Workers occupy lobby of SuperAmerica Minn. HQ. Workers seeking better wages and working conditions demonstrated on Nov. 17 at a St. Paul, Minn., SuperAmerica store, then briefly occupied the lobby of the company’s headquarters in nearby Woodbury. The actions called attention to problems affecting hourly workers at the convenience-store chain, including low pay, erratic schedules and favoritism. The low pay and erratic schedules are nationwide problems for workers, particularly in retail and convenience stores. Firms have increasingly turned to what might be called just-in-time scheduling, summoning workers only when they’re needed, and for erratic hours.
The actions came a week after a national day of action that brought new attention to challenges facing working families. On Nov. 10, SuperAmerica workers marched alongside striking food service workers, janitors and other hourly workers at a large rally outside Minneapolis City Hall to urge leaders to adopt policies that help working families, including fair scheduling and an end to wage theft.
Clinton, Sanders get endorsements. Saying almost two-thirds of the members it polled over the last six months support Hillary Clinton, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the AFL-CIO’s largest union, endorsed Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination, as have the Teachers, the Machinists, the Service Employees and several building trades unions. That’s caused dissent in the rank and file. For instance, about 80,000 unionists have joined “Labor for Bernie,” including thousands of Electrical Workers, Communications Workers, Ironworkers and Operating Engineers.
Bernie Sanders has been endorsed by National Nurses United and the American postal Workers Union.
South Carolina AFL-CIO president Erin McKee said, “Bernie is running on a record of real accomplishment for workers, farmers, veterans and other blue-collar Americans.”
United Way recognizes union. Management at United Way Worldwide, the large national charity/community organization strongly supported by unions, has agreed to card-check recognition and neutrality in future organizing drives among staffers at its Arlington, Va., headquarters.
News Guild-CWA President Bernie Lunzer and United Way Worldwide CEO Brian Gallagher hammered out a three-year, renewable neutrality agreement. It covers only staffers at United Way’s headquarters. It doesn’t cover United Way staffers at its 1,300-plus U.S. branches.
Labor Department sees slight decline in job injuries and illnesses. Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Census of Non-Fatal Occupational Injuries and Illnesses shows 3.3 workers out of every 100 last year were hurt or got sick on the job enough that they had to take days off to recover or employers had to shift them to accommodate their return to work.
The 3.3 per 100 injury-illness rate for all workers continues a long-term decline, down from five per 100 in 2003.
Dems ask government to prove states’ cost-shifting workers comp. Ten Congressional Democrats concerned with workers issues have asked the Labor Department to probe a pattern of “cost-shifting” in workers’ comp payments from states and companies to workers, their families and federal programs for the needy. And first, say U.S. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.), DOL has to determine how bad the problem is because it stopped collecting relevant data in 2004.
Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner’s “Turnaround Agenda” includes workers comp reforms.
Labor divided on Keystone pipeline. Union leaders are split on President Barack Obama’s rejection of a federal permit to build the northern section of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline. Construction unions criticized the move, while National Nurses United (NNU) praised it, restating that the pipeline harms the environment and public health.
Missouri defeats Right To Work, still shows business gains. Corporate creators of so-called “Right-To-Work” laws say RTW is supposed to be good for business creation because (though Big Business won’t say it) RTW cuts wages.
But somebody forgot to tell businesses in Missouri, where Show Me State led the nation in business creation, even as lawmakers considered RTW legislation, which was defeated.
Meanwhile, four Republican representatives who voted against RTW in Missouri, then changed their vote to support an attempted override of the anti-worker legislation, each accepted from hundreds to thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from union members.
“It’s the height of hypocrisy for these legislators to accept voluntary contributions from hard-working union members and then turn their backs on the members who made those contributions,” said Mike Louis, president of the Missouri AFL-CIO. “It’s unconscionable to think they would accept these contributions.”
News briefs courtesy of The Labor Paper