Who We Are Right Now

Members of Plumbers & Gasfitters Local 5 marched with union locals from across

 the country as part of Tradeswomen Build Nations last weekend in DC. Photo from

 the Metro Washington Labor Council.

“When I’m at work, I spend a lot of time waiting near idling diesel locomotive 

engines. I know this pollution is affecting my breathing. I can feel it, and I am not the

 only one. We have a lot of drivers who have health problems. It impacts everybody, 

especially in the communities that are right around these rail yards. Drivers like me

 used to have better jobs directly with the railroads, but they subcontracted our work

 so they could save money. Now, they don’t have to pay for things like health insurance

 for us. Here we are, doing the work, making them money, and all they are doing is

 making us sick.”---Cedric Whelchel of the United Electrical workers. Photo from

the UE Research and Education Fund.

"Hundreds of early-career researchers at the US National Institutes of 

Health (NIH) have voted overwhelmingly to form a union, nearly completing

 the official process required to do so. They plan to call on the agency — the world’s

 largest public funder of biomedical research — to improve pay and working conditions,

 and to bolster its policies and procedures for dealing with harassment and excessive workloads."

 Taken from an article by Max Kozlov that appeared in NATURE and in Portside. Photo by

 Melissa Lyttle.

Communications Workers of America District 1 Healthcare Workers met in Buffalo,

 N.Y., for their first ever Healthcare Worker Convening. Photo from CWA District 1.