Flight Attendants President, Faith Leader Join UE to Defend Right to Strike

“The idea that you can come to work under terms that you did not agree to should have gone out with the 13th Amendment,” AFA-CWA President Sara Nelson, one of the most well-known labor leaders in the U.S. told attendees at two UE-sponsored virtual events on Wednesday, May 31. (The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution outlawed slavery and involuntary servitude.)

In a virtual press conference and a webinar, the Association of Flight Attendants president and Rev. Richard Freeman, the president of the Pennsylvania Interfaith Impact Network, joined leaders of UE Local 506 to make the case that workers having the right to strike over grievances mid-contract is the best way to resolve workplace disputes swiftly and fairly.

14,000 Graduate Workers Join UE in First Four Months of 2023

Between January and April, over 14,000 graduate workers on five campuses across the country voted to join UE — all by margins of over 80 percent. The latest issue of the UE NEWS features accounts of all five campaigns, written by some of the graduate workers who led them:

Years of Organizing Lead to Big Win for Northwestern Grad Workers, by Kavitha Chintam and Esther Kamm, NUGW-UE
The Road to Collective Bargaining for TRU-UE, by Ali Siddiqui, Kristin Brig-Ortiz, and Andrew S Eneim, TRU-UE (Johns Hopkins University)
New UE Local 1103 Was 16 Years in the Making, by Andrew Seber, GSU-UE (University of Chicago)
Dartmouth Grad Workers Win Recognition Despite Boss’s Legal Tricks, by David Freeman, GOLD-UE
Sixth Time (and Some Solid Organizing) Is a Charm for University of Minnesota Grad Workers, by Noah Wexler, University of Minnesota Graduate Labor Union-UE

UE Local 150, Charlotte City Workers Union Demands Better Pay in Proposed Budget

On Monday, May 8, UE Local 150/Charlotte City Workers Union members rallied and marched in the streets from Marshall Park to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Government Center in Uptown Charlotte chanting “When city workers are under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back!”

City workers from departments around the city went to Charlotte City Council meeting — against the advice of department heads and supervisors — to demand higher raises than the six percent raise being proposed in the city budget (three percent in July and a second three percent increase in January of 2024).

Local 808 Petition Gets Quick Response from Company on Minimum Pay

On January 30, 2023, the federal government made a cost of living adjustment to the federal minimum wage for contractors, bringing it from the original $15.00 set by Executive Order 14026 in January of 2022 to $16.20.

UE Local 808 represents hundreds of workers employed by the contractor ITC Federal at the USCIS service center here. “General Clerk I” — the lowest-paid job category — makes up about 40 percent of the bargaining unit, and the local had expected that raising GCI’s wages from the current rate of $15.91 to the new minimum would be non-controversial. The company, though, was resistant to acknowledging its obligation to make that adjustment, making specious arguments about contract renewal dates. Read more »

Local 250 Drivers Win Double-Digit Increases in First Year of New Contract

The approximately 100 members of UE Local 250 have ratified a new five-year contract with their employer, Hertz. Local 250 members drive Hertz rental cars between the company distribution center at Boston’s Logan airport and dozens of satellite locations throughout New England. Read more »

UE Ally Sara Innamorato Wins Nomination for Allegheny County Executive

Sara Innamorato, a state representative who began her political career in 2018 by unseating an establishment Democrat, won the Democratic primary for county executive of Allegheny County yesterday. Allegheny County, the county in southwestern Pennsylvania which includes Pittsburgh, has a population of over 1.2 million, making it one of the largest counties in the U.S. Read more »

General Executive Board Sees Opportunities, Challenges in Current Period

Meeting on May 11 and 12, UE’s General Executive Board reviewed the challenges and opportunities created by UE’s rapid growth over the past five months, with over 14,000 workers joining UE in labor board elections since January. The GEB, made up of UE’s three national officers, the regional presidents, and rank-and-file members elected from each region, is the union’s highest decision-making body in between national conventions. Read more »

Eastern Region Celebrates, Prepares for Aggressive Struggle in Erie

Standing at the podium in the UE Local 506 hall in Erie, PA, behind a large blow-up map of the Wabtec plant where Local 506 members work, its gates marked to facilitate plans for picket duty, UE Eastern Region President George Waksmunski welcomed delegates to the Eastern Region council meeting here on Saturday, April 29. Local 506’s contract with Wabtec expires on June 9, along with the contract of their sister Local 618. In the words of Local 506 delegate Mike Giles, who gave part of his local’s shop report, “We’re in for a hell of a fight.” Read more »

Economics News for Workers

The UE NEWS takes a look at some economics news from the past few months — from a worker’s point of view. Read more »

UE Condemns Repression of Protesters in Atlanta

On June 2, UE’s officers released a statement condemning the police repression of protesters in Atlanta. “The violent police attacks on peaceful protesters, including the murder of one activist in January, are unconscionable in a democracy,” the UE officers say. “The charges of ‘domestic terrorism’ against protesters, and the recent arrests of organizers whose sole ‘crime’ was to provide bail for those arrested during the protests, are clearly designed to criminalize and stifle dissent.” Read the full statement »

Medicare for All Reintroduced with Record Number of House Co-Sponsors

On Wednesday, May 17, legislation to create a universal, “Medicare for All” healthcare system — a UE demand since the 1940s — was reintroduced in both the House and Senate. The House bill was introduced with a record number of co-sponsors, including the majority of the Democratic caucus and 13 powerful legislators who are the highest-ranking Democrats in their committees. Read more »

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