John,

As I am sure you have all heard by now, last Saturday, a Tops grocery store in Buffalo, New York was the target of a mass shooting by a violent white supremacist. 10 people, all of whom were Black, were killed. I wanted to start this week’s issue of the Dispatch by uplifting the names of those victims:

Aaron Salter, 55

Pearly Young, 77

Deacon Heyward Patterson, 67

Ruth Whitfield, 86

Katherine Massey, 72

Celestine Chaney, 65

Roberta A. Drury, 32

Andre Mackneil, 53

Margus D. Morrison, 52

Geraldine Talley, 62

These victims were parents, grandparents, spouses, friends, and neighbors. Our deepest condolences are with their loved ones, whose lives have been shattered in the wake of this senseless, hateful act of violence. Our thoughts and prayers are also with our Black union siblings, who have been forced to grapple with the trauma of this horrific tragedy. As we mourn those who have died, we remain steadfast in our commitment to dismantling racism — not just in the workplace, but everywhere it may lie.

In solidarity,

Fred Yamashita
Executive Director
Arizona AFL-CIO

Campaign Manager (full-time, temporary)

We are looking to add a Campaign Manager to our team for the duration of our Labor 2022 program. The Campaign Manager, working in partnership with the AFL-CIO, Area Labor Federations, Affiliates, and Allies develops strategic year-round mobilization campaigns to support the federations’ goals. The Campaign Manager is responsible for the development, implementation, and management of the Arizona AFL-CIO’s Labor 2022 electoral campaign. Applications will be considered on a rolling basis through June 10th at 5 PM

Local Training Specialists (full time, temporary)

The Local Training Specialists (LTS) will work with the local organizing specialist (LOS) assigned to their area. Together they will build an organizing and training strategy working with local unions, local labor bodies, the State Federation, and the national AFL-CIO and its national and international unions. The strategic goal will be to foster the ability of local unions to run effective year-round local union-based workplace-centered issue education, training, and mobilization programs with their members. In training local union leaders and activists, the team will be responsible for identifying and recruiting activist talent to contribute to the overall program. Applications will be considered on a rolling basis through July 1st at 5 PM

Local Organizing Specialists (full time, temporary)

The Local Organizing Specialist (LOS) will work with the Local Training Specialist assigned to their area. Together they will build an organizing strategy working with local unions, local labor bodies, the State Federation, and the national AFL-CIO staff and its national and international unions. The strategic goal will be to foster the ability of local unions to run effective year-round local union-based workplace-centered issue education and mobilization programs with their members. In the course of training local union leaders and activists, the team will be responsible for identifying and recruiting activist talent to contribute to the overall program. Applications will be considered on a rolling basis through July 1st at 5 PM

Say You’re #UnionYES!

There’s a super easy way to show you support working people: say the line Union Yes when placing your orders at the register, or add it in the app. Not sure which companies’ workers are organizing? That’s OK. There’s a good chance it’s happening everywhere! Add Union Yes to your coffee order? To the memo line in an Amazon order? Yes, please. Anywhere you shop online or in person, add Union Yes to your order.

Cancel, Not Collect, Student Debt

After all the hardship we have endured during the COVID-19 pandemic, we cannot ask working people to sacrifice even more. Sign the petition to tell the Biden administration: cancel student debt!

Sign up to volunteer for Labor 2022

The Labor 2022 program is where union members contact other union members about the importance of voting for Arizona's Labor's endorsed candidates. We know that when we have these important conversations with voters, we can win elections. By talking to union households about our shared values, we can elect champions for Arizona's workers and in turn, make real progress for working people. Sign up today to join our Labor 2022 program.

For American Labor, the Past Isn’t Past

"Organized labor is having a moment. In the last half-year alone, baristas at more than 200 Starbucks filed for union elections, software engineers at The New York Times formed the largest bargaining unit of tech workers in the country, and, despite pushback from the world’s biggest retailer, workers at a Staten Island “fulfillment center” voted to form the first Amazon union in the United States...."

Why 2022 has become the year for unions

“Journalists at the Arizona Republic unionized in recent years, and, of course, teachers unions were behind the #RedforEd mass teacher walkouts in 2018. In fact, recent polling shows approval of unions in the U.S. is at its highest since the '60s. But the number of U.S. workers who are in unions have declined dramatically since then. So what’s behind this seeming rise in union activity right now? Michael McQuarrie describes it as something of a perfect storm..."

Majorities of adults see decline of union membership as bad for the U.S. and working people

“Majorities of Americans continue to see the long-term decline in the share of workers represented by unions as a bad thing for both the country and working people in the United States, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted Jan. 10-17. In the survey, 58% of U.S. adults say the large reduction over the past several decades in the percentage of workers who are represented by unions has been somewhat or very bad for the country, while 61% say this has been bad for working people.”

‘Add Personal Story Here’: Starbucks Anti-Union One-on-Ones Fall Flat

“Instead, Starbucks corporate decided to skip to the next tactic in its playbook: ‘one-on-one’ meetings between one barista and a manager—or multiple managers. The idea seemed to be that separating us would break our solidarity and make it easier to lie to us. But once again they found Hopewell baristas ready to see through their lies, push back, and support each other. For our first round of one-on-ones, these meetings were framed as ‘reviewing our benefits.’ Basically, they intended to tell us how great our benefits are—and that they could take them away.”

U.S. Soccer Announces Historic CBA Agreement, Equal Pay Between USMNT, USWNT

“The U.S. Soccer Federation, along with its men’s and women’s senior national teams, announced a pair of historic labor deals early Wednesday that will unite the respective player pools under similar contract terms while cementing the equal pay long sought by the world-champion women...”

Trump officials, meat companies knew workers were at risk for COVID-19, report says

"The report by the House's Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis said meat companies pushed to keep their plants open even though they knew workers were at high risk of catching the coronavirus. The lobbying led to health and labor officials watering down their recommendations for the industry and culminated in an executive order President Donald Trump issued in spring 2020 designating meat plants as critical infrastructure that needed to remain open.”

Arizona among tops in nation for workers quitting jobs

"A higher percentage of Arizonans quit their jobs in March than almost anywhere in the nation. Data collected by WalletHub find the "quit rate'' hit 4.2 percent. That means for every 1,000 people employed, 42 of them decided, in essence, they can do better elsewhere. Only Florida posted a higher figure. And this isn't a one-time thing. The same data put the quit rate for the past year at 3.3 percent, the third highest figure in the nation..."

Fired Starbucks employee says management retaliated against her for pushing union effort

“Bill Whitmire, a shift supervisor at the same Starbucks location and fellow union supporter, told The Republic that Starbucks management targeted Dalton after it caught wind of the store’s effort to unionize back in January. ‘Basically, any time she walked in the store, she was a moving target to be pulled aside and talked to about something,’ Whitmire said. Dalton and another terminated employee, Alyssa Sanchez, filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board in March accusing Starbucks of retaliation...”

On the Line: A Story of Class, Solidarity, and Two Women’s Epic Fight to Build a Union

"In the early 2000s, a scrappy band of UNITE organizers and immigrant workers came together across commercial laundries in the city to fight for safer working conditions and build a union against a fierce employer campaign. Author and organizer Daisy Pitkin’s absorbing and lyrical debut, On the Line: A Story of Class, Solidarity, and Two Women’s Epic Fight to Build a Union, tells the story of their struggles and ultimate triumph..."

"We had no bargaining power': Student housing workers' story of exploitation, administrative neglect and pandemic mismanagement

"Overworked and understaffed. Contracts changed with less than a week's notice. Trauma from trespassing incidents. Censored from speaking to the press. All against the backdrop of an all-time peak in COVID-19 cases in Maricopa County..."

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