This is a blog about building labor and community solidarity in Oregon's Mid-Willamette Valley and beyond. The opinions expressed in this blog are those of the authors only unless otherwise noted.
Showing posts with label Chicago Teachers Union. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chicago Teachers Union. Show all posts
The right to strike, the eight-hour day, and the minimum wage have only been recognized by federal law since the 1930s. Even those basic protections come riddled with loopholes. Important groups, such as domestic workers and agricultural workers, are excluded. Now the right wing has its sights set on stripping away those rights won by more than a hundred years of hard organizing and bloody battles. Project 2025’s “Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise” spells out just how they would do it.
Project 2025 was initiated by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, with support from over 80 organizations that have been on the front line of extremist positions. The nearly 900-page “Mandate for Leadership” report lays out detailed plans that could be put in place if Donald Trump wins the presidency this fall.
In this video, Ash-Lee Woodard Henderson, co-executive director of the Highlander Center, talks with Chicago Teachers Union Vice President Jackson Potter and Convergence’s Stephanie Luce about what Project 2025 could mean for workers—and what we can do to push back against the Right’s plans.
The Project 2025 report’s chapter on the Labor Department contains a few items that sound appealing, such as overtime pay for Sunday work—but the plan aims to undermine labor unions and independent worker power, and hand employers more control over their workforce. Even the positive elements are primarily in the service of a Christian nationalist agenda, aimed at bolstering a male-head-of-household, stay-at-home mother family.
Writers Guild of America East (WGAE) members at Onion Inc., ratified a new contract with parent company G/O Media. The Onion Inc. Union, the 36-member bargaining unit representing the creative staff at The Onion, The A.V. Club, Deadspin and The Takeout, voted to authorize a strike if a new deal could not be reached. The new three-year agreement includes raising the minimum starting salary by $10,000 to $60,000 in the first year of the contract, and up to $64,000 in the final year of the contract, 3% raises in each subsequent year of the contract, a minimum of 12 weeks severance pay with no cap in the event of layoffs, successorship language that allows workers to receive full severance if their employment is terminated in the event of a sale or within 30 days of working with the new entity, the establishment of a policy on the use of generative artificial intelligence (GAI) within 12 months, a gender-neutral increase in parental leave, WPATH standard of care in health benefits, and increased guaranteed holidays. Read more here.
It is day three of a strike for the schools students deserve at Instituto del Progreso Latino. Progress at the bargaining table has come at a snail’s pace. This strike was completely avoidable by the charter school operator, but regrettably Instituto’s school leaders and board of directors have failed to put the interests the community they committed to serve first.
Educators took a stand to make sure Instituto del Progreso Latino fulfills its mission to provide immigrant students an education. Currently, the school has 10 vacancies in core subject areas, zero special education teachers, and lacks bilingual education services. It took 2 years for Instituto’s management to reach an agreement with the union on sanctuary protections for students and staff. Management can do the right thing and agree to a staffing and compensation package that will recruit and retain educators, provide needed student services and stabilize our schools. Read more here.
The union has announced a nuber of impressive victories in Las Vegas and more are coming. Sunday the union annpounced that "The Culinary Union is pleased to announce that a tentative agreement on a new 5-year contract was just reached with the Downtown Grand Hotel & Casino for nearly 200 hospitality workers and we congratulate workers on winning the best contract ever." Follow the union's progress here.
Building trades workers in San Diego won a big victory when the City Council there unanimously passed a blanket project labor agreement (PLA) last week.
The Communications Workers of America UPTE-CWA Local 9119 optometrists who work at the University of California (UC) walked off the job this week in response to unfair labor practices by the university and "(O)ver 200 members of the NewsGuild-CWA, working for Tribune Publishing, staged a one-day walkout last week to protest the company’s refusal to pay journalists, designers and editors a fair wage and management’s threat to take away the 401(k) match benefit. Workers from the Chicago Tribune, Orlando Sentinel, Virginian-Pilot, Morning Call, Suburban Chicago Tribune, Design and Production Studios, and Tribune Content Agency participated in the walkout—the single largest coordinated action journalists at the company have taken against Alden Global Capital since the hedge fund purchased Tribune Publishing in 2021."
And we're watching: The IATSE and the Hollywood Basic Crafts, which includes Teamsters Local 399, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 40 (IBEW), Laborers International Union of North America Local 724 (LiUNA!), United Association Plumbers Local 78 (UA) and Operating Plasterers & Cement Masons International Association (OPCMIA) Local 755, have announced that they will be jointly bargaining their shared Motion Picture Industry Pension and Health Plan proposals in the 2024 bargaining cycle with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Studios(AMPTP). See this. IATSE is following negotians between the American Federation of Musicians and the AMPTP and has declared support for the Musicians.
