As COVID-19 Pandemic Rattles the Nation, UE Members Step Up, Speak Out, and Fight Back

The novel coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly changed almost all aspects of life, including the workplace. Virtually every UE local has been affected by the health and economic impacts of this unprecedented public health crisis. From fighting and winning hazard pay and workplace protections though member mobilization and public campaigns, to maintaining rank-and-file unionism using new technology, UE traditions of aggressive struggle in the workplace have served our membership well in facing this new challenge.

Workers Organizing and Winning During Pandemic

Next Thursday — hear from UE leaders and other essential workers about how they are organizing and winning protections during the COVID-19 crisis.

First Contract at Wisconsin Co-op Scraps Attendance Policy, Boosts Starting Wages

Members of Local 1186 wear stickers to demand a fair first contract (photo taken before COVID-19)

Workers at the Willy Street Co-op, who voted to join UE by a wide margin in September, ratified their first UE contract in March. The new contract addresses all of the issues in their organizing program, including getting rid of a widely-hated attendance policy and making progress towards a living wage. The more than 300 workers work in three stores around Madison, as well as an off-site kitchen and a central office.

UE Demands Bold and Concrete Action to End the Killing of Black People

UE's national officers released a statement on Friday in response to the killings of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor. “The only answer is to take bold and concrete steps to address the racial injustice that continues to plague our nation,” the statement reads. “We must not only ensure swift prosecution of police officers who murder people, but also eliminate the vast racial disparities in income, wealth, and access to healthcare and education.” Read the full statement »

UE-Endorsed State Rep. Summer Lee Fends Off Establishment Challenge

Pennsylvania State Representative Summer Lee, who addressed UE’s 2019 convention, easily defeated a primary challenger supported by the Democratic Party establishment on Tuesday. “This is a win for all working people and all who live and are from the 34th District,” said Local 610 President Antwon "Swanny" Gibson. “Summer is the leader we need to stand up for racial justice and racial equality for an economy that functions not only for African-Americans but also for workers, the sick, and the elderly. Read more »

New Contract with New Contractor Means Big Raises for Local 228

At the end of February, Local 228 successfully negotiated a three-year contract with a new contractor, LDRM, which took over operations of the National Visa Center on March 1. The new contract includes hefty wage increases, measures to soften the blow of runaway insurance costs, and no substantial concessions on language. Read more »

UE Members Who Work for Wabtec Organize Conference Board to Build Power

The first meeting of the newly organized UE-Wabtec Conference Board was held on March 13th at the UE Local 506 union hall in Erie, PA. The UE-Wabtec Conference Board is made up of UE locals whose members work for Wabtec Corporation, a Pittsburgh-based rail transportation manufacturing company that employs more than 27,000 workers in dozens of countries around the world. Read more »

William and Mary Workers Organize with UE

The William & Mary Workers’ Union, the newest chapter of UE Local 160, has been organizing workers at the College of William & Mary, a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia, since 2019. Like their counterparts in North Carolina and West Virginia, public workers in Virginia do not have the right to collective bargaining. Since going public in November, the union has made significant progress in growing and making their demands heard on campus. Read more »

County Road Crew Wins Parity With Urban Counties

UE Local 893, Sublocal 15, which represents the Cedar County Road Crew in Tipton, Iowa, ratified a new three-year agreement on March 3. The agreement includes a wage adjustment of one dollar plus two percent in the first year, one dollar plus three percent in the second year, and seventy-five cents plus three percent in the third year. “The membership was pleased with the contract, which brings road crew wages up with those in surrounding urban counties,” said Sublocal Secretary-Treasurer Hap Deerberg. Read more »

Local 1123 Wage Reopener Removes New-Hire Tier, Restores Wage Increases

Local 1123’s most recent contract with National Consolidation Services was signed in late 2018, when the business was on the brink of bankruptcy. The local was forced to accept a wage freeze and a “new hire” tier $3 per hour below the regular rate, but got the company to agree to a wage reopener in April 2020. Negotiations took place on April 16, and the union negotiated a settlement which provides for 50-cent across-the-board wages each year and removes the tier. Read more »

Book Review: Union Struggles in Pittsburgh’s Steel Valley in the Age of Deindustrialization

Mike Stout's new memoir of his life as a worker and union leader in the Homestead steel mill is the story of how an insurgent membership, organized as the Rank and File Caucus, took over a 6,000-member local of the United Steelworkers, ousting a conservative, do-nothing leadership. Local 1397 transformed itself into a militant, democratic, fighting local. Retired UE NEWS Managing Editor Al Hart reviews the book for the UE NEWS »

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