• 3 workers at Midwest Air Traffic Control Service in Ashland, MO filed a petition to hold a union election with the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA)

• 10 workers at Irving Materials in Somerset, KY filed a petition to hold a union election with the Teamsters Local 89

• 17 workers at Starbucks in Springfield, VA filed a petition to hold a union election with Starbucks Workers United. In a statement to The Valley Labor Report, SBWU mentioned that this was one of 9 filings nationwide, building on a movement with 10,000 workers at 400 stores, and quoted Johnathan Springer (he/him), a shift supervisor at the Old Keene Mill location (in Springfield): "We're all very excited to join forces with Starbucks workers united, to stand with each other and fight for fair treatment and better conditions.”

• 5 workers at Wells Fargo Bank in Bradenton, FL filed a petition to hold a union election with Wells Fargo Workers United - CWA

• 1330 workers at Berea College (a work college, where you pay no tuition in exchange for working for the college) in Berea, KY filed a petition to hold a union election with the Communication Workers of America (CWA)

• 82 workers at Transdev Services in Houston, TX filed a petition to hold a union election with the Teamsters Local 988

POLITICS & LEGISLATION

• Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is trying to shut down the Annunciation House, a faith based nonprofit that has been a transitional housing charity for almost 50 years for migrants crossing into the US through El Paso - but he loves religious freedom. National Nurses United, among others, has condemned the attacks. 

• Senator Sherrod Brown re-introduced the VA Employees Fairness Act, which would expand collective bargaining rights to some currently restricted nurses and other clinical professionals

• The United Steel Workers endorsed President Biden’s reelection bid, the endorsement coming less than a week after Biden come out in opposition to the purchase of US Steel by Nippon

• Nicole Berner, former General Counsel for the Service Employees International Union, has been confirmed to a lifetime appointment on the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, the same week that a nominee with corporate ties was denied the appointment, in what some are calling a sea change.

• The EPA last week announced a rule that would loosen regulations on gas cars, with support from the UAW, with the union saying the new standards are more “feasible,” while reiterating that they support a transition to renewable energy but emphasizing that “the transition to cleaner technologies cannot not be used to intensify the global race to the bottom through offshoring and low wages.”

• $8.5B will be given to Intel as part of the CHIPS Act, a recent announcement revealed, and the Biden administration has said they “expect” Intel to respect the rights of their workers to organize. CWA in a statement said “High expectations, however, are not enough. Working people deserve guarantees that public funds will support family-supporting jobs, not just boost corporate profits.” They are arguing for Intel to sign a binding labor peace agreement

• There is a lot of bad news coming out of Florida, especially with respect to their anti-union law passed last year that we spoke to Florida reporter McKenna Scheuler about extensively last week, but the news is not all bad, with some locals reporting members being spurred to support their union in greater numbers than ever before, including CWA Local 3122 members at the Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority

• The FY 24 minibus was released last week, and the American Federation of Government took issue in particular with parts of the funding bill that seeks to curtail telework usage.

• Alabama State Senator Arthurr Orr (R-Decatur)  has introduced a bill that would prohibit state subsidies from being given to employers who voluntarily recognize their workers union. This bill has been passed into law in Tennessee, and just last week was signed into law in Georgia, but is almost certainly illegitimate because it pre-empts the National Labor Relations Act, and will certainly be challenged based on those grounds

• Alabama State Representative Troy Stubbs introduced a bill that would make it more difficult for workers to win workers comp cases regarding asbestos, meanwhile the EPA nationwide has finally issued a rule to complete the ban on asbestos in production. The AFL-CIO applauded the move

• Louisiana is following the trend of anti-worker legislation in Southern Republican States, with a slew of anti-worker laws being proposed this year now that they have achieved a Republican trifecta that had long been warded off by the Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards. Laws that would outlaw collective bargaining, loosen child labor laws, make it more difficult for workers to access workers comp benefits, and more. 

• After bad faith negotiations with a community coalition around a community benefits agreement for a new stadium for the Kansas City Royals, the community coalition has backed out due to lack of progress and is encouraging their members and others in the community to vote against giving the Royals the requested $1.7B in taxpayer subsidies for the stadium

• United Campus Workers CWA are pushing for a living wage at Jacksonville State in Alabama and are asking allies to sign this petition to support their fight. 

• Republican Virginia Governor Youngkin vetoed a bill to mandate a minimum of two person crews for trains going through the state based in part due ostensibly to competitive concerns with trucks. As the Railroad Workers United put it in their newsletter: The idea that 440 truckloads being transported by a single train with a minimum of two crew instead of one would somehow make railroads less competitive with trucking doesn't wash.

INTERNAL UNION AFFAIRS

• Analyzing new data from the Federal Reserve on people’s personal finances in 2022, the Center for American Progress concluded that union members on average are $100,000 more wealthy than non union members

• The United Auto Workers met with a delegation of Mexican labor leaders representing independent unions from the auto industry to strengthen ties between the unions across the border

Did we miss something? Send us your union updates: www.tvlr.fm/contact

Did you receive this from a friend? Click here to subscribe so you don't miss out!