://www.nlrb.gov/case/16-RC-367048)
- 1,275 workers at Alachua County Public Schools in Gainesville, FL voted 182 to 12 in favor of recertifying the Alachua County Education Association as their union
- 654 workers at the Miami-Dade County Clerk and Comptroller in Miami, FL voted 355 to13 in favor of recertifying the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 199 as their union,
- 474 workers at the city of Hialeah, FL voted 292 to 4 in favor of recertifying the AFSCME Council 79 as their union
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, see the full list of last month’s Florida public sector union elections, as well as exclusive details about union elections referenced here.
Grievances, Unfair Labor Practices, & Court Cases
- The AFL-CIO applauded the decision to uphold birthright citizenship, saying in part: “This decision rejects the Trump administration’s latest attempt to divide working people and attack the immigrant families who are part of the fabric of our communities, our workplaces and our unions. At a time when working people are facing relentless attacks on their fundamental freedoms, the Court made clear that constitutional rights cannot simply be erased by executive order.” We talked to lawyer and politics streamer Pisco on our program about this decision and others. He noted that even though this decision was the right one, there were 4 justices willing to let birthright citizenship be overturned outside of the constitution, which should worry all of us
Strikes & Bargaining
- The United Campus Workers at UT Knoxville just won an $18/hr minimum wage – even without union recognition. It’s a testament to the union’s willingness to take on even hard campaigns in places that most unions won’t touch since there is no avenue to a collective bargaining agreement. And yet, through direct action like petitions, speaking at Board of Trustee meetings, and pressure on the university president, over 400 workers saw that raise take effect last week. The union, which workers on campus join and pay dues too even though there has not been and will not be a union election, said that their next goal is a $20/hr minimum wage
- After threatening a strike, paratransit drivers for Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) secured a tentative agreement. Their union – the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 1338 – announced the deal and said the deal “meets the Union’s demands including wage increases, improved benefits, vacation, training, holidays, and other issues.” In their announcement, they said a ratification vote would be held soon. I haven’t seen any official ATU announcement of the ratification vote, but the Texas AFL-CIO seemed to have indication that they did ratify the contract, saying the wage gains are 21% over the term of the contract (in their initial announcement, ATU said they wouldn’t provide details until members had ratified the contract)
- The federal government is proposing new rules for federal employees: a mandatory NDA. Federal unions oppose the measure. The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) says that this is just “another attempt by the administration to purge the civil service of nonpartisan career employees and replace them with loyalists who won’t speak out against waste, fraud, and abuse.”
- 5,000 workers at Lockheed Martin in Ft. Worth, TX ratified a new union contract. Their union – the International Association of Machinists (IAM) District 776 – said the contract includes a 23% general wage increase over the 5 year term of the agreement, as well as no mandatory overtime, increased vacation, and a $6,000 ratification bonus.
- IUPAT District Council 10 members at Spring Glass & Mirror in Houston, TX ratified a new contract after a 40 day strike. The union says the new contract saved their pension, and won better hours and better pay
- 250 Penske Teamsters in Missouri and Florida have authorized a strike against the company. In a statement about contract negotiations, the union said “In addition to making insulting proposals, Penske has engaged in illegal, regressive bargaining with the most recent example happening when they significantly changed the health care proposal that both parties had already tentatively agreed to.” Rocco Calo, Director of the Teamsters Industrial Trades Division said in the statement: “Penske is a multibillion-dollar corporation that can more than afford to offer Teamsters a fair contract. Penske is trying to place the costs and burdens of their mismanagement onto the backs of Teamsters by denying them fair wage increases, proposing pension freezes, and rejecting a fair attendance system they already have in place. Teamsters won’t stand for it, and this strike authorization should make that abundantly clear to Penske leadership.”
Political & Legislative
- The President has officially announced that the US is pulling out of the US-Mexico-Canada agreement, otherwise known as the USMCA – Trump’s own rewrite of NAFTA. At the time, he called it “the best and most important trade deal ever made by the USA.” Now his administration says that it allows for the US to have too large of a trade deficit with Canada and Mexico. The agreement will stay in place for another decade, with yearly reviews that could update major parts of the treaty. The US and Mexico have begun their own bilateral talks – but none have started with Canada yet. The labor movement obviously takes a keen interest in these sorts of policy moves. The week before the announcement, the United Auto Workers (UAW) released a white paper outlining what a pro-worker trade deal would look like. You can read the full paper at UAW.org/trade, but the union had three key demands: Build Here to Sell Here provisions ensuring that companies create and keep good jobs in the United States if they want to sell in the U.S. market; Real Labor Rights that are enforceable and apply to workers in all three countries; and Strong Standards on Pay & Other Key Issues, including a new Manufacturing Wage Floor for North America and strict health and environmental protections. Notably, the union said if those were not met that the US should withdraw from the deal. The UAW hasn’t reacted to the most recent news from the White House. The International Association of Machinists (IAM) and the United Steel Workers (USW) also called for stronger protections in a renegotiated USMCA – though notably they did not echo the UAW’s calls for withdrawing from it altogether if those demands were not met
- The Trump administration has nominated another virulent racist for an important government post. This time its Charlton Allen to head up the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA – the federal sector equivalent of the NLRB) as its general counsel. NOTUS published an article detailing some of his bigotry, in particular his leadership of a conservative newspaper in the 90s that included a depiction of a Jewish person having horns and a pitchfork. He also opposes collective bargaining rights for federal workers. AFGE is calling on the nominee to withdraw.
- Beau Hawk, President of the Knoxville Oakridge Central Labor Council, is running for Mayor of Knox County and his campaign continues to gain steam despite media in the area uncovering his attendance at a rally in Venezuela opposing US intervention. His opponent has used video from our interview with him where he supported workers at McKays who organized in Knoxville attempting to blame the workers and Beau for his support of him, for its ultimate closing instead of the owners
Internal Union Affairs
- AFGE has a new survey out highlighting how federal workers are struggling with rising costs. One staggering finding: “members across all age groups are spending more than 90% of their income on a combination of housing, childcare, and student loan expenses. The highest financial burden was reported among employees aged 35 to 44, whose combined expenses average 111% of income”
- Palestinian unions issued a statement of thanks to the United Auto Workers (UAW), who voted to divest from Israel at their convention
- Vonda McDaniel, President of the Central Labor Council of Nashville and Middle Tennessee died suddenly and unexpectedly. In a statement announcing her passing, the Labor Council said “Vonda is remembered as a visionary leader and bridge builder who spent her life bringing together people from all areas of the community to build multi-racial working class power. She believed deeply that unions were for everyone and was committed to making life better for working families in Tennessee and the South. Vonda embodied the courage of the labor movement’s history, while embracing innovation and moving us forward. She saw the potential in rank and file union members, young people, and people who didn’t even know they were part of the labor movement yet. She empowered them to learn how to organize and take action.” I can attest personally to her willingness to support young workers, and benefitted immensely from her mentorship. At her funeral, I was able to see and hear about the full scope of her work, and the respect she commanded from power brokers in Nashville and across the country. It made me feel even more grateful that she was willing to take time with me, even amidst all the other responsibilities she carried. To be honest, I still can’t believe she’s gone. I miss her greatly, and her absence in the labor movement in the South will be felt deeply. Her labor council reminded us that her legacy is a call to action: “Vonda’s legacy calls us to carry forward the work to organize unions for everyone, build bridges between community and labor, fight for racial and immigrant justice, and struggle for a better South and a better future for all. Honor Vonda by joining or forming a union. Honor her by building relationships with your neighbors and your coworkers. Honor her by door knocking, canvassing, voting, and fighting for democracy. We mourn the loss of an irreplaceable leader, and we will continue to fight like hell to realize her vision.”