The week in US unions, August 12-19

NEW ORGANIZING

New election filings at the NLRB: 178 RNs are organizing with the California Nurses Association (NNU) at Doctors Hospital of Manteca in Manteca, CA. 118 utility workers at the Shenandoah Valley Electric Cooperative based in Harrisonburg, VA are organizing with IBEW Local 1900. 100 nursing home workers at Bella Terra in Wheeling, IL are organizing with SEIU Healthcare Illinois/Indiana (though the filing lists Local 4, I think that’s just an outdated reference for HCII). 

Small shops: 40 EMTs and dispatchers for Hudson Regional Hospital in Secaucus, NJ are unionizing with NAGE-SEIU Local 5000. 27 construction truck drivers, mechanics, and washers at Valdivia Trucking in Santa Rosa, CA are unionizing with Teamsters Local 665. 26 nurse anesthetists in Traverse City, MI are forming Northwest Michigan CRNA and Associates. 25 workers who make metal fasteners for Cooper & Turner in Pueblo, CO are joining Steelworkers Local 2102. 21 physicians and other healthcare workers at several clinics in the MultiCare Health System in and around Tacoma, WA are unionizing with the Union of American Physicians and Dentists (AFSCME). 20 workers at the CVS in Orange, CA are joining the UFCW. 18 hospital laundry truck drivers for Hospital Central Services in Auburn, WA are unionizing with Teamsters Local 117. 18 grocery workers at Malama Market in Pahoa, HI are organizing with UFCW Local 480. 17 “budtenders” at weed dispensary Solar Therapeutics in Somerset, MA are joining UFCW Local 328. 15 workers who make sticky labels for Celestik in Fletcher, NC are unionizing with Teamsters Local 61. 14 mechanics at the Toyota dealership in Marysville, WA are unionizing with Machinists District Lodge 751. 13 non-profit staffers for Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy in Ventura, CA are unionizing with Machinists Local 947. 12 painters and tradesmen at KMS Painting in Omaha are joining Painters Local 109. Eight truck drivers for Compass Natural Gas in Montoursville, PA are joining Teamsters Local 764. Eight workers at Liberty Cannabis dispensary in San Francisco are unionizing with UFCW Local 5. Seven glaziers for Architectural Glass & Waterproofing in Canton, GA are joining Painters Local 1940. Six RNs at the Glendive Medical Center in Glendive, MT are joining the Montana Nurses Association. Five security guards at Gentek in Avenel, NJ are joining the Federal Contract Guards of America. Two HVAC mechanics for Ductz in Cherry Hill, NJ are joining SMART Local 19. 

NLRB election wins…: 142 educators for online charter school Oregon Virtual Academy based in North Bend, OR voted 85-16 to join AFT-Oregon. 58 nurses for for-profit healthcare-for-prisoners firm Wellpath at an ICE detention center in Adelanto, CA voted a whopping 50-0 to join Teamsters Local 1932. 53 sales workers for AT&T Wireless in Southfield, MI voted 26-5 to join CWA. Around 40 workers at the Penn Museum in Philadelphia voted to join AFSCME Local 397, as part of AFSCME’s national museum organizing push; the NLRB site is a little unclear on this vote, making it seem like there were two units, one of which may have lost, but I’m not clear on that, could be a data entry problem, as the NLRB site is a bit prone to.. The New York NewsGuild continued its winning streak with an 11-7 vote among 21 editorial employees for Gannett-owned papers The Journal News (the lower Hudson Valley), The Times Herald-Record (Middletown, NY), and The Poughkeepsie Journal. 16 paramedics for the Bucks County (PA) Rescue Squad voted 9-0 to join the Fraternal Association of Professional Paramedics Local 1. 16 building engineers at four buildings in San Francisco and Sunnyvale, CA voted 15-0 to join Operating Engineers Local 39. 14 workers at a CVS in Tustin, CA voted 11-2 to join UFCW Local 324. 10 security guards at the FAA in Carolina, PR voted 5-0 to join Union de Profesionales de la Seguridad Privada y Transporte de Valores. Seven mechanics for security contractor ISS Services in Tucson, AZ voted 5-0 to join Machinists Local 2949. 

The Colectivo Coffee vote which deadlocked at 99-99 way back in April may after all result in the largest retail coffee union in the country, as the NLRB announced a decision to open the handful of challenge ballots (which organizers think will tip the vote in the union’s favor). If certified, over 300 warehouse, bakery, and coffeeshop employees in Madison, Milwaukee, and Chicago will join IBEW Locals 494 & 1220. 

...and losses: In a first for the weekly roundup, there were no losing vote tallies this week at the NLRB. 

Decertifications and raids:Teamsters Local 553 and Amalgamated Transit Workers Local 854 (which I still can’t figure out whether it’s got any connection to ATU or the old Teamsters Local 854, or what, as I detailed in an old newsletter) are fighting over two units in Brooklyn, one of 150 workers at Careful Bus Service, and another of 120 workers at X-L Escort Service. UGSO is going after 62 SPFPA security guards in Pocatello, ID, because why not. It looks like NUHHCE District 1199C (AFSCME) is going after a unit of 40 healthcare techs at Taylor Hospital in Ridley Park, PA, currently represented by PASNAP, but it’s hard to be sure from the filing without a FOIA request.

Outside the NLRB:New Mexico’s Public Employees Labor Relations Board ruled that around 1,600 University of New Mexico grad students are, in fact, eligible for unionization, which is a big win for the UE, who has been organizing those grad student workers. Around 80 workers at the St. Charles, IL public library are unionizing with AFSCME Council 31. 39 workers at Greenlight Bookstores in Brooklyn won voluntary recognition of their union through the RWDSU. Workers at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore are rallying for voluntary recognition through AFSCME. Speaking of voluntary recognition, Forest Gregg compiled a database of all the NLRB-recognized voluntary recognitions over the past several years, which is a very useful tool to explore. Check it out.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has a look at UPMC’s 9 years of delay against unionization efforts by SEIU Healthcare PA, and a broader assessment of union avoidance and delay in the private sector in general. Worth a read. In a similar vein, Strikewave looks at the union-busting that went on at the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition when that non-profit’s employees moved to unionize.

Lauren Kaori Gurley at Vice profiled a few new apps built for organizing unions. The ocean of hot takes doesn’t need my little droplet, but I think it’s good that people are trying to organize new unions in a labor law regime and labor movement that can’t seem to figure out how to do it at scale; it’s also probably true that an app is not the thing we’ve been missing.

STRIKES & BARGAINING

Politico explores how teachers unions -- and teachers union members -- are dealing with vaccine mandates. The fact is, vaccine hesitancy among members is very real, and isn’t going to go away based solely upon decisions at the top (even if those decisions have been a bit unclear, or uneven, or differed locally and nationally).

What was a single strike at a single Nabisco facility in Portland, OR (Local 364) as of my last newsletter has since spread to Nabisco facilities in Aurora, CO (Local 26), then Richmond, VA (Local 358), and then just this evening Chicago, IL (Local 1), which I believe are all of the remaining Nabisco production facilities in the country. The national campaign from BCTGM comes as the union negotiates a new four-year master agreement with parent megacorporation Mondelez, after the last one expired in May. Nabisco has shipped nearly 2,000 union jobs to Mexico in the past five years, and closed two more facilities in New Jersey and Georgia this year, but they’re also pushing for sweeping concessions including a two-tier healthcare system. You can read more about the strike at Jacobin, Vice, Huffpost, NW Labor Press, More Perfect Union, or a surprisingly thorough piece from The Today Show.

Forty high-rise window cleaners with SEIU Local 26 in the Twin Cities are on strike, as they push to get certified as a skilled trade, with the pay, benefits, and recognition that would come with it.

Machinists Local 701 and the several dozen car dealerships that more than 800 mechanics are striking are talking, but without much progress, as the strike enters its third week.

Labor Notes has the latest on the very long Massachusetts Nurses Association strike at St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester, MA.

Bus operators for SamTrans, the San Mateo County, CA transit system, unofficially seem to have organized a two-day sickout. The union, ATU Local 1574, and the transit system, agreed, because of the pandemic, to indefinitely extend the contract, which expired last summer. Bus drivers are apparently ready for a new agreement.

18 skilled maintenance county workers for Hamilton County, OH plan to strike starting Sunday morning with Operating Engineers Local 20, primarily over a pay dispute.

Members of Steelworkers Local 10-74 who make those tiny white styrofoam beads for Styropek in Beaver County, PA have authorized a strike by 98%, with the union citing safety concerns in the plant relating to job training and combining work duties. They’ve been working on 48-hour contract extensions since March, and early on, the company advertised for replacement workers in case of a strike, which either indicates that a strike is likely or was just a really inflammatory thing to do.

Workers at the Montana State Prison in Deer Lodge, MT, with the Montana Federation of Public Employees (NEA/AFT), voted to authorize a strike over forced overtime and wages.

Transit workers in Vermont could be on strike this fall, after Teamsters Local 597 authorized a strike last month.

Coca-Cola workers with Teamsters Local 175 in Bluefield, WV called off their potential strike after reaching a tentative agreement.

The Teamsters Local 533 bus drivers strike against Keolis in Reno is over after nine days, with a tentative agreement going to a ratification vote.

The 400 members of the Montana Nurses Association at Bozeman Health Deaconess Hospital have reached an impasse in bargaining, primarily over pay, the length of the contract, and issues surrounding staffing shortages. The hospital gave its “last, best, and final” offer on August 4th, and the union is recommending members vote it down, though there’s been no public strike talk as far as I’ve seen.

The Marin Association of Public Employees, an independent union (that used to be affiliated with SEIU but disaffiliated during the mergers of the late-00s) in Marin County, CA is moving to “fact-finding,” the stage after mediation, in stalled negotiations with the county. The union last struck in 1998.

TWU Local 234, who represent 800 SEPTA transit workers in Philadelphia, is sounding the alarm about a potential strike when the contract expires at the end of October, primarily over retroactive hazard pay. As of November of last year, at least 570 SEPTA employees had gotten COVID, and the union says 11 members died. So, yeah, in that context, retroactive hazard pay sounds like the least the transit agency can do.

John Courtney, the president of ATU Local 265, who survived the mass shooting by a union member of other union members at a light rail maintenance yard in San Jose in May, spoke to Labor Notes about the importance of prioritizing workplace mental health. It’s worth a read.

The UAW and John Deere have opened negotiations on a new master agreement for over 10,000 John Deere workers at 12 facilities across the country; the current contract expires October 1st.

Refinery workers at ExxonMobil’s Beaumont, TX plant, who have been locked out for months for refusing to let management gut their union seniority system, protested at an oil and gas trade show to keep pressure on the company.

Wichita, KS teachers have a new contract, as do teachers in Baltimore. Pittsburgh teachers aren’t there yet. Neither are teachers in Frederick County, MD, though they’re heading back to work despite the impasse. The strike threat in Champion, OH has been averted. Teachers in Naperville, IL rallied as their strike threat still looms. The Chicago Teachers Union and CPS are at an impasse in negotiating a safe reopening plan. The Norwin, PA school district is offering its SEIU 32BJ cafeteria workers a 20 cent an hour raise, raising the starting wage to a frankly insulting $10.88, which the union is rightly dismissing as such. Similar goes for the 32BJ-represented support staff in the nearby Penn-Trafford district in Westmoreland County, PA, who’ve been without a contract for over a year.

Over 1,000 nurses in the Kansas City area with NNU have a tentative agreement after months of protests; the main issues for these nurses have been, like every other hospital in the country (world?), short staffing and job safety.

The New Jersey State Democratic Committee has a tentative agreement with its OPEIU-represented field staff for this election cycle, but the subhed on this article encapsulates one of the weird dynamics of campaign staff organizing, namely that some campaigns take it as a political badge of honor to have unionized staff, so things like this happen: “Three staffers say their boss suggested union affiliation, helped them formulate list of demands.” It doesn’t mean campaign staff unions aren’t legitimate, it just means that bosses have more complicated incentives.

POLITICS & LEGISLATION

At Labor Notes, Joe DeManuelle-Hall has the story of a union-backed bill in Chicago to increase civilian oversight of the police.

INTERNAL UNION POLITICS

Six years ago, Politico was running stories about how the New York NewsGuild and WGAE were in cut-throat competition to organize digital newsrooms. Thousands of new members later, both unions are re-evaluating their progress and their investment in the sector, with two seemingly divergent approaches. This week, the NewsGuild approved, by a two-to-one margin, a dues increase explicitly focused on winning first contracts for their new shops (which, to be clear, aren’t solely digital newsrooms, but a lot of them are). Meanwhile, the WGAE is going through an increasingly contentious internal election in which one slate is fighting to preserve the character of the union as a legacy media (TV writers, mostly) guild and the other is pushing for continued organizing among digital media. The election, which will be settled next month one way or the other, won’t be the end of the conversation, as the top slots are uncontested, and the incumbent president, who will earn a new term by default, has made his opinions known.

Details of the UAW referendum on whether to implement direct elections of top officers have been solidified by the independent monitor set up by the Department of Justice. Ballots will be sent by October 12, and members are hard at work organizing to win it. Notably, the monitor ruled that no UAW resources can be used on campaigning one way or the other, which is probably good news for those who want direct elections, considering as the permanently-incumbent Administration Caucus is known to be against direct elections for obvious reasons of permanent incumbency.

A judge dismissed most of the legal claims against AFGE’s former leadership in a series of sexual harassment charges.

The US Department of Labor has ruled that UNITE HERE Local 5 has to redo its leadership elections after protests from challengers about dues eligibility rules in the face of the collapse of the hospitality industry due to the pandemic. The Department of Labor is also trying to get IBEW Local 108 to rerun their officers election from September due to issues with the mail-in vote, but the local executive board is litigating the issue.

SEIU Local 1000 continues to experience some serious internal turbulence, with the union simultaneously protesting Governor Newsom and bankrolling the anti-recall efforts, as well as posting some pretty wild updates about internal fights. Everyone should really follow C.M. Lewis’s coverage of this saga on Twitter if you want the play by play.

The Northern California Regional Council of Carpenters has a new principal officer, after what sounds like a closely contested delegated election.

The AFL-CIO Executive Council will meet tomorrow to name someone to fill the remainder of late president Trumka’s term. That someone will almost certainly be Liz Shuler, the current Secretary-Treasurer and already-presumptive established favorite to succeed Trumka even if he hadn’t suddenly passed away. This almost-certainty is made far more certain by the AFT, the largest union in the federation, coming out in support of the move, along with the Machinists and AFSCME. These pledges seem like just easy brownie points because it’s not really in question who would fill the term, the question is just whether Shuler stays on for a new term starting next year, which at least the AFT statement seems careful not to weigh in on. Ian Kullgren does a better job of reading the tea leaves here.