Preparations Key to Winning Biggest Wage Increases Ever for Local 319
UE Local 319 members who work for Battenfeld Grease and Oil Corporation ratified a new three-year contract on October 29 which includes the biggest wage increases ever negotiated with Battenfeld. Depending on their labor grades, members will receive five to nine percent wage increases in the first year of the agreement, which took effect on November 1. Wages will increase 11 to 22 percent, depending on labor grade, over the life of the agreement.
Read more on ueunion.org »
New Energy on Display at Eastern Region
The UE Eastern Region held its fall council meeting on October 26 in Baltimore, home of Local 197-Teachers and Researchers United (TRU). Local 197, who settled their first contract in the spring, had over a dozen members in attendance, joining members of locals from North Carolina to western Pennsylvania to Vermont. Delegates and guests were welcomed by Eastern Region President George Waksmunski at the beginning of the meeting and Local 197 leader Anna Word said a few words to welcome everyone to their local’s hometown.
Read more on ueunion.org »
New Mexico and Colorado Locals Learn While Organizing at Sub-Regional Meeting
Members from UE locals 1466, 1498, and 1477 gathered on October 25 and 26 in Las Cruces for their sub-regional meeting. In total, around 30 workers met at New Mexico State University, where Local 1498 members work, to discuss UE principles, how to develop new leadership, and how to use their locals’ bylaws and constitution as a way to build power.
Local 1466 steward Jadin Moore said, “Sub-regional was a great experience. I came back reinvigorated about organizing after hearing about the struggle of other workers across New Mexico and the values of UE. It’s exciting to be part of a community of workers who care about building power and fighting for something better.”
Read more on ueunion.org »
Labor Movement Must Unite Working Class to Resist Corporate Agenda, Fight for Real Solutions
Statement of the UE officers on the election. For over half of a century, working people in the U.S. have seen stagnating wages, worsening working conditions, the loss of good jobs, and constant increases in the cost of living. This is the result of corporations’ never-ending thirst to squeeze as many profits out of workers as possible. Throughout this time, both major parties have been complicit in this corporate assault. They have maintained their power, and a corrupt two-party system, by dividing the working class along lines of race, gender, and education. Frustration with the Democrats and their unwillingness to confront corporate power or offer real solutions to working people’s economic concerns led many working people to vote for Donald Trump on Tuesday, giving him the margin of victory. Read the full statement »
UE higher education locals have also released a statement, “After Trump election, higher ed unions vow to keep up the fight.” Read it here »
Maintenance Workers Join Local 728 and Win First Contract
PacArctic maintenance workers, contracted at the U.S. Department of State’s Kentucky Consular Center (KCC), won their first UE contract on July 2. The members had a swift union campaign after seeing the benefits Local 728 members at KCC, who process non-immigrant visas, won in their most recent contract. After organizing, the maintenance workers successfully negotiated a first contract with a six percent raise in the first year, six percent raise in the second year, and five percent raise in the last year of the contract. Read more »
Rising Tide of Solidarity: WHOI Workers Unite for Fairer Conditions
The graduate student workers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) reached a significant milestone on October 1, when they participated in their first bargaining session to negotiate a union contract. These workers, part of a joint program between WHOI and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), have been organizing their union since early 2023. Inspired by successful union drives by graduate workers at other institutions, particularly MIT, the WHOI workers were determined to secure better protections and benefits. Read more »
Local 115 Wins Reinstatement of Fired Union Leader
On Wednesday, October 30, UE Local 115 member Licinia Ochoa, who was terminated last summer in retaliation for her leadership in the union, returned to work at the Refresco bottling plant at her same machine, seniority, and pay. The local had circulated a bilingual petition demanding her reinstatement which was signed by hundreds of people, including both workers in the shop and supporters from the community and around the country. Read more »
UE Members Sharpen Skills at Buffalo Troublemakers School
A dozen UE members from Local 300-Cornell Graduate Students United (CGSU-UE), which represents grad workers at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, and Local 506, which represents production and maintenance workers at the Wabtec Locomotive facility in Erie, PA, attended the Buffalo Troublemakers School organized by Labor Notes on October 19. This was first Troublemakers School in western New York State. UAW Region 9 hosted the daylong event. Read more »
UE Cartoonist to Speak on Drug Testing Cartoon That Got Under GE’s Skin
Retired UE Cartoonist Gary Huck will be speaking on Thursday, November 14 at the event “Creating Art, Creating Change: Art as a Tool for Healing Communities” at the American Visionary Art Museum. He will tell the story of a drug-testing cartoon he drew for the UE NEWS and General Electric’s response. Learn more and RSVP »
Union Elections on the Rise
In a recent report, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) announced a significant rise in union election petitions in fiscal year 2024 compared to the year before. From October 1, 2023 to September 30, 2024, the NLRB received 3,286 union election petitions, up 27 percent compared to the 2,593 in the previous fiscal year. The increase is more than double when compared to the 1,638 petitions submitted in 2021. Read more »
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