General Executive Board Reviews Workplace Challenges Under New Administration
The UE General Executive Board, which consists of 16 elected rank-and-file members from the union’s two geographic regions, along with the three elected national officers, met on January 30 and 31. The board heard reports on UE’s organizational, political action, education and international solidarity work, and made plans for the 2025 UE National Convention, which will be held in Chicago in August. The Board also issued three statements:
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UE Local 115 Members March on the Boss and Win Fair Vacation Request Form
After a petition and a march on the boss, the members of UE Local 115, who work at the Refresco bottling plant in Wharton, New Jersey, convinced their employer to abandon a confusing vacation request policy.
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Local 150 Helps Break Right-Wing Supermajority in NC, Joins Coalition to Advocate for Heat Safety
As public-sector workers, the members of UE Local 150, North Carolina Public Service Workers Union, who work for cities, state hospitals, and public universities across the state know that decisions made by the state legislature affect, and in some cases set, their wages, benefits and working conditions. Recently, the right-wing Republican supermajority in the state General Assembly lowered income tax for the wealthy, which pulls billions of dollars from the state budget that funds wage increases for state workers and other vital public services. Read more »
Following the death of three North Carolina workers from exposure to high temperatures while working last year, UE Local 150 members are joining with other unions and advocates to push for new safety policies to prevent future deaths. Members participated in rallies on December 8, 9, and 10 to urge state officials to finalize the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) proposed standards for Heat Illness and Injury Prevention. Read more »
UE Local 197-TRU Organizes to Take Down AI Surveillance Cameras at Johns Hopkins University
Over the weekend of October 5, 2024, Johns Hopkins graduate workers, members of UE Local 197-Teachers and Researchers United, were alarmed to find that five AI smart surveillance towers had been surreptitiously installed across the Johns Hopkins University (JHU) campus in Baltimore, Maryland. Read more »
Graduate Workers at Stanford and Minnesota Share Stories of Their First Contract Struggles
At the end of last year, UE settled first contracts at Stanford University (UE Local 1043-SGWU) and the University of Minnesota (UE Local 1105-GLU). Read about these hard-fought campaigns, and the wins they delivered for graduate workers on both campuses, in articles written by leaders from both locals:
Locals 1186 and 667 Put UE Policy on Peace Into Action
During UE’s 78th convention, rank-and-file delegates passed the resolution “For Jobs, Peace, and a Pro-Worker Foreign Policy.” It calls on the union at all levels to inform and engage members about the need to change U.S. foreign policy to promote diplomacy, democracy, and workers’ rights. It further directs members to promote involvement in labor-based efforts to effectively create that change. Over the past year, Local 667 and Local 1186 have both put that resolution into action. Read more »
Trump Administration Fires Pro-Worker Labor Board Member, Leaving NLRB Unable to Act
In January, newly-inaugurated President Trump took the unprecedented and, on the face of it, unconstitutional step of removing a sitting member of the National Labor Relations Board. Now without a quorum, the NLRB will be unable to issue decisions until Trump appoints more board members. With employers now able to stall legal proceedings against them indefinitely by appealing to the quorumless board, it is more important than ever that UE locals rely on organization in the workplace rather than legal charges. Read more »
UE President to Speak on Lessons From Labor Party
UE General President Carl Rosen will be speaking on a zoom panel on "Lessons from the US Labor Party for Working-Class Politics Today" on Thursday, February 20, at 8pm ET. The Labor Party was launched in 1996 by 1,400 elected delegates representing some one million union members and community activists. The panel will discuss questions including: What lessons can be learned from this earlier effort to organize an independent working-class party? How can this project inform contemporary efforts to move forward with building towards a serious alternative to the two corporate parties, grounded in the working class? RSVP for the Zoom panel »
Building Union Power Workshop Series Showcases Local Struggles
More than 60 members from 22 UE locals participated in the third edition of the union’s “Building Union Power” workshop series in November and December. The four-part workshop guides members through the process of building winning campaigns while simultaneously using those campaigns to develop new leaders. Read more »
FEATURE
New Exhibition Shows Different Sides of UE Organizer Turned Painter
A new show of his work in Narrowsburg, NY makes clear that Ralph Fasanella, the UE organizer who took up painting, was interested in every aspect of working class life, not just union struggles. Although he is known for his large-scale paintings of strikes, union meetings, and urban working-class life, this show also includes paintings of people at home and at the beach, vacationing, eating hot dogs at the iconic Nathan’s in Brooklyn, and enjoying America’s favorite pastime. Read more »
1945 Conference Sought International Labor Solidarity for Peace and Prosperity
Eighty years ago, trade unions from around the world met for the World Labor Conference in London. While German V-2 rockets fell around them, delegates from 35 countries discussed the role of labor in winning World War II, destroying fascism, and ensuring a peaceful and prosperous world for working people in the aftermath of the war. Read more »
