Walkout Wins Wage-Boosting First Contract at Kentucky Consular Center
A one-day walkout, followed by a petition and a strike vote making it clear that workers were willing to take action again, brought home a solid first contract for new UE Local 728 at the Kentucky Consular Center at the end of November. Workers ratified the new agreement on December 5.
Read more on ueunion.org »
UE Locals 625 and 626 Continue Aggressive Struggle for Decent Healthcare
UE Locals 625 and 626 ratified an agreement on December 11 that will require their employer, Hitachi ABB, to increase the company’s contributions to workers’ health reimbursement and health savings accounts amid new insurance plans being offered in 2021. Added costs of the proposed plans triggered a re-opener in both locals’ contracts which gave them the right to negotiate over the increases and strike if necessary.
Read more on ueunion.org »
UE Condemns Political Violence in DC
UE’s officers released a statement on Thursday about the attacks on our nation’s capitol on Wednesday. “This was an attempt by a small group of extremists to overturn a democratic election in which record numbers of U.S. citizens participated. This assault on democracy also threatened the safety of thousands of public employees who work in the capitol.” Read the full statement »
Labor’s Untold Story in the News
Labor’s Untold Story, the popular and accessible book of labor history published by UE since 1970 and now in its 29th printing, was the subject of two online reviews in December. Retired UE Political Action Director Chris Townsend writes in Jacobin that “Labor’s Untold Story takes a side — the working class’s. It’s a book intended to educate and motivate the reader, portraying class struggle as anything but an academic exercise.” Journalist Matthew Cunningham-Cook writes in The Intercept that “Only by knowing our country’s true history — the history of the people that built it — can stronger unions be built by informed, engaged, and active members.”
Labor’s Untold Story can be purchased from the UE online store »
Congressional Budget Office: Medicare for All Would Reduce Healthcare Costs
On December 10, the Congressional Budget Office released a new estimate of the cost of Medicare for All, finding that overall health costs would decline between $42 and $743 billion per year. The CBO found that administrative costs under Medicare for All would not only be vastly lower than the costs of our current chaotic “system” of private insurance, they would be even lower than Medicare’s current administrative costs of two percent. Read more »
Join Medicare for All Strategy Call on January 21
Organizing on the ground is what it will take to win the fight for Medicare for All. The National Nurses United Medicare for All campaign will be holding a national strategy call on January 21 to discuss their plan to organize in districts across the country. The call will be at 8pm Eastern/7pm Central/5pm Pacific. RSVP now »
They are also continuing to host Movement Builder trainings (sign up for one here) and Medicare for All 101 webinars (sign up for one here) to continue to grow and deepen this movement.
Will the Biden Administration Make the Right Decisions on Trade and Jobs?
The nomination of Katherine Tai for U.S. Trade Representative is a positive step. Tai led negotiations over NAFTA 2.0 for the Democratic majority in Congress, helping to strengthen provisions in the new agreement that protect Mexican workers’ ability to form independent unions and negotiate for better pay and benefits. However, it remains to be seen how much Tai, and the Biden administration, are committed to policies that raise the wages and working conditions of workers in all countries. Read more »
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