John,

Hello my Union family,

I want to wish everyone a Happy Pride Month. For years, we stop for a month to remember why we celebrate, say our thanks to the ones who trailblazed this path for us, the friends and family we have lost along the way and to watch you, the next generation, celebrate more freely, more open and so so PROUD! 

Take the time to learn what the pride rainbow means, why the name Marsha P. Johnson needs to be taught in every history book, and when they marched in Washington DC so many years ago a young man named Bayard Rustin brought Unionism to all and when Unions were segregated, he fought to bring Unity. 

To our allies, we as a collective whole, say thank you. To my LGBTQ+ family, we remain strong when we uplift each other and fight together. 

Happy Pride, 

Dawn Schumann 

President, Pride at Work, Arizona Chapter

Join Amazon Labor Union Leaders in Phoenix Sunday, June 12th and Monday, June 13th

A delegation of Amazon Labor Union representatives will be in Phoenix to protest Amazon's attempts to throw out their historic win at the JFK8 facility in Staten Island.

ALU President Chris Smalls and other ALU elected officers will be joined by local Arizona unions and community organizations on Sunday, June 12th, from 2 to 4pm and Monday, June 13th, from 11 to 1pm in front of the NLRB Region 28 office at 2600 North Central Avenue in Phoenix.

Juneteenth 2022- Bizzles on Central

Again this year, Bizzles on Central is back to celebrate Juneteenth and celebrate black owned businesses. The annual event will be held on Saturday June 18th from 3pm-9pm. Admission is free and as always this will be an all-ages event.working people.

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.

Celebrate Pride this month at events across the state!

Join in at Bisbee Pride on June 17th-19th, Pride in the Pines- Flagstaff on June 18th, and Navajo Nation Pride June 20th-26th.

What Unions Could Mean for Apple with Zoe Schiffer

“As Zoe dove deeper into her reporting on Apple’s workplace, she learned about the specific challenges facing Apple Store employees. They struggled with COVID, rude customers, mental health, unhappiness with wages, and lack of advancement. A piece she wrote about it a few months ago was widely shared among those employees, who came to see that they had some common problems and began organizing. This organizing follows a trend for other front-line employees at other big companies —some tech, some not. Amazon warehouse employees have been involved in a very public, drawn-out fight to unionize. (In May, one New York warehouse voted to unionize while another did not.) In addition, 100 Starbucks locations have voted to unionize, and some Alphabet employees are already part of what’s called a solidarity union.”

Here’s what’s behind the new labor movement

“Amazon, Condé Nast, Apple, Google, Starbucks, Kellogg’s: It seems like every week there is news of employees at another big company trying to form a union. The share of U.S. workers who belong to a union has fallen by about half since 1983, when 20% of American workers were union members. But there has been a renewed interest in organized labor in the last few years. In fact, as of late 2021 pro-union sentiment in the U.S. rose to 68%—the highest it’s been since 1965.”

Microsoft Says It Will Work With Unions, With Eye on Activision

“Microsoft Corp. said it will work with labor groups when workers wish to join them, taking a pre-emptive stance amid a wave of union organizing in the tech industry and ahead of its acquisition of Activision Blizzard Inc., home of the first labor union in the gaming industry. In a blog post outlining the company’s principles on engaging with employees, Microsoft President and Vice Chair Brad Smith wrote that workers ‘will never need to organize to have a dialogue with Microsoft’s leaders,’ but that the software giant recognizes some employees in some countries may choose to join a labor organization.”

Report: Tesla used PR firm to track workers on Facebook during 2017 union push

“Tesla used a public relations firm to monitor employees’ social media activity at a time when some were attempting unionize, according to a CNBC report. The EV maker hired New York-based MWW PR to monitor employees “in a Facebook group and more broadly on social media” in 2017 and 2018, according to CNBC, citing invoices and unspecified documents.”

IU Board of Trustees says no to a student labor union, grad workers prepare for fall strike

“The Indiana University Board of Trustees will not recognize the IU graduate student worker coalition as a labor union and issued a warning about consequences for disruptive behavior, such as striking, that impacts undergraduate students. While the coalition still hopes the trustees will change their viewpoint, many graduate workers remain undeterred from their goal of unionization.”

Starbucks union says the coffee giant is closing a store to retaliate

“Starbucks is closing a store in Ithaca, N.Y., in what Starbucks union organizers are calling an illegal move of retaliation after workers at the location voted to unionize. The coffee giant gave the employees at the College Ave. location near Cornell University a one-week notice of the closure, the union says, with the store slated to permanently close on June 10. The coffee giant has said the decision to close the store was unrelated to the unionization effort. The store was one of three Starbucks locations in Ithaca that voted to unionize on April 8.”

Arizona's minimum wage tied to Consumer Price Index changes

“Concern about the inflation rate is widespread following a jump to a four-decade high earlier this year. In Arizona, rising inflation has an added twist: the state’s minimum wage is now tied to changes in the Consumer Price Index. If prices continue to rise robustly, lower-income workers here could get a significant wage boost — about one-third of all Arizonans earn the minimum or just a few dollars an hour more, according to a recent report. If the recent trend continues, Arizona’s minimum wage could increase by more than $1 and approach $14 an hour at the start of 2023.”

Arizona Legislature has 1 month to figure out a state budget, school funding

“Arizona lawmakers have one month to figure out a state budget for the next fiscal year, including what to do with a rare surplus of more than $5 billion. Faced with large class sizes, a teacher shortage and low national rankings for per-pupil spending, education advocates want lawmakers to allocate more than $1 billion of the surplus for school funding.”

Developers in Phoenix are trading hotels for housing

“Developers and government agencies are converting older metro Phoenix hotels into permanent housing in a new trend experts hope will help make a fast dent in the Valley's severe housing shortage.”

UArizona economist: The state is recovering 'fairly rapidly' from the pandemic

“In the two years since the COVID-19 pandemic sent economic shockwaves throughout the world, Arizona's recovery has been rapid but uneven, says George Hammond, an economist with University of Arizona Eller College of Management. ‘Overall, Arizona has bounced back fairly rapidly from the initial economic impacts of the pandemic,’ said Hammond, who delivered his economic forecast during Eller's Breakfast with the Economists event May 26. ‘Arizona replaced all of the jobs that we lost during the first two months of the pandemic by the end of last year.’”

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