Local 1004 Holds One-Day Unfair Labor Practice Strike

Members of UE Local 1004, which represents 700 patient care workers, including patient care attendants, techs, and other support staff at Henry Mayo hospital in Valencia, CA, held a one-day unfair labor practice strike on Monday, March 20. The strike was called to encourage hospital management to end its illegal bargaining tactics and engage in good-faith negotiations to address high staff turnover.

Local 150 Members Rally for $20/Hour in Greensboro, NC

The Greensboro City Workers Union chapter of UE Local 150 rallied in front of their city council on April 4 demanding $20/hour. Watch video on YouTube »

UE-Endorsed Candidates Win in Wisconsin, Chicago

Two candidates endorsed by UE’s Western Region won important elections on Tuesday, April 4. Judge Janet Protasiewicz was elected to the Wisconsin Supreme Court by a 55-45 margin, and Brandon Johnson, a former rank-and-file member and organizer with the Chicago Teachers’ Union, was elected mayor of Chicago. The Chicago mayoral race, especially, offered a clear, “Them and Us” choice between Johnson and Paul Vallas, a former CEO of Chicago’s public school system who pushed for privatization and underfunded workers’ pensions. Read more »

Western Region Council Hears Reports on Strike, Organizing Victories

The UE Western Region’s spring council meeting welcomed new locals, heard shop reports from around the region, and got a report on the March 20 one-day strike carried out by UE Local 1004 at the Henry Mayo hospital in Valencia, California. The council meeting was held the weekend of March 25 and 26. Read more »

Sued for Union Organizing?

In October 2021, two workers at the company HIPR were illegally fired for organizing with UE. Since then, their employer has continued to wage a campaign of threats and harassment against them, including filing a lawsuit against them. If this lawsuit is allowed to stand, it will have a chilling effect on workers’ rights everywhere. Support their defense fund »

UE Local 896-COGS Members Fight for Real Raise, Despite Anti-Union Law

Caleb Klipowicz, the Press and Publicity Committee Chair for UE Local 896-COGS, has written an account for the UE NEWS of University of Iowa graduate workers’ recent struggle for a real raise. Their story illustrates how Iowa’s 2017 anti-union law has made it virtually impossible for public-sector unions in that state to engage in meaningful bargaining with their employer. Nonetheless, Local 896 members are continuing to engage in aggressive struggle to improve their conditions, organizing worker and community support for their demands. Read his article »

Local 1498 Delivers Notice to Reopen Negotiations with Rally

UE Local 1498-Grad Workers United delivered notice of their intent to reopen negotiations over tuition reimbursement, in light of increased state funding, to the New Mexico State University administration with a rally on March 30. As part of Local 1498's first contract, ratified in December, the university and the union agreed to work together to increase available state funding and renegotiate tuition following the conclusion of the legislative session. The December agreement also included a tuition scholarship that the University has yet to disperse. See photos from the rally on the UE Facebook page »

Crossborder Mural Project Documentary Now Available on YouTube

Earlier this year, the Chicago-based labor television show Labor Beat posted their 1997 documentary about the cross-border mural project organized by UE and our Mexican partners the Frente Auténtico del Trabajo (FAT) on YouTube. The documentary, which runs approximately half an hour, follows the creation of two labor murals, one at the FAT headquarters in Mexico City, the other at the UE Hall in Chicago. Read more and watch the video »

This Wednesday: The AFL-CIO and the Global Cold War

Our living and working conditions are directly linked to those of other workers around the world. As long as there are places where workers toil for starvation wages without health and safety protections, it’s hard to achieve or maintain good wages or conditions anywhere.

Poor wages and working conditions in other countries are not natural or inevitable. They are often the result of covert interference (and sometimes overt military intervention) by the U.S. government. UE has consistently maintained that working people should formulate our own, independent stand on foreign policy, based on international solidarity, and not simply follow the lead of our government. Sadly, the mainstream of the U.S. labor movement has often been complicit in supporting our government’s intervention in the labor and social movements of other countries.

On Wednesday at 4pm Eastern Time, labor historian and journalist Jeff Schuhrke will examine this history in a 90-minute online class, looking at how the AFL-CIO's actions contrast with those taken by some individual unions (like UE) that tried to challenge U.S. foreign policy. This class is sliding scale, with payment options starting at FREE. UE encourages all members and allies to learn about this important history.

Bulletin