Historic Wage Increases and New Job Classifications in Local 106 Contract
On February 5, members of Local 106 ratified a new three-year contract with Buckeye Pipeline. The contract includes the highest raises the local has received from the current company, which took over the operations of the Port Reading terminal in 2013. In addition to wage increases of up to 12 percent, the members won contract language on new job classifications that they have been fighting for since Buckeye took over.
Read more on ueunion.org »
NC State Workers Say, ‘Fund Worker Health, not Corporate Wealth’
On Friday, March 7, members of UE Local 150, the North Carolina Public Service Workers Union, spoke out against increased insurance costs and cuts to health services at the State Health Plan Board of Trustees meeting. Last month, the SHP Board, led by State Treasurer Brad Briner, voted on several proposals to increase the premiums and deductibles paid by over 700,000 state employees. The board is also considering future cuts to services and privatization of retiree health insurance plans.
Read more on ueunion.org »
Local 792 Wins Back Pay for New Members as They Enter Negotiations
The Local 792 Bargaining Committee knew that they had to get their membership involved as they prepared for contract negotiations, but they were surprised that a routine information request gave them a key opportunity to do so. After discovering that new hires were being underpaid, the local demanded that the company make things right. The local manager responsible has since been terminated, and nine affected members will receive backpay awards totaling $974.25.
Read more on ueunion.org »
Local 228 Helps Defeat “Right to Work” (for Less)
The latest effort to expand anti-union “right to work” laws was defeated last month in New Hampshire — and UE Local 228 members were in the thick of the fight. Members sent emails and made calls to their legislators demanding that they oppose the legislation, which would have made New Hampshire the first state in the Northeast to legalize free-riding. Read more »
Local 506 Steward Trainings Cover Communicating, Organizing, and Grievances
UE Local 506 conducted trainings for its stewards on all three shifts at the local’s union hall on Thursday, March 6. The trainings covered the basics of stewards’ duties, including communicating with their members, filing grievances, and organizing their members. Local 506 represents 1,400 production and maintenance workers at the sprawling Wabtec locomotive facility in Erie, PA. Read more »
New UE Music Video
UE has produced our first-ever music video! Singer-songwriter Mike Stout recorded his anthem about UE history, “We Are the Rank and File” in 2023; the UE Communications Department has set the tune to images of UE struggles past and present, along with footage of Stout performing the song at the 2023 UE Convention. Watch the video »
Join Webinar to Stop Medicaid Cuts
Medicaid and other critical public health programs are facing unprecedented attacks right now. Congress is advancing cuts that would take health care away from tens of millions of Medicaid enrollees — all to finance massive tax giveaways for the billionaire class.
While the GOP’s budget resolution just passed its first vote in Congress last week, this is just the first step in a long process. These cuts are NOT a done deal — we have an opportunity to stop them! Join UE ally National Nurses United for a nationwide call on Thursday, March 13th, at 8pm ET / 7pm CT / 6pm MT / 5pm PT to learn more about what cuts they’re proposing and what impacts they would have, and find out ways you can take action. RSVP for the call »
UE President: Funding Cuts “A Direct Theft From Working People”
UE General President Carl Rosen spoke at a rally in Washington, DC on February 25 opposing the cuts to federal research funding that have been ordered by Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency.”
“Cuts to research funding are a direct theft from working people for the benefit of the billionaires who are now running the federal government,” Rosen said. “It’s a theft from working people because thousands and thousands will lose their jobs. But it is also stealing a better future from all working people. A future where the research of today results in health care breakthroughs that can cure the illnesses that so many Americans are afflicted with. A future where the research of today can fix the poisoned environment that so many of us are forced to live in. A future where the research of today can help address mental health issues, drug abuse, and other problems that end lives too early in this country.” Read more and watch a video of Rosen’s speech »
FEATURE
David Montgomery’s Rank-and-File History
Last summer, the University of Illinois Press published A David Montgomery Reader: Essays on Capitalism and Worker Resistance, a collection of essays, some of them previously unpublished, by the late historian. Montgomery — a former UE member who addressed no less than four UE conventions — transformed the study of U.S. labor history in the 1960s and 70s. His work moved the focus of the discipline away from institutions and “great men” and to the way rank-and-file workers resisted dictatorial bosses and the insatiable demands of capital in their workplaces and communities. Read UE NEWS Editor Jonathan Kissam’s review »
Happy International Women’s Day!
This annual holiday, held on March 8, has both working-class and feminist origins, specifically calling for the celebration of working women and the mobilization of all workers to fight for women’s social, economic, and political equality. Read this 2014 UE NEWS Feature about the holiday’s origins »
Job Openings at UE
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