Hey John,

We recently launched a new people-powered project called The Solidarity Hub: a one-stop shop for workers to track contract fights, take action, and share important resources. As a part of this initiative, we’ll also be sending frequent updates straight to your inbox on some of the biggest contract fights like the ongoing Teamsters and UPS negotiations, the upcoming United Auto Workers contract with The Big Three (Ford, Stellantis, and GM), and many more.

Hundreds of thousands of workers are fighting for dignified wages, safer workplaces, and respect this year. And they’ll win big with the support of people like you.  

Below you’ll find a weekly update of current strikes and ways you can support workers across the country.

Teamsters UPS Contract Update

In the past few weeks, the Teamsters national negotiations committee walked away from not one but two insulting economic proposals from UPS. Refusing to make a single concession on the needs of their members. On Saturday, July 1st the Teamsters announced they had reached tentative agreements on three significant issues: 

• Abolishing the 22.4 two-tier wage system

• Ending forced overtime for drivers

• Establishing Martin Luther King Day as a full holiday

The national negotiations committee has given UPS until Wednesday, July 5, to reach a deal on the economic pieces of the contract.

The entire logistics industry and the world is watching. Will UPS do the right thing, or will they force a strike?

Starbucks Workers United revealed how the company is preventing partners from putting up pride decorations in dozens of stores across the U.S. during LGBTQIA+ pride month. This is the latest in Starbucks’s retaliation against workers, which includes threatening workers' access to existing benefits, denying new benefits to union stores, firing worker leaders like Lexi Rizzo, and other illegal attempts to dissuade partners from organizing.

Actions in support of the long-standing tradition of PRIDE are expected to continue. Learn more and find a store to support at sbworkersunited.org/strike-with-pride.

“According to the AFL-CIO, Wabtec CEO Rafael Santana received over $11 million in compensation in 2021 alone. Explained in another way, $11 million is equivalent to nearly 150 employees earning $75,000 each. For additional context, as described by the Economic Policy Institute, the CEO-to-worker compensation disparity has increased significantly over the decades: 15-to-1 in 1965, 44-to-1 in 1989, to now hundreds of times more today (between 200 to 300).” Read more.

Find ways to support UE Local 56 at http://uelocal506.com/lockout-strike-bulletins/.

“Nurses at three Ascension-owned facilities in Austin, Texas, and Wichita, Kan., condemn Ascension management for carrying out a three-day lockout following historic one-day strikes at their hospitals. Nearly 2,000 nurses at Ascension Seton Medical Center Austin (ASMCA) and Wichita’s Ascension Via Christi St. Francis and Ascension Via Christi St. Joseph hospitals held June 27 the largest nurses strikes ever in both states and are now facing punitive attempts by management at union-busting by prohibiting them from returning to work Wednesday and locking them out for three additional days.” Read more.

Striking Workers are Winning!

“Approximately 6,000 members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) Local 839 (District 70) at Spirit AeroSystems voted today to ratify an improved four-year contract with the aerospace company. IAM members will return to work on Wednesday, July 5.

The newly ratified contract includes significant improvements over the previously rejected contract in wages, prescription drug coverage, and overtime rules. IAM members at Spirit AeroSystems have been on strike since Saturday, June 24." Read more.