New Local 203 Contract Secures Better Life for Members in Most Expensive City in Vermont

“In this time of turmoil, I can think of no better place to support my coworkers, my community, and my values than at the negotiating table.”

So said Melissa Pennington, a member of the UE Local 203 negotiating committee, reflecting on her local’s most recent negotiations with their employer, the grocery co-op City Market. Those negotiations resulted in a new two-year contract which boosts wages for all Local 203 members by at least $2.30 and increases starting wages above $15 per hour.

UE Local 696 Members Rally for First Contract at Planned Parenthood of Western PA

After more than 14 months of negotiations with Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania, UE Local 696 held a rally at Pittsburgh’s City-County Building on July 26 to demand a fair first contract. Local 696 members report that an increase in out-of-state patients since the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade was announced on June 24 has led to a doubling of workloads. At the rally, multiple workers described how on the day of the decision, they were flooded with desperate calls from states where abortion bans went into effect immediately following the decision — yet were woefully understaffed, with initially just a single worker answering the phones.

UE Members Join Moral Assembly to Fight Poverty

On Saturday, June 18, UE members from North Carolina, Virginia, New Jersey and Pennsylvania traveled to Washington, DC to join tens of thousands of people demanding that Congress address the needs of the 140 million poor and low-income people in the U.S. by insuring that everyone has access to livable wage jobs, housing, healthcare, and freedom from discrimination.

Indiana Graduate Workers Strike Action Wins Raises, End to Fees

In April, over 1,000 graduate workers at Indiana University affiliated with the Indiana Graduate Workers Coalition-United Electrical Workers (IGWC-UE) went on strike for union recognition. At that time, the Administration responded with the first across-the-board wage increase in ten years. Now, facing a renewed strike in the fall, the Administration has announced big wage increases and an end to fees — equivalent to raises of more than 30 percent for many graduate workers. Read coverage from Indiana Public Media »

Second UE Contract at Lanterman Regional Center Demonstrates “Immeasurable Value in Unionizing”

Members of UE Local 1018 will see potential pay increases of almost 20 percent over the next three years, thanks to their second UE contract — plus a one-time bonus equal to three percent of their annual wages. Local 1018 members work at the Lanterman Regional Center, coordinating critical services for individuals with developmental disabilities by providing social work, advocacy, and services that help support their clients as they work towards independence in the community. Read more »

New Contract Boosts Wages, Reimbursements for Traveling Techs of Local 1009

Under a new three-year agreement with Hitachi Energy ratified in July, members of UE Local 1009 will see wage increases of four percent each year and significant increases to their travel reimbursements — an important issue for Local 1009 members, most of whom are transformer technicians who do servicing work all over the country. Read more »

Mid-Contract Bargaining Demands Bring Raises for Aramark Workers, Paraprofessionals

On May 24, after repeatedly rejecting proposals from Aramark that would have given bonuses for new hires while doing nothing for current workers, UE Local 1121 won a $1.35 across-the-board wage increase for everyone in their La Crosse, WI facility. In Connecticut, UE Local 222-88 was recently able to negotiate a mid-contract pay raise of $1.10 an hour for paraprofessionals who work for the Branford Board of Education. Read more »

UE Locals 270, 335 and 707 Gain New Four-Year Contract with GE Appliances Factory Services

The unions who negotiate with GE Appliances Factory Services as the Joint Bargaining Committee (JBC) — UE, IBEW, IAM and UA — settled a new four-year national contract in May. UE Locals 270, 335 and 707 are members of the JBC. These locals’ members are highly skilled technicians who repair home appliances. Read more »

FEATURE

Seventy Five Years Later, Toll of Taft-Hartley Weighs Heavily on Labor

Seventy-five years ago, the labor movement suffered its greatest setback of the 20th Century: the Taft-Hartley Act. Despite a valiant effort by millions of rank-and-file workers to prevent its passage, Taft-Hartley became law on June 23, 1947 when the Senate overrode President Truman’s veto. Taft-Hartley halted what had been a remarkable decade of progress for working people, tamed union militancy, and set the stage for the long decline of the U.S. labor movement. We are still feeling its effects today. Read more »

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

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 Participants at Labor Notes: “The Labor Movement Is Surging”

For the first time since 2018, labor activists from around the country and even some international guests gathered for the Labor Notes Conference in Chicago. More than 60 UE activists were among the conference’s largest crowd yet of 4,000 participants. For many UE members, this was their first in-person union event outside their home local since the COVID-19 pandemic. Read more »

International Solidarity: Solidarity with Wabtec Workers in the UK, Renewing Ties with Japanese Labor Federation, Colombian Elections

Over the last few months, UE has been busy on the international solidarity front. In June, following the Labor Notes conference, UE hosted a delegation from Japan's militant labor federation Zenroren in Chicago, and presented them with copies of a new publication celebrating three decades of US-Japan working-class solidarity. In July, UE members from Locals 506 and 610 met via Zoom in July with their counterparts in Unite the Union in the United Kingdom, who are in a fight with their mutual employer Wabtec. Also in July, the UE NEWS spoke with UE Field Organizer John Ocampo about the June 19 elections in Colombia, where voters bucked an entrenched political establishment to elect that country's first-ever pro-worker president.

General Executive Board Welcomes Four New Board Members, Hears About Thousands of New UE Members

Meeting over Zoom on June 9 and 10, UE’s General Executive Board welcomed new board members, reviewed the union’s work over the previous five months, including organizing that has brought in thousands of new members, and debated and passed a budget for the upcoming fiscal year. Read more »

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