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Here is your weekly news from the Texas Labor Movement.
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Union Advocacy Helped Keep the Houston Airline Industry Flying
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After strong union advocacy, thousands of Houston airline workers are now tearing up their pinks slips. Even more, Houstonians will keep their jobs as the sector roars back to life.
Earlier in the pandemic, the airline industry was able to survive thanks to the Airline Payroll Support Program (PSP), a provision of the CARES Act signed into law in March 2020 and extended late last year. This program provided $25 billion in direct payroll support to the airlines to keep paying their employees through the end of September 2020. The Machinists Union and allies in labor strongly urged the administration and congressional leadership to include the airline PSP in the CARES Act to avoid mass layoffs in the airline industry. As a result of zealous advocacy, they were able to save thousands of airline jobs at the beginning of the global pandemic.
Opinion article featured in Houston Chronicle from Dora Cervantes. She is the general secretary-treasurer of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), the world’s largest airline labor union. Cervantes, the first Latina to serve on the IAM’s executive council, began her career as a Southwest Airlines reservations agent in Houston.
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U.S. Rep. Roy Equates Lynchings With Justice — at Hearing on Violent Attacks on Asian Americans
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When a Texas congressman equates lynchings with justice and then, in an elaboration, doubles down, it’s time for him to go.
U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Austin, is a disgrace. Roy went beyond the pale today as he sought to change the subject in a House hearing on recent attacks on Asian-Americans.
Suggesting any connection between justice and lynchings is as racist as racism gets.
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Union Members Speak Out on Absence of Vaccine Priority for Essential Workers
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A couple mighty union members are front and center in a Fort Worth Star-Telegram story on the Texas decision to place people over age 50 into the next COVID-19 vaccination priority group rather than essential workers, a group already included in other states.
The decision was announced amid reports that Gov. Greg Abbott had quietly disbanded a “strike force” against COVID-19 that included medical experts, several of whom have criticized as premature the decision to lift the state mask mandate.
Ryan Haney of Teamsters Local 745 in Dallas and Steve Ruiz of the Tarrant County Central Labor Council spoke out.
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Lara Testifies Against Bill That Would Compromise Prevailing Wages in Texas
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Texas AFL-CIO Legislative Director René Lara today testified against Senate Bill 518, which would provide an option for government contractors to use a calculation that produces a lower prevailing wage for construction workers.
As Lara states, prevailing wage laws aim to “prevent government contractors from introducing cheap labor into a local area.” This would be the opposite.
The measure by Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, would add a new option for calculating prevailing wage that appears to undercut the other calculations.
From Lara’s testimony:
A growing body of economic studies finds that prevailing wage regulations do not increase government contracting costs. Also, in recent years, lawmakers in several states—including Michigan, Indiana, West Virginia, Arkansas, Missouri, Wisconsin, and Kentucky—have moved to weaken or repeal prevailing wage laws often resulting in negative economic outcomes and few cost savings.
This is not a good time to make it easier to undercut the wages of building tradesmen and women in Texas. They are literally in the trenches right now. Messing with their wage floors would be demoralizing.
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Amid Pandemic, Texas Voter Suppression Bills Take Priority Position in Legislative Session
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Your ability to vote could soon be compromised, but not if the labor movement can help it.
Gov. Greg Abbott has celebrated makeshift fixes in the law that have made the pandemic more bearable and suggested making them permanent. I’ll drink to take-out booze. Used appropriately, telemedicine may well make sense in an environment of expanding health care to more Texans.
More relevantly, Abbott himself expanded the early vote period for a 2020 general election that drew the largest numerical Texas turnout ever and the largest percentage turnout in a generation. Harris County election officials inaugurated an all-night voting opportunity and drive-up voting for people who were worried entering a polling place could subject them to COVID-19. The adjustments helped set up a blowout turnout in the largest county in Texas.
Out of disaster, structural barriers fell and some good government arose.
Now, instead of adopting the best improv work from the pandemic, our state leadership seems focused on consolidating power and preventing a repeat of the giant voter turnout of 2020. Major low-number bills in the House and Senate, along with a package of bills by a state senator, drew Abbott’s endorsement and presence in Houston this week.
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Five Years Ago, Amazon Promised to Play Nice in Union Elections; Doesn’t Seem to Be Happening in Alabama
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The nation’s eyes are on workers who are voting on whether to speak up together through the Retail Wholesale and Department Store Union at an Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama.
The New York Times reports that five years ago, it was the International Association of Machinists organizing Amazon workers in Virginia. That drive has suddenly become relevant, The Times reports, because of a secret settlement in which Amazon promised not to do the kinds of things it is doing to try to stymie the union drive in Alabama.
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House Passes Pathway to Citizenship for 'Dreamers'
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The House on Thursday voted for the first time this year to provide a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children, amid a larger debate in Washington over President Joe Biden’s handling of the surge in migrants seeking to cross into the country from Mexico.
The measure, and another bill to provide legal status to undocumented farm workers, were passed by Democrats in the last session of Congress, but stalled in a GOP-controlled Senate. Now, Democrats hope to see a different result with their party in control of the upper chamber – though it is still unclear if the bills can garner the support of the ten Republicans needed to advance.
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Unions Speak Out On Rise in Violence Against Asian Americans
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Following a 150% increase in hate crimes, unions are standing with the Asian American community.
Many unions released statements in support of the AAPI community. “Asian American workers are a vital part of our labor movement and have shown an immense amount of dedication throughout this pandemic. We will not stand by while members of our family are targeted,” said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. “The murders in Atlanta are a horrific and disgusting part of the surging violence Asian Americans have faced over the past year, and reinforce that we all must continue to fight against anti-Asian racism in all forms.”
Here is our statement from the Texas AFL-CIO:
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8 People Describe How Unions Changed Their Lives
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Through unions, workers are able to fight for protections and benefits they might not otherwise have because of collective bargaining power. There are very many reasons people might want to unionize, like watching colleagues get laid off without severance, paying high premiums for health insurance, and working in unsafe conditions. Union employees negotiate contracts with their employers that can guarantee them more money, better benefits, and fairer workplaces overall.
Union contracts have become even more important during the pandemic, when hundreds of thousands of workers have been laid off or furloughed, with many left without medical insurance. People in unions have been able to negotiate for protections like back pay, health care, and sanitary guidelines that remain in place even if they are waiting for their industries to open back up, granting them security and safety during the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic.
For a more tangible idea of how an organized workplaces changes not only people’s experiences on the job, but impacts the rest of their lives—both during this pandemic and in general—VICE spoke to eight people about what difference it made for them when they became a part of a union.
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Shareable Graphic: Pass the PRO Act
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Song of the Week - "Worker's Song" - 🍀 Dropkick Murphys 🍀
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Have a great weekend...After all, we fought for it.
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