Labor Roundup

Labor Roundup

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…

Labor Roundup

Inadequate offer forced East St. Louis teachers strike. Students in the East St. Louis, Ill., school district stayed home beginning in early October after its 400 union teachers rejected an inadequate settlement offer. Members of Illinois Federation of Teachers voted…

Labor Roundup

Labor-backed Chicago bank using sale proceeds to expand services to workers. The Amalgamated Bank of Chicago, one of the few labor-backed U.S. financial institutions, will use the $35 million it just gained from the sale of its old headquarters to…

Labor Roundup

Labor groups endorse Iran deal. U.S. Labor Against War (USLAW), the grass-roots organization that led the organized labor to oppose George W. Bush’s 2003 invasion of Iraq, is campaigning for unionists and leaders to back the proposed agreement to curb…

Labor Roundup

UAW targeting automakers’ two-tier wages. Abolition of the two-tier wage system at the “Detroit 3” car companies, raising all workers to the top scale, seems to be the top bargaining goal of the United Auto Workers in opening talks with…

Labor Roundup

Louisville Slugger plant is unionized. As Peoria’s Louisville Slugger Sports Complex gets busier this month, it’s interesting to note the bat company’s labor relations. Every month is baseball season for members of Steelworkers Local 1693 at the Hillerich & Bradsby…

Labor Roundup

Union leaders, lawmakers, mayors unveil progressive agenda. Saying “We need to reward work, not wealth,” a group of labor leaders, legislators and big-city mayors unveiled a massive grass-roots campaign for “A Progressive Agenda” to attack income inequality and allied issues.…

Labor Roundup

Labor Roundup Building Trades’ McGarvey: ‘Politics is not a marriage. It’s a business.’ AFL-CIO Building Trades Department President Sean McGarvey told the 56th annual Michigan Building and Construction Trades legislative conference last month “the strength of the labor movement is…

Labor Roundup

Think tank defends crackdown on law-breaking contractors. In Washington, a progressive think-tank is defending President Obama’s executive order cracking down on federal contractors who break labor laws. Karla Walter of the Center for American Progress reminded a House committee of…

Labor Roundup for December 2014

Speakers advocate campaign about value of unions. Labor must launch a massive education campaign about unions’ value to counter Right-wing propaganda and to forestall cynicism that could lead people to turn to demagogues, said speakers at a recent Economic Policy…