PSLabor News
A new study finds that from 2012 – 2017 biopharmaceutical companies invested more than $14 billion in infrastructure across 11 states, creating thousands of job for union workers.
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A group of Amazon workers in Minnesota who are Somali refugees resettled in the Midwestern US state demanded better working conditions Friday during a protest outside one of the retailer's warehouses.
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Thousands of teachers who may go on strike against the nation's second-largest school district next month marched and rallied in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday.
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French lawyers burn legal codes as part of a nation-wide strike against planned justice reform law. | Reuters teleSUR | December 14, 2018 In solidarity with the popular ‘yellow vests’ movement, France’s workers have gone on national strike Friday, a move called by the General Confederation of...
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A group of Minnesota parents caring for family members is asking the Supreme Court to help them break away from union representation.
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Headline France to deploy thousands of police for more yellow vest protests in Paris...
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The protests come after staffing changes announced by the carrier.
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For more than 20 years, Amazon has successfully quashed efforts to unionize its American workers, but a new wave of labor organizing is under way.
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United Airlines flight attendants demonstrated on Thursday against planned staffing cuts in the business-class cabin on international flights, saying fewer flight attendants poses a risk to safety and customer service.
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To preserve student workers' rights nationwide, UGSDW has requested to withdraw its position. Grinnell College is hypocritically opposing it.
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An official who worked as a top aide to former Manitoba premier Greg Selinger blamed a gambling addiction for thousands of dollars in fraudulent expense claims she charged while she was a union employee, a Manitoba court heard Thursday.
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With the first charter school strike in the books—and teachers coming out victorious—experts say both unions and charter schools may need to rethink how they’ve long operated.
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The push for adjunct professors in Florida to collectively organize accelerated this week, with instructors at seven more state colleges filing to unionize.If the instructors at all of these schools ultimately decide to vote to unionize, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Florida Public...
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Healthcare workers at St. Anne's Hospital in Fall River, Mass., voted to unionize Dec. 13, according to The Herald News. ...
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Kaiser Permanente's striking mental health clinicians ended picketing on Dec. 14, according to the National Union of Healthcare Workers that represents them.
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"We have asked the company to provide air conditioning for us, but they told us that the robots inside can’t work in cold weather."...
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<p>Despite a rabid anti-union campaign by the management, Stamford Sheraton workers voted in favor of joining UNITE-HERE.</p>...
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A U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge signed off Friday on Sears' request to pay up to $25.3 million in bonuses to top executives and other high-ranking employees even as the company reported losing nearly $1.9 billion in the first three quarters this year.
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A gauge of global stocks tumbled on Friday after weak economic data from China a...
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Students at Grinnell College have formally withdrawn their petition to expand a union of dining workers to the country’s first campuswide student union at a private college.
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Planners with upcoming meetings in Southern California should watch developments there closely in the next few days or weeks.
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Get breaking national and world news, broadcast video coverage, and exclusive interviews. Find the top news online at ABC news.
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With no fanfare, SAG-AFTRA and the ad industry have set a mid-February start for negotiations for a successor deal to the union’s contract...
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Navistar said Tuesday the company has a tentative six-year deal with members of the United Auto Work...
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Kaiser Permanente mental health clinicians expanded their picket lines Wednesday, the third day of their five-day strike for more staffing and services for mental health services.
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A “wave of strikes” will affect the country during a day of trade union action on Friday, organisations representing workers warned on Tuesday. Severa...
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NJ warehouse workers frightened of dangers, demand better pay Asbury Park Press Published 4:17 PM EST Dec 12, 2018 NEWARK - New Jersey's sprawling Ports of Newark, Elizabeth and Bayonne and its network of highways are helping to fuel the Garden State's transformation into the warehouse state, an engine fueled by e-commerce deliveries. Megan Chambers, Co-Manager of Laundry Distribution and Food Service Joint Board, Workers United SEIU, speaks during a press conference at the Port of Newark to call for greater protections for warehouse workers, photographed at the corner of Corbin and Marsh streets in Newark on 12/12/18. Mitsu Yasukawa/Northjersey.com But labor unions and community organizers said it comes at a high cost: dangerous workplace conditions and low wages. Last week one worker was critically injured and two dozen others were sent to hospitals after a can of bear repellent fell off a shelf at Amazon's giant warehouse in Robbinsville, Amazon is a big employer in New Jersey with 16,000 employees at nine fulfillment centers. The workplace accident is under investigation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, a process that can take six months. More: Bear spray incident at NJ Amazon warehouse shines light on safety record More: Amazon HQ2: NJ better off losing after $5B Newark deal rejected? Alberto Arroyo, Co-Manager of Laundry Distribution and Food Service Joint Board, Workers United SEIU, speaks during a press conference at the Port of Newark to call for greater protections for warehouse workers, photographed at the corner of Corbin and Marsh streets in Newark on 12/12/18. Mitsu Yasukawa/Northjersey.com "While New Jersey warehouses generate billions in profits for companies like Amazon, thousands of warehouse workers face a deepening crisis of low wages, unsafe work conditions and unstable part-time and temporary employment," said Alberto Arroyo, co-manager of the Laundry, Distribution and Food Service Joint Board, Workers United SEIU. "New Jersey warehouse workers face constant pressure to meet the demand of faster delivery for e-commerce customers in the New York City area." A report released on Wednesday by Warehouse Workers Stand Up called on the owners and operators of New Jersey's warehouses to implement a code of conduct to raise workplace and job standards, including a $15 per hour minimum wage. Maricarmen Molina of Paterson who works at Distribution Warehouse called GIII Apparel, speaks during a press conference at the Port of Newark to call for greater protections for warehouse workers, photographed at the corner of Corbin and Marsh streets in Newark on 12/12/18. Mitsu Yasukawa/Northjersey.com "Our work is the place we spend most of our time at," said Maricarmen Molina, 26, who works at a distribution warehouse for G-III Apparel and belongs to a union. "We should be able to feel and be safe and know we will go home alive and in one whole piece." The organization said the standards should be a part of all future warehouse and distribution center projects that involve public subsidies or tax abatement. In a statement, Amazon spokesman Rachael Lighty said the retailer already provides benefits suggested by the workers coalition, including a $15 minimum hourly wage for all employees, which in New Jersey ranges from $15 to $18.15 per hour. "We also offer industry leading benefits, including comprehensive healthcare from day one, prepaid education through Career Choice, and up to 20 weeks parental leave," Lighty said. "We are proud of our focus on safety, employee engagement, open door communication culture and industry leading benefits." More: NJ becoming the warehouse state, and that means more jobs More: NJ jobs: Jobless rate near record low; why aren't workers celebrating? Newark Mayor Ras Baraka speaks during a press conference at the Port of Newark to call for greater protections for warehouse workers, photographed at the corner of Corbin and Marsh streets in Newark on 12/12/18. Mitsu Yasukawa/Northjersey.com The call for a code of conduct has found support among some government officials. Newark Mayor Ras Baraka said it's "fair and makes sense." "We just need to make sure they get paid a decent wage, that they don’t have to work three or four jobs," Baraka said. "They can do this in a safe environment." In October, 44-year-old Perth Amboy man died after falling 35 feet onto a concrete floor inside a Raritan Center warehouse where he worked. More: Perth Amboy man dies in Edison warehouse fall "As New Jersey continues to operate as the warehouse state, we must ensure that warehouse workers are treated better," said Perth Amboy Mayor Wilda Diaz in a statement. "Whenever warehouse distribution centers receive taxpayer-funded incentive packages in Perth Amboy or elsewhere in New Jersey, they should be required to implement a code of conduct. Our public dollars should not subsidize companies that mistreat or exploit warehouse workers.” David P. Willis: 732-643-4039; Twitter, dpwillis732; Facebook, dpwillis732; dwillis@gannettnj.com Published 4:17 PM EST Dec 12, 2018
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ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA - “We are normal people, we should have a union,” says Samantha Ulloa, a 27-year-old disabled worker employed as a janitor cleaning the bathroom at Army National Guard. “It just makes me so mad” For nearly a century, disabled...
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AMZN Amazon.Com, Inc.Labor Groups Call for Better Warehouse Working Conditions in New Jersey...
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Employees at a newly opened Amazon warehouse in Staten Island went public with a campaign to unionize last night, saying that the company should improve working conditions before focusing on its new HQ2 expansion across the city in Queens, according to Bloomberg News.
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The Hawthorne Burgerville has joined the BVWU...
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The following article is from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation’s bi-monthly Foundation Action Newsletter, November/December 2018 edition. Teamsters officials forced to return every dollar of fees seized, plus interest Elizabeth Zeien (left) and Carrie Keller were forced into union ranks and compelled to pay union fees. Thanks to Janus, the two Minnesota state workers have won refunds of their hard-earned money. MINNEAPOLIS, MN – Two more workers have received refunds of unconstitutionally seized union fees under the Janus precedent. After being forced into union ranks and required to support a union they oppose, Carrie Keller and Elizabeth Zeien have won a settlement against Teamsters union officials for violating their First Amendment rights. The refund is a result of the Foundation-won U.S. Supreme Court Janus v. AFSCME decision, which held that no public sector worker can be forced to pay union dues or fees as a condition of employment. Now that union officials have settled their lawsuit, Keller and Zeien are the second and third public sector employees to win refunds in lawsuits under the new Janus precedent of unconstitutionally seized union fees. Court Workers Forced to Fund Union Against Interests Neither Keller nor Zeien, employees of the State of Minnesota Court System, was a union member when they started working at the court. They both negotiated their own terms and conditions of employment and salaries free from union interference. In 2015, Teamsters Local 320 union officials started proceedings to force a number of state employees who were not in monopoly bargaining units into union ranks, in which they could be required to pay union dues and fees. In March 2017, Minnesota state officials gave in to the Teamsters’ demands and added a number of employees, including Keller and Zeien, to a Teamsters-controlled bargaining unit. The workers were never given a vote on whether they wanted to be part of the union bargaining unit. The pay scales and benefits Keller and Zeien had as unrepresented employees – and were forced to give up – equaled or exceeded what they now received under the union-mandated contract. To add insult to injury, the two workers were forced to pay compulsory union fees for this unwanted “representation.” To challenge the forced unionization scheme, the two workers came to Foundation staff attorneys for free legal aid in filing a lawsuit. Foundation Won First Janus Refund for Oregon Worker In the Foundation-won Janus ruling, issued on the last day of its term on June 27, the U.S. Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional to force government employees to pay any union dues or fees as a condition of employment. The Court also clarified that no union dues or fees can be taken from workers without their affirmative consent and knowing waiver of their First Amendment right not to financially support a labor union. Deciding to settle the lawsuit after the Janus decision, Teamsters union officials were obligated to refund Keller and Zeien the entirety of the unconstitutionally seized union dues plus interest. No further union dues or fees will be collected from the workers’ wages unless either affirmatively chooses to become a union member and authorizes deductions. Keller and Zeien join Debora Nearman as the first three government employees who, with free legal aid from Foundation staff attorneys, have received their hard-earned money back under Janus. In July, SEIU officials settled with Nearman to return nearly $3,000 in forced-fees refunds. “These workers are among the first of millions of government employees to finally receive justice for the violation of their rights,” said National Right to Work Foundation Vice President Patrick Semmens. “The Foundation will continue to hold union officials accountable when they attempt to force workers into unconstitutional forced-fees schemes.”
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Navistar said today the company has a tentative six-year deal with members of the United Auto Worker...
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The National Labor Relations Board has been authorized to issue a complaint against Kaiser for bad faith bargaining. This ruling is a major blow to Kaiser’s attack on our jobs, wages, and benefits.
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