Organizing and Escalation Win Major Gains in First Contract for Local 197-TRU

UE Local 197-TRU members Aitana Azurmendi, Laura Konisek, and Will Brakewood write, “Five days before we planned to vote to authorize our strike at a General Membership Meeting, the graduate workers of UE Local 197 (TRU) reached a strong tentative agreement on our first contract. For graduate workers at The Johns Hopkins University (JHU), this monumental win came more than a year after we voted overwhelmingly to unionize and after 47 bargaining sessions with the university administration.”

UE Grad Worker Locals Fighting for Peace, Free Speech

As Israel prepares to expand its offensive in Gaza, UE graduate worker locals across the country have been supporting the encampments that have been established on campuses to protest the war — and taking action to protect the free-speech rights of their members who are participating in the protests.

UE Members Rock Labor Notes Conference

Over 100 UE members and staff from across the country attended the 2024 Labor Notes Conference in Chicago in April. Many were featured panelists or workshop facilitators for 14 different program offerings, highlighting UE campaigns and skills. All participated in a rich variety of workshops, panels, and gatherings designed to grow the “trouble-making” wing of the labor movement. Members of the new UE Women's Leadership Program also participated.

UE Local 704 Wins Sick Time, Highest Percent Raises in Local History

Members of UE Local 704, who handle liquid and bulk commodities like bulk salt, fertilizer, petroleum, and chemicals at a marine terminal on the Ohio River, ratified their second contract with Watco on April 8, 2024. Prior to 2016, Kinder-Morgan had employed Local 704 members. While the battle for an initial contract with the new company took two years of difficult negotiations, the successor agreement negotiations took only three days. Members had more bargaining power due to the company’s ongoing struggle to attract and retain DOT-certified employees in the greater Cincinnati area. Read more »

Locals 115 and 155 Secure Strong Union Rights During Immigration Audits

Both Refresco and Chasen Fiber Technologies thought they could intimidate their mainly immigrant workers — who are members of UE Locals 115 and 155 respectively — by running internal I-9 audits. But UE members fought back and won strong rights to protect workers. Read more »

Local 274 Secures Historic Wage Increases at Transit Authority

During 12 days of negotiations with the Franklin Regional Transit Authority (FRTA), the members of amalgamated Local 274 used the threat of picketing and other escalating actions to secure a large wage increase, benefit improvements for all members, and the end of a two-tier system. Read more »

Northwestern University Graduate Workers Raise the Bar for Graduate Education in First Contract Fight

UE Local 1122-NUGW members Adrian Ray-Avalani and Emma Kennedy report on the first contract achieved by Local 1122 in March. Read their report »

UE Ally Summer Lee Defeats Billionaire-Backed Primary Challenge

Congresswoman Summer Lee, a regular fixture at UE picketlines and rallies in southwest Pennsylvania since she was first elected to the state legislature in 2018, easily fended off a primary challenge on April 23, winning just over 60 percent of the vote. “Our Congresswoman Summer Lee fights tirelessly for … the working class people and their families in our district, in our state and in our country,” said Local 610 President Antwon Gibson, whose local endorsed her re-election. Read more »

UE Regions Meet

UE’s two geographic regions held their twice-yearly regional council meetings in April, bring together delegates from UE locals across the country to share experiences, learn from each other, and conduct the business of the union. The Western Region, which stretches from Ohio to California, gathered for the first-ever UE regional council meeting in New Mexico on April 13 and 14. The Eastern Region, which brings together locals from Pennsylvania down to North Carolina and up to New England, held its council meeting in Charlotte, NC on April 27.

Members of Local 222-21 Gain Wage Increases and Better Benefits in Two New Contracts

After three days of negotiations, the members of Local 222 Sublocal 21 who work as support staff and supervisors for the Trumbull Board of Education bargained and ratified two new contracts. The members won 2.75 percent wage increases each year of the three-year contracts. The workers were also able to negotiate with the company to have their insurance premiums increase only half a percent each year for the life of the contract, totaling only 1.5 percent, and won a matching increase of 0.5 percent to their 401(k) benefits. Read more »

FEATURE

“They didn’t like anyone telling them what to do”

A new radio documentary produced by New England Public Media tells the story of how a UE local in a “deeply conservative rural county” in Massachusetts not only survived but grew during the red-baiting attacks on UE in the early 1950s. The 50-minute documentary “At Sword’s Point” first aired on May 4 and 5, but can be streamed at nepm.org/swordspoint. It includes interviews with retired UE District Two President Judy Atkins and International Representative David Cohen. Read more »

UE Graduate Worker Locals Strategize, Exchange Experiences at Meet Up in Erie, Luncheon in New Mexico

UE graduate worker locals had two opportunities this spring to learn from each other, and from established UE locals. In mid-March, UE Local 506 hosted several UE grad worker locals for a training and strategizing meet up at their union hall in Erie, Pennsylvania. Then in April, seven UE graduate worker locals gathered together for a Graduate Workers Organizing Committee (GWOC) lunch meeting hosted by Local 1466, the United Graduate Workers of New Mexico, on April 13 during the UE Western Regional Conference.

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