(LAPLACE, LOUISIANA) – Tariffs imposed on foreign countries by Republican President Donald Trump are now being blamed for putting nearly 400 Louisiana Steelworkers out of work after Bayou Steel unexpectedly closed down its mill in LaPlace late last year. Hundreds of Louisiana Steelworkers found out they no longer have a job after Bayou Steel more»

(SEATTLE, WASHINGTON) - Oak View Group (OVG) and Seattle Hockey Partners have announced the Laborers' International Union of North America (LIUNA) as the official Union Partner of National Hockey League (NHL) Seattle, the New Arena at Seattle Center and Northgate Ice Centre. LIUNA Members are among the hundreds of people currently helping to build the New more»

Who knew that when Donald Trump campaigned on behalf of “forgotten Americans,” he really meant the banks? Earlier this month, the top six U.S. banks posted earnings showing they saved $18 billion in 2019, money they used to increase payouts to shareholders - even as they laid off Workers. That was all thanks to Republican President Donald more»

(THE STATE OF MISSOURI) - Missouri Republicans just won’t take no for an answer. Even though Missourians decisively rejected Proposition A on August 7th, 2018 by a better than 2-to-1 majority - 67.5% to 32.5%, defeating Right-To-Work (for less) in 99 of Missouri’s 114 counties and the City of St. Louis, Republicans want to put Right-To-Work more»

If Martin Luther King Jr. still lived, he’d probably tell people to join Unions. King understood racial equality was inextricably linked to economics. He asked: “What good does it do to be able to eat at a lunch counter if you can’t buy a hamburger?” Those disadvantages have persisted. Today, for instance, the wealth of the more»

(COLUMBUS, OHIO) - Two Republican legislators have asked their colleagues to support a soon-to-be proposed Bill which would eliminate Prevailing Wage in Ohio. The impending legislative battle is likely to spark objections from Labor Unions and put pressure on House Speaker Larry Householder, who reportedly made a commitment to Labor Groups in his quest for more»

(GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN) - During a mid-December National Football League (NFL) game that was held in Green Bay, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) President Lonnie Stephenson was joined by Labor Leaders and Hall of Fame Offensive Lineman and Packers Legend Jerry Kramer, who serves as a Goodwill Ambassador to the National Child more»

(NEW YORK CITY) - The Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) and the Women’s National Basketball Players Association (WNBPA) announced Wednesday (January 14th) that they have reached an agreement on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), pending ratification by the players and the league’s Board of Governors. The new more»

FedEx Workers hoping to Unionize and get better pay and benefits have met with a well-financed barrage of opposition from the company, according to recordings obtained by the Guardian. Workers, who charge that their benefits are less than at rival UPS, said the company has bombarded them with Anti-Union messages and forced them to attend Anti-Union more»

(LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY) – Governor Andy Beshear’s Labor Cabinet has reversed a determination by the previous administration that more than 1,000 Teachers broke State Law by participating in “sick outs” in 2019. Larry Roberts, the Cabinet's Secretary, has written a letter to the Agency’s Inspector General that 1,074 Teachers did more»

Few things have been as important to the development of a strong Middle Class in America as the Labor Union. In their heyday, Labor Unions were an essential piece of the social fabric that helped ensure Workers could have a strong voice in getting paid fair wages, securing important benefits and ensuring safe working conditions. However, the days of more»

(MULLAN, IDAHO) - About 200 United Steelworkers (USW)-represented Miners are back on the job at Idaho’s Lucky Friday mine after nearly three years on Strike, putting an end to the longest-running continuous Strike in the U.S. The Workers ratified a contract with Hecla Mining Company, the mine’s owner, earlier this week after they narrowly more»

(DETROIT, MICHIGAN) - General Motors' (GM) Worker Adarrey "Ace" Humphrey just got blindsided. That's when his life changed. Humphrey, 27, has been a Part-Time Temporary Worker at GM's Flint Assembly in Michigan for the last three years. On Sunday morning (January 5th), he and about 250 of his Co-Workers crowded into United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 598's more»

(WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA) - When Members of United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 1311 went out on Strike at the Langeloth Metallurgical Plant back on September 9th, the first time they had done so since 1988, the Union-represented Workers didn't think they would be facing the situation they are now. Now, they no longer know if they still have a job. more»

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) - Labor Unions have faced tough times over the past couple of years under the Republican Trump Administration and now, heading into 2020, the Labor Department - under the direction of new Labor Department Secretary Eugene Scalia, is expected to continue rolling back Obama-era rules and policies that made Union Organizing a little easier. more»

2020 brings good news for millions of Working Americans: Nearly seven million of them are in line to get pay raises this year thanks to state and local Minimum Wage hikes. A total of 47 jurisdictions - 21 states and 26 cities and counties - raised their minimum wages as of January 1st and in 17 of these jurisdictions, the Minimum Wage will reach or exceed more»

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) - Over the Summer, the House voted to incrementally raise the Minimum Wage to $15 an hour. If the Senate had passed the bill, it would have been the first Federal Minimum Wage increase in more than a decade - far too long for residents of the 21 states that don’t have their own higher Minimum Wage. And here’s another sad more»

With no apologies to Dr. Seuss, Union-Busting Grinches masquerading as Santa and his elves spent the holiday season trying to swipe economic security from America’s Public Workers. It’s a new low for the insidious Anti-Union Campaigns bankrolled by the Koch Organization and billionaire friends, who’ve been pressuring Public Workers to more»

(CHICAGO, ILLINOIS) - Boeing has an ugly history of union-Busting in South Carolina, working feverishly to squash Organizing Activity by employees trying to earn a fair wage, but the company seems to have little problem with setting up a compensation package that could net a fired CEO as much as $60 million. Boeing's ousted CEO Dennis Muilenburg left more»

(PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA) - According to a new report, you’ll likely have to deal with your employer’s Anti-Union tactics - which might break the law and can cost your employer hundreds of thousands of dollars in so-called Labor Consultant Fees. Employers were accused of illegally interfering with Union Campaigns in nearly half of all more»

(JEFFERSON CITY, MISSOURI) - In a maneuver that is putting pressure on the Labor Union representing Missouri Prison Guards, Governor Mike Parson’s Administration has stopped withholding dues from bi-monthly paychecks. The move has left the Missouri Correctional Officers Association with a funding shortfall as it continues to negotiate a new contract more»

Google stands accused of firing a fifth Employee who was suspected of attempting to organize a Labor Union at the Search Giant. Kathryn Spiers, who worked on the Chrome Security Team, says that she was fired for adding a pop-up to an internal browser telling colleagues about their Labor Rights. Spiers says the company has "overreacted in an egregious, more»

(RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA) - While North Carolina Public School Educators continue to work without the raises they were promised for the 2019-20 School Year, Republican Lawmakers are trying to ram through another $1 billion in corporate tax cuts instead of negotiating a budget that values public education. Senate Republicans approved a third reading of a more»

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) - On a clear evening in Washington this past Summer, Sara Nelson was in her element, waiting to speak to a revved-up crowd of Union Members at Reagan National Airport. Dressed in a navy Flight Attendants’ uniform, she stood out against the sea of jewel-toned business suits and Union T-shirts. If it intimidated Nelson that she was more»

Since Trump took office in 2017 he has been at war with Organized Labor. Yet, even after all of his attacks on Labor, Union Members still support him. With Trump running for re-election in 2020, UCOMM Blog thought it would be a good thing to let all of our readers know 10 things that Trump has done to hurt Labor Unions. The list is not in order of more»

(SOUTH KOREA) - A South Korean Court has sentenced Samsung Electronics Board Chairman Lee Sang-hoon to 18 months in prison for sabotaging Labor Union activities. Lee and about 25 other defendants were convicted of violating Labor Union-related Laws. Prosecutors said Samsung Executives had used several tactics to target Union activities, including closing more»

Have American businesses become more concentrated over the past 30 years? Anecdotally, it seems like the answer is yes. The Big 8 accounting firms are now the Big 4. There are only four cell phone companies, soon to be three. Four airlines control 80% of the American market. The car industry consolidated into the Big Three decades ago. Four companies more»

(LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA) - Anyone who doubts that Los Angeles is now officially a militant Union Town hasn’t been following the course of the Democrats’ next Presidential Debate, which is scheduled for this Thursday (December 19th). Initially set to take place at UCLA, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) was compelled to move it to Loyola more»

(THE STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA) - Union Membership in Pennsylvania grew last year as Union Membership dropped nationwide - a trend that has persisted for decades. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) recently released Union Membership figures for 2018, and in Pennsylvania, 13.4% of Employees were represented by a Union - up slightly from 13% in 2017. In more»

(PARIS, FRANCE) - French Unions have vowed to continue a nationwide Strike that has brought transport to a virtual standstill as they dismissed the Prime Minister’s proposals on changing the pensions system. After a week of strikes and demonstrations by hundreds of thousands of people, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe gave a televised speech outlining more»

2019 has been a historic year for the Labor Movement in Tech: Google Contractors in Pittsburgh Unionized; Kickstarter launched a campaign to form what could become the first Union at a major Tech Company; and Amazon Warehouse Workers, Uber Drivers and Instacart Grocery Delivery Workers all went out on Strike. Tech companies haven’t stood idly by - more»

Union Membership still pays - at least in terms of higher wages. The typical Union Worker made $970 a week in 2014, compared to $763 for Non-Union Workers, according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data. That 27% spread has remained relatively constant at least since 2000, when the agency started tracking the data. To be sure, not everyone more»

(CHICAGO, ILLINOIS) - In May (2019), Association of Flight Attendants (AFA)-Communications Workers of America (CWA) President Sara Nelson gave a speech to the Chicago Democratic Socialists of America’s annual Eugene Debs-Lucy Gonzalez Parsons-A. Philip Randolph Dinner that all Union Leaders and Union Members should take the time to read. As such, more»

(ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA) - Energized by wins in November that swept Democrats – notably Pro-Worker Lawmakers - into a legislative majority in the State Capital of Richmond, Virginia Unions and their Progressive Democratic Allies have launched a big push to repeal the Old Dominion’s 72-year-old Right-To-Work (for less) Law. Northern Virginia Labor more»

(LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA) - “Let us in! Let us in!” chanted a small crowd of Visitor Services Associates who were dressed in black as they stood at the locked gate of the Marciano Art Foundation (MAF) in Los Angeles in early November, at the time the museum normally would have opened to the public. Just days earlier, the austere contemporary more»

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Republican President Donald Trump has built much of his presidency - and his 2020 re-election campaign - around a simple message: Illegal immigration is a national crisis. “Tolerance for illegal immigration is not compassionate,” Trump said in his State of the Union address this year. “It is cruel.” But, more»

(AUGUSTA, MAINE) - An estimated 56% of Maine employers may have made it impossible for their Workers to sue them in court for Wage Theft, safety hazards, sexual harassment, racial discrimination or other violations protected by Labor Laws. Companies can do this by making new Employees sign contracts that force them to resolve legal disputes outside of the more»

(MINNEAPOLIS-ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA) - A Twin Cities contractor accused of exploiting Immigrant Workers was supposed to face criminal charges in a first-of-its-kind trial in Hennepin County, Minnesota, but Ricardo Batres has instead pleaded guilty charges of Labor Trafficking - and prosecutors say other cases in the Construction Industry are coming. Batres, more»

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) - The National AFL-CIO’s Pension Panel has roundly condemned proposals made by two leading Senate Republicans to shore up the Nation’s endangered Multi-Employer Pension Funds that would cut benefits by up to 19%. The National Labor Federation’s Retirement Security Working Group said this week that the proposals more»

Bad news about infrastructure is as ubiquitous as potholes. Failures in a 108-year-old railroad bridge and tunnel cost New York Commuters thousands of hours in delays. Illinois doesn’t regularly inspect, let alone fix, decaying bridges. Flooding in Nebraska caused nearly half a billion dollars in road and bridge damage - just this year. No more»

(SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA) - The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a group that has spent decades working to undermine Organized Labor and Worker Protections, is scheduled to host a five-hour meeting on Tuesday (December 3rd) with invited legislators and state think tanks to discuss the next steps of its Anti-Union Project. The event is set a day more»

(DETROIT, MICHIGAN) – The United Auto Workers (UAW) and Fiat Chrysler have reached a tentative deal on a new Labor Contract. The UAW Bargaining Committee agreed to a deal with Fiat Chrysler to add $4.5 billion in investments, translating to 7,900 jobs over the course of a four-year deal, according to a UAW statement. The $4.5 billion comes on top of more»

(RICHMOND, VIRGINIA) - Virginia Governor Ralph Northam (Democrat) has all but ruled out repealing the state’s Anti-Union Right To Work (for less) Law, dashing the hopes of a rising populist guard that is hoping to bring Virginia in line with other solidly Democratic states where Organized Labor flourishes. A Northam spokesperson did not immediately more»

Leo Gerard was 11 years old when he handed out his first Union leaflets. That was in 1958 and he was living in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada - a mining town. The leaflets were for the Mine Mill, the Union his father belonged to. What Gerard didn't know then was that he would spend much of the rest of his life as a Labor Leader and Activist. He began as a more»

(NEW YORK CITY) - McDonald's is paying $26 million to settle a Class Action Lawsuit over Wage Theft - the latest development in a string of conflicts between the major restaurant chain and its Employees. The settlement puts an end to a multi-year legal battle between the company and California Workers who alleged that McDonald's was skirting Overtime more»

(NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA) - The Construction Worker who was injured in and raised the alarm about a deadly hotel collapse in New Orleans last month is set to be deported, the man’s wife and lawyers said Friday. Border Patrol Agents arrested Delmer Joel Ramirez Palma, a Honduran National, just two days after the hotel collapse last month. He was more»

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) - The U.S. Labor Department (DOL) has determined a Minneapolis Worker Center that successfully forced Target and other retailers to hire Unionized Janitors should be categorized as a Labor Organization and bound by Federal Rules for Unions - the first evidence of such a finding under the Republican Trump Administration. The DOL’s more»

(LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA) - Mark Janus got the superhero treatment during a Summer gathering of the Conservative faithful at a meeting space in downtown Los Angeles's Wells Fargo Building. At a conference dubbed The Janus Victory: One Year Later, one-time California governor Pete Wilson introduced the former Illinois Child-Support Specialist as a Superman more»

(DETROIT, MICHIGAN) - The Executive Board of the United Auto Workers (UAW) has started the process of removing President Gary Jones from his position and the Union. Jones took a leave of absence from the UAW on November 3rd, days after being implicated as part of a multi-year federal investigation into corruption in the UAW. Jones has not been charged by more»

(WENTZVILLE, MISSOURI) - The United Auto Workers’ (UAW) Strike against General Motors (GM) is over, but management at GM’s Wentzville Plant is still steaming - so much so that they placed Glenn Kage, the President of UAW Local 2250, on suspension recently for his actions during the Strike. “It’s ‘retaliation because we stood more»