The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) said workers at the Bloomington Barnes & Noble bookstore ratified their first contract March 15. It followed the ratification of first union contracts at three New York City Barnes & Noble stores.

“Workers at Barnes & Noble should be incredibly proud of what they’ve accomplished together in these historic first union contracts,” said RWDSU President Stuart Appelbaum. “A union is the only way to ensure workplace protections are secure — especially now, while laws protecting workers are under attack.

Teamsters win $4.5M settlement from State of Illinois. Teamsters Local 916 has won a $4.5 million grievance settlement against the Illinois Department of Central Management Services (CMS) for failing to pay ProTech workers their legally owed wages negotiated in their contract with the Illinois Departments of Transportation (IDOT), Natural Resources (DNR), and Innovation and Technology. “Honoring this segment of our agreed-upon contract is a step toward making IDOT’s dedicated, long-term workers feel valued for the service they provide to the travelers and taxpayers of Illinois,” said Melinda Winkelman, Protech Shop Steward.

UAW reaches T.A. with Rolls-Royce. The United Auto Workers Local 933 last month announced a last-minute Tentative Agreement with Rolls-Royce in Indianapolis.

“Our members are proud of the work they do,” said UAW President Shawn Fain said. “It’s in their blood. It’s in our sweat and our tears that make Rolls-Royce’s billions in profits possible.”

The deal includes pay increases, a Cost-Of-Living Adjustment for all workers, improved retirement benefits, and the end of a two-tier pay system.

If ratified, the pact would increase pay for the lowest-tier workers almost 70% over the life of the agreement.

Local 933 represents more than 800 workers at the plant. Illinois SEIU says its ‘under attack’ by Teachers Union. The Service Employees International Union State Council, repre-
senting about 160,000 Illinois workers in Illinois, last month declared that it’s “under attack” from the Chicago Teachers Union, citing a CTU contract proposal that SEIU said would take jobs from their union and give them to CTU.

SEIU Local 73 President Dian Palmer said her union would not allow CTU to “negotiate away the work of the SECAs [Special Education Classroom Assistants] we represent.”

The conflict is awkward for the Chicago Federation of Labor, to which both unions belong, as well as the AFL-CIO, to which SEIU recently re-affiliated with after years of separation.

Union for hundreds of ISU faculty claims Unfair Labor Practice. The union representing 667 professors at Illinois State University filed an Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board (IELRB) Unfair Labor Practice complaint against the university for threatening retaliation for noise by union supporters before a recent session with a federal mediator.

Adam Heenan from United Faculty ISU said demonstrations like the loud one by union members are protected under the Illinois Labor Dispute Act.

AFL-CIO launches ‘Dept. of People Who Work for A Living.’ The AFL-CIO has launched the Department of People Who Work for a Living, a new campaign to hold Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) accountable and make sure the federal government is responsive to working people and not just to the whims of an unelected multibillionaire like Musk.
New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan wrote, “The AFL-CIO campaign is one of the first organized efforts by unions to focus on the people affected by the work force cuts that the Trump administration is proposing. The group is also seeking to highlight the chasm between Mr. Musk’s wealth and that of the people he has urged to move on from federal jobs.”

AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler said, “The government can work for billionaires or it can work for working people — but not both.

“We will hold DOGE and Elon Musk accountable,” she continued, “because we are certain that the people who keep our food and medicine safe know more about how to make government efficient than an outsider whose companies benefit from the very agencies he is infiltrating.”

— News briefs courtesy of The Labor Paper: “Like” us — www.facebook.com/The-Labor-Paper