max cyril - WF Demo

Unions eye Brookings, Urban Institute as push to organize think tanks grows

Leave a Comment / Collective Bargaining, unions / By max cyril

Workers at two of the largest, most influential think tanks in Washington, D.C. are forming a union, adding to a growing trend in white-collar collective bargaining. Staff at the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute on Tuesday asked their employers to grant them voluntary recognition — which doesn’t require a secret ballot election — of their unions, which are …

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The Message from the Amazon Union Defeat in Alabama Is Clear: Keep Organizing

Leave a Comment / union mobilizing, unions / By max cyril

On April 9, the National Labor Relations Board announced the results of a mail ballot certification election that concluded on March 29 for workers at the Amazon fulfillment center in Bessemer, Alabama. With 3,215 votes cast, the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) was defeated with at least 1,608 votes against the union, enough to crush the drive. The result was not shocking given …

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ABB, EPI, and NELP Release Toolkit For Advocates and Policymakers On Model Policies Local Governments Can Implement to Raise Standards For Frontline Workers During COVID and Beyond

Leave a Comment / Health Care Workers, Pandemic / By max cyril

Washington, DC— Today, the National Employment Law Project (NELP), A Better Balance (ABB), and the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) released a toolkit for advocates and policymakers featuring four model policies that cities and counties can implement immediately to respond to workers’ calls for safety and dignity on the job—in the pandemic and beyond. The four model policies would advance …

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Union defeat at Amazon warehouse turns spotlight to the Hill

Leave a Comment / labor, unions / By max cyril

The battle over organized labor’s clout will be focused more squarely on Capitol Hill now that workers at an Amazon warehouse in Alabama have soundly defeated an effort to form a union there. Supporters and opponents of legislation that would significantly bolster unions were refining their arguments on Friday in light of the outcome in …

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On the Picket Line With Striking Miners

1 Comment / Coal Mining, Strike / By max cyril

Last Thursday, around 1,100 coal miners at Warrior Met Coal in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, went on strike. According to the union, the United Mine Workers of America, a tentative bargaining agreement has now been reached with the company, but workers must still vote on whether or not to ratify it. In order to cover this important strike and spread …

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Amazon defeats Alabama union effort after dirty, but predictable, campaign

Leave a Comment / union mobilizing, unions / By max cyril

The union organizing effort at an Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, appears headed for defeat after the first day of counting ballots. There were 3,215 votes, with the count standing at 1,100 against unionizing to 463 in favor. Voting ended March 29, but before the counting began, hundreds of ballots were challenged, most by the company. If those could be …

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Biden administration weeks behind on Covid-19 workplace safety rules

Leave a Comment / Pandemic, workplace safety / By max cyril

The federal worker safety watchdog is weeks behind on President Joe Biden’s deadline for the agency to issue mandatory workplace safety rules that experts say will fight the spread of the coronavirus and protect workers. Shortly after taking office, Biden gave the Labor Department a March 15 deadline to decide whether such emergency rules were …

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The Movement to End At-Will Employment Is Getting Serious

1 Comment / labor, Right to Work & At-Will employment / By max cyril

On March 31, a group of worker centers, unions, community groups and policy organizations in Illinois officially formed a new coalition, Stable Jobs Now, that aims to dramatically shift the power balance between workers and bosses by eliminating ?“at-will” employment?—?the practice that allows employers to fire their employees on a whim. In most of the rest of the world, workers are …

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One City’s Pioneering Project to Push Police Funding Into Housing the Homeless

Leave a Comment / Affordable Housing, economy / By max cyril

Homelessness in the U.S., which was already on the rise prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, increased in 2020, exacerbated by the economic realities of the pandemic. Austin, Texas, is no exception, with an estimated 11 percent increase in homeless people counted in the city and Travis County between 2019 and 2020, according to the point-in-time (PIT) count reported in the …

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‘The president’s committed to raising the minimum wage,’ Labor Sec. Marty Walsh says. He should be

Leave a Comment / MinimumWage, President Biden / By max cyril

The Senate voted against including a minimum wage increase in the American Rescue Plan in March, and as long as Republicans have the option of filibustering it, they will block any meaningful increase in what’s now a poverty-level federal minimum wage. But because $7.25 an hour is a poverty-level wage—and because raising it is proven popular with …

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Author name: max cyril