UE Locals Win Major Wage Increases Across the Country

From municipal workers in the South to warehouse workers in the Midwest to manufacturing workers in upstate New York, UE members have been taking advantage of the leverage that workers have in the current economy to win sizable wage increases:

After an unanimous strike authorization vote, Local 1123 members in Bolingbroke, Illinois won across-the-board first-year wage increases of $2.50 per hour — a 12 percent increase — plus a lump-sum payment of $500 at ratification.

Local 150 members in Charlotte, North Carolina won a ten percent wage increase, a $20 minimum wage, $2 million for homeownership assistance for city employees, and more.

City workers in Virginia Beach, Virginia won a new budget that will raise the minimum wage for city workers from $10.87 to $15 per hour, establish a step system based on years of service that will cover virtually all non-management city employees, and raise wages for every city employee by at least five percent (in many cases, significantly more).

Kennedy Valve workers in Elmira, New York won a new contract which will raise wages by 21.65 percent over the life of the three-year agreement, includes many other improvements, and contains none of the concessions the company was demanding.

Refresco Workers Beat Company Union-Busting … Again

For more than two years, over 200 workers who bottle Gatorade, BodyArmor, Juice Bowl, Arizona Iced Tea, and Tropicana Juices for Refresco, the world’s largest independent bottling company, have been fighting to secure a measure of justice at work. With their second NLRB election win in less than a year, on May 19 and 20, they are one step closer to winning it.

Local 610 Stands Strong During Tough Times To Win On Healthcare, Maintain Employee Protections

On Monday, May 2, UE Local 610 gathered at the Grapeville Fire Hall in Southwestern Pennsylvania and ratified a new three-year agreement with their employer, Wabtec. The local won key gains through an aggressive contract campaign which included ongoing shop floor activities by rank-and-file members and strong participation from other UE locals and allies.

For UE Local 610 (poem)

Alison Oniboni of UE Local 613 wrote a poem for the members of UE Local 610 as they were fighting for a fair contract and against the threatened closure of their historic plant, which she read at an April 30 rally in Wilmerding, PA. Read the poem »

Join UE at Moral March on Washington June 18

As a mobilizing partner for the 6/18 Mass Poor People’s and Low Wage Workers Assembly and Moral March on Washington and to the Polls, UE is proud to stand with the Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival. On June 18, we will be in D.C. to demand that elected officials meet the needs of the working class. Join us »

UE Ally Summer Lee Beats Multimillion-Dollar Smear Campaign to Win Congressional Seat

Pennsylvania State Representative Summer Lee, a strong UE ally and champion of the working class, won the Democratic primary for Congress in Pennsylvania’s 12th District on May 17. The hard-fought campaign saw millions of dollars of out-of-state “dark money” pouring into the state in an ultimately unsuccessful effort to defeat her. Read more »

UE Officers Condemn Leaked Supreme Court Decision Overturning Roe v. Wade

On May 10, UE’s officers released a statement condemning the draft Supreme Court opinion overturning Roe v. Wade that was leaked on May 2 as “an indefensible attack on the right of women and pregnant people to control their own bodies, one of the most fundamental of liberties. Furthermore, the leaked draft opinion, which overturns a half century of settled law, signals that this unelected group of six right-wing justices sees none of our rights as untouchable.” Read the full statement »

Second UE Contract for NJ Paraprofessionals Meets Worker Priorities

On May 18, the membership of UE Local 119 ratified their second UE contract with education contractor ESS. The one-year agreement builds on the gains of their first contract with a new paid holiday, paid training, more protections against discipline and discharge, and stronger job posting language. Read more »

Local 622 Beats Back Concession Demands, Boosts Wages

UE Local 622 concluded negotiations with French multinational Saint-Gobain on May 23. Their new three-year contract provides wage increases of between $1.08 and $1.25 per hour in the first year, with additional increases in years two and three of between 45 and 65 cents each year. The contract also includes improvements in retirement, short term disability, shift differential, and eight-hour shift scheduling flexibility. While the company demanded numerous significant concessions, Local 622 fought back and rejected them across the board. Read more »

UE Members Learn, Make Connections at Southern Workers’ School

UE members from several chapters of Local 150, UE’s statewide local in North Carolina, and from the Virginia Beach City Workers Union, participated in the Southern Workers Assembly Organizing School over the weekend of April 29 to May 1. The school brought together rank-and-file workers from across the South to assess both growing working-class militancy and the threat to workers posed by right-wing reaction, and to chart a course for building workers assemblies to increase working-class power across the region. Read more »

Wisconsin Education Event Focuses on Building Unity in Open Shops

On April 29, 15 members from three different UE locals in Wisconsin met for their subregional education event. Held in the Wisconsin Dells, it was the first in-person gathering of multiple locals in the Western Region since early 2020. The focus for the event was “Building Unity in an Open Shop.” Read more »

OSHA Complaint Filed by Local 155 Prompts Generation Lighting to Clean Up Their Act

Prior to entering into negotiations for their next contract last fall, UE Local 155 stewards at the Generation Lighting warehouse had been reporting serious safety problems to management, and management kept brushing them off. The local raised the problems in bargaining, and management brushed safety concerns off there too. Read more »

UE President Featured Guest on Union Podcast

UE General President Carl Rosen was the featured guest on the May 23 episode of the America’s Work Force podcast — the only daily labor podcast in the U.S. He told host Ed “Flash” Ferenc that there are “two great themes that the labor movement has to understand right now: One is that workers must self-organize. We don’t have enough union organizers in this country to organize on the kind of scale we need to to restore labor’s power in this country. And the other great theme right now is that workers are ready to do it, especially the younger generation.” Listen to the podcast »

Labor Radio Show Hosts UE, FAT to Discuss Cross-Border Solidarity

Retired UE International Director Robin Alexander and Benedicto Martinez, longtime leader of Mexico’s Frente Auténtico del Trabajo (FAT), were the featured guests on radio station KKFI’s “Heartland Labor Forum” program on May 5. They were there to discuss Alexander’s new book, International Solidarity in Action, published in English as an e-book earlier this year by UE and forthcoming later this year in Spanish, in both print and electronic versions. Listen to the episode »

Bulletin