The past two weeks in US unions, November 20-December 3, 2021

Deep breath. This is a long one. I made the rookie mistake of skipping a week for Thanksgiving, and then too much stuff happened. Also, disclaimer, some of the information below is slightly outdated and needs updates but I will not let the perfect be the enemy of the done. We’ll be back to our regularly scheduled programming this weekend; thanks for your patience.

STRIKES & NEGOTIATIONS

Lots has happened on the BCTGM Kellogg strike over the past two weeks – first, the company announced they’d be hiring permanent replacements, and, probably thinking this would strike fear into the workers’ hearts, soon thereafter offered a new tentative agreement. Not to be fucked with, the workers then “overwhelmingly” rejected the offer, and Kellogg’s doubled down on its commitment to hiring permanent replacements. In a lesser known long-haul BCTGM strike, workers at Jon Donaire (which makes ice cream cakes for Baskin Robbins, Coldstone, and other big names) have been on strike for over a month in Santa Fe Springs, CA with Local 37; you can learn more about that fight here.

Not to be one-upped by corporate ghouls, the administration of Columbia University is also apparently getting in on the permanent-replacement racket against Student Workers of Columba/UAW Local 2110 for their strike. In response, the union is calling on anyone in NYC to come help shut down the campus tomorrow.

150 group home workers in Connecticut with 1199 New England are also facing the threat of permanent replacement, as the strike against Sunrise Group rolls on.

An Alabama judge has once again extended the injunction against picketing anywhere near Warrior Met coal worksites, just flagrantly ignoring the basic first amendment rights of UMWA miners and supporters.

Hospitals: The Cabell Hospital strike in Huntington, WV has ended, with members of 1199 SEIU WV/KY/OH ratifying a contract after weeks on the picket line. The 450 strikers with Steelworkers Local 40 also in Huntington do not have a contract, and Special Metals, who owns the nickel alloy plant being struck, aren’t in a rush to get back to the table, setting the next negotiations for December 14th. The other longest strike of 2021 (aside from Warrior Met), that of the Massachusetts Nurses Association at St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester, has seen no movement, while hospital corporate overlord Tenet settled a contract with 75 mental health workers (repped by the Laborers) in nearby Natick, MA. The 2200 Michigan Nurses Association healthcare workers who info picketed and then authorized a strike at Sparrow Hospital in Lansing, MI have reached a tentative agreement with the company. SEIU Local 49 members at McKenzie Willamette Medical Center in Springfield, OR are set to strike for five days starting Monday if a deal can’t be reached; it follows a two-day strike in October, as members push for higher wages and more COVID protections in a new contract, among other issues. Becker’s Hospital Review, a very useful hospital industry website that I link to frequently, has a useful roundup of big union contract settlements at hospitals over the past six months.

Teamsters: The 200 or so Teamsters Local 533 transit workers in Reno, NV who have struck contractor Keolis (newly operating RTC Washoe, the bus transit system in Reno-Sparks) three times in as many months, finally have a new contract, which should mean no new ULP strikes for at least a little while? Another long strike is still going in Rhode Island where wine delivery drivers who organized with Teamsters Local 251 have been on strike against Johnson Brothers distributors for months, and are taking their fight to the customers, as Dan DiMaggio reported for Labor Notes. Around 300 members of Teamsters Local 174 who drive concrete trucks for several contractors in Washington State are on strike, which has shut down several construction sites in the area. Over 400 sanitation workers with Teamsters Local 396 have authorized a strike against sanitation giant Republic in Anaheim and Huntington Beach, CA.

The NewsGuild of New York has been extremely active over the past couple weeks, with workers at New York Times subsidiary Wirecutter striking through Black Friday, which is like not the time you want a strike at your consumer product reviews site. Dozens of Buzzfeed News staffers walked out as well. The Pacific Northwest Newspaper Guild has a first contract with Cascade Public Media in Seattle after two years.

50 nursing home workers with 1199 SEIU struck Campbell Hall nursing home for one day in Campbell Hall, NY, which is apparently the last employer holdout on signing a master contract across 250 nursing homes in New York.

UNITE HERE Local 11 members working for megacontractor HMS Host at Phoenix’s Sky Harbor Airport struck for 10 days, and are now back at the bargaining table, still working on winning a contract. Berkeley, CA hotel workers with UNITE HERE Local 2 are pushing for their first contract since 2018 at the DoubleTree at the Marina.

Grocery workers with UFCW Local 555 at Fred Meyer and QFC in Oregon are taking a ULP strike authorization vote.

Staff at the California College of the Arts in the Bay Area are taking a strike authorization vote with SEIU Local 1021. At Harvard, the labor unrest just keeps on rolling, as 32BJ SEIU custodians and security guards rally for a fair contract, following in the footsteps of the graduate workers and the clericals, both of whom recently settled contracts.

10,000 Disneyland workers in Anaheim, CA with the Teamsters, BCTGM, and SEIU USWW averted a strike after one of three contracts was voted down, then quickly renegotiated and ratified.

10,000 other workers are staring down a potential strike, at the Newport News, VA Huntington-Ingalls shipyard, after members of the Steelworkers biggest local, USW Local 8888, voted down a contract 2 to 1. Now the local is telling members to prepare to be on the picket line in 2022; which would be the first strike at the shipyard since, I believe, 1999. At the other big Ingalls shipyard, in Pascagoula, MS, members of the Metal Trades Council (which includes UA members, and Boilermakers, and a few others, I believe) apparently rejected a contract, then had to re-vote on it, and accepted it; but the IBEW members voted it down again. 

Around 100 IBEW Local 666 maintenance workers at a DuPont plant in Chesterfield County, VA that makes Tyvek and Kevlar and other materials have been locked out by management as negotiations stall.

Nearly 1,000 UFCW Local 1995 poultry processing workers at Wayne Farms in Albertville, AL voted to reject a contract offer. A few days prior, some workers walked off the job to protest the weak raises on offer, along with forced overtime.

Another big 2022 labor story brewing is the west coast longshore ILWU negotiations. Alex Press looked at the potential fight for Jacobin.

Major League Baseball has officially locked out the MLBPA, as of this week. They removed all active-player related content from their website, making for an eerie baseball-without-baseball-players ghost town vibe.

Members of Painters Local 10 in Portland, OR won a much-improved contract after a “summer of chaos,” an intermittent series of job actions; the union made a great video laying out what they won and how they did it.

K-12: 70 school psychologists in Contra Costa County, CA have authorized a ULP strike. Teachers in Peterborough, NH have a new three-year contract; Park Ridge, IL teachers have a new five-year agreement. The district’s negotiations with the 600-member K-12 union in Neptune, NJ remain stalled since the summer; similar troubles are facing teachers in Sicklerville, NJ. Teachers in Sudbury, MA are rallying for a new contract. The independent union the Association of Buildings, Grounds, and Warehouse Workers is suing Denver Public Schools over failure to pay out hazard pay. The teachers union in Mount Desert Island, ME is filing charges against the school board for failing to bargain in good faith. The Scranton Federation of Teachers as well as the school district have officially ratified the new union contract after the 12-day strike; because of days lost, the school year is being extended to June 30th. Teamsters Local 320, representing 100 school bus drivers for Minneapolis Public Schools who have authorized a strike, are still pushing for a contract ahead of a mediation session that was start the clock on a 45-day countdown to a possible strike. Negotiations in Middletown, OH are maybe coming to a resolution after the union filed charges and rallied for a contract settlement, with an emergency meeting called to settle the matter.

Police: Civil Beat has a look at how Hawaii’s state police union uses union contract language to avoid accountability for cops. After much back and forth, including a contract that was overwhelmingly rejected by the membership, the Louisville FOP has a new union contract that includes bigger raises and no new reforms. Percentage-wise, Youngstown, OH cops have Louisville beat, winning a 27% raise (dollars-wise, it brings them up to $21 an hour).

AFSCME Council 94, representing 3,000 state workers in Rhode Island, has ratified a new contract that includes vaccination incentives; Des Moines County, IA AFSCME workers are pushing for a raise.

IATSE negotiations aren’t done yet; the Animation Guild is still pushing for a contract settlement, though the big film and tv master agreements are settled.

INTERNAL UNION POLITICS

For Labor Notes, I reported on the once-in-a-generation breakthrough in the UAW, where members overwhelmingly won the right to elect top officers. This is the end of a decades-long road to win this right (which members have fought for since at least the early 80s), and the beginning of a new one, namely a UAW with meaningfully competitive elections for the top slots, which control all the meaningful national bargaining (namely the Big 3 automakers, whose contracts are all up in 2023, just six weeks after the massive UPS Teamsters contract). The question now is, how will these elections be conducted? Who’s going to run? Can change at the top turn around the union’s nosedive, and organize the 800,000 non-union auto workers and auto parts workers in this country?

Speaking of leadership challenges, the opposition forces in the largest local of the largest affiliate of the AFL-CIO, AFT Local 2, the United Federation of Teachers, have joined forces to challenge the decades-long incumbent Unity Caucus which basically controls the national union (the AFT), not to mention one of the largest local unions in the country. Elections are in the spring, but the reformers seem to be winning some small victories in a fight to make class size a flagship issue in this campaign. Historically, reformers in the UFT have had a tough row to hoe; I wouldn’t hold my breath, but it also appears a more credible threat than we’ve seen in many election cycles in the UFT.

POLITICS & LEGISLATION

New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham is proposing a salary increase for teachers in that state, against the backdrop of an impasse in negotiations in the Las Cruces school district. If the plan passes, the average teacher pay in the state would go up to about $64,000. In Louisiana, Governor John Bel Edwards has more modest goals, shooting for the state’s teachers’ salaries to hit the regional average by 2024, which would be something like a $3600 raise.

NEW ORGANIZING

New election fillings at the NLRB: 154 workers at the North Pacific Paper Corporation (NORPAC) paper mill in Longview, WA are organizing with ILWU Local 21, with the Association of Western Pulp and Paper Workers Union (an affiliate of the Carpenters) “intervening” to get on the ballot. 63 counselors at the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School “in” Midland, PA are organizing with the PSEA. 60 nursing home workers at Community Care in Riverside, CA are unionizing with SEIU Local 2015. 49 healthcare workers at 10 Piedmont Health Services community health centers in and around Chapel Hill, NC are organizing with what looks like an independent union. 33 staffers for Prisoners Legal Services in Albany, NY are unionizing with UAW Local 2325. 20 installation and service techs for Stanley Black & Decker in Homer, NY are unionizing with Painters Local 677. 18 theater workers for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, OR are unionizing with IATSE Local 154. 12 building engineers at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Wheatland, CA are joining Operating Engineers Local 39. Ten skilled trades workers for HVAC contractor Dove Group in Gonzales, LA are unionizing with UA Local 198. Nine building services workers at Boerum Condominium in Brooklyn are joining SEIU 32BJ. Two construction workers for Brandywine Stormwater in West Chester, PA are joining the Laborers District Council of Metro Philadelphia. 

Teamsters: 53 warehouse workers for medical device supplier B. Braun Medical in Breinigsville, PA are organizing with Teamsters Local 773. 37 nursing home workers at Golden Living in La Porte, IN are unionizing with Teamsters Local 135. 26 warehouse and manufacturing workers who I think make steel doors for Assa Abloy in Ontario, CA are organizing with Teamsters Local 986. Teamsters Local 89 is organizing 25 cashiers at Caesars casino in Elizabeth, IN; Operating Engineers Local 399 and UNITE HERE Local 23 are both listed as intervenors, and represent workers at the casino, but it’s not clear whether they’re trying to get on the ballot, or what (the NLRB doesn’t specify, and “intervenor” can mean a few different things). Eight drivers for K&M Tire in Portage, WI are joining Teamsters Local 695.

UFCW: 25 fast food workers at Tudor’s Biscuit World in Elkview, WV are unionizing with UFCW Local 400, after having marched on their boss. 23 workers at Sunnyside (owned by big chain Cresco) weed dispensary in Cincinnati are organizing with UFCW Local 75. 22 workers at Zen Leaf (which I’m just going to go ahead and assume is also a weed dispensary) in Highland Park, IL are organizing with UFCW Local 881. 18 workers at a CVS on Haight Street in San Francisco are organizing with UFCW Local 648. 15 clericals at Bacharach rehab in Pomona, NJ are organizing with UFCW Local 152. Five pharmacy workers at a Safeway in Longview, WA are joining UFCW Local 555, and five workers at a Shoprite in Livingston, NJ are joining UFCW Local 1262.

NLRB election wins…: 317 workers at the Minnesota Historical Society in St. Paul, MN voted 144-63 to join AFSCME Council 5. 248 grocery workers at Fred Meyer in Richland, WA voted 88-41 to join UFCW Local 1439. 85 workers for First Student in Memphis voted 37-3 to join Teamsters Local 667. 78 charter school educators at Common Ground High School in New Haven, CT voted 62-8 to join UAW Local 2110. 50 workers at Intermodal Mexico in Jacksonville, FL voted 37-3 to join Teamsters Local 512. 46 nursing home workers at Notting Hill of West Bloomfield, MI voted 12-9 to join SEIU Healthcare Michigan. 44 youth counselors at the Leo Hoffman Center in St. Peter, MN voted 18-15 to join AFSCME Council 65. 42 librarians Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle voted 25-5 to join OPEIU Local 8. 41 workers who make, uh, paint polymers? for Estron Chemical in Calvert City, KY voted 28-13 (100% turnout) to join the Machinists. 39 weed dispensary workers for Curaleaf in Skokie, IL voted 27-5 to join UFCW Local 881. 39 workers at Semper Fi Express, a contractor for DHL in Oak Creek, WI, voted 16-8 to join Teamsters Local 344. 36 workers at Bella Terra nursing home in La Grange, IL voted 11-8 to join SEIU Healthcare Illinois & Indiana, as did 33 workers at Avantara in Aurora, IL (22-3). 32 TV workers for Fox in Brown Deer, WI won their union by one vote, 16-15, after filing for an election with NABET-CWA back in February. 28 cannabis delivery drivers for Nabis in Los Angeles voted 21-4 to join Teamsters Local 630. 22 hotel workers at the Hollywood Hilton Garden Inn in Los Angeles voted 18-3 to join UNITE HERE Local 11. 14 heavy equipment operators at Fort Bliss, TX voted 9-0 to join Operating Engineers Local 351. 11 crisis counselors at Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett, WA voted 9-0 to join UFCW Local 21. 11 janitors at the Denver Mint voted 7-0 to join SEIU Local 105. Seven drivers for cleaning supply company Hillyard in Warminster, PA voted 6-1 to join Teamsters Local 107. Six sanitation workers for Recology in Salem, OR voted 4-0 to join Teamsters Local 324. Six skilled maintenance workers at Fort Irwin, CA voted 5-0 to join Machinists District Lodge 725. All five cement plant workers at Cemex in Bakersfield, CA voted to join Operating Engineers Local 12. Four bakery workers at Safeway in Wilsonville, OR are now members of BCTGM Local 114 after one of them bothered to vote (and voted yes). Four drivers for Hollywood equipment rental firm PRG voted 3-1 to join Teamsters Local 399. Both of Argent’s dump truck drivers in Oakland, CA voted to join Teamsters Local 853.

...and losses: 363 workers at Hello Fresh in Aurora, CO voted 91-166 against joining the union, in a big loss for UNITE HERE in what was sort of their new organizing comeback campaign; they have another big election running in Richmond, CA, so let’s hope for a better outcome there. In a rare loss for 1199 New England, 75 nursing home workers at Norwichtown Rehab in Norwich, CT voted 32-40 against the union. 67 workers at Symphony nursing home in Evanston, IL narrowly voted against joining SEIU Healthcare Illinois & Indiana, 20-21. 40 workers at plastics manufacturer JSP Resins in Butler, PA voted 19-20 against joining the Steelworkers. 23 industrial cleaners for Spike Enterprises at several gas stations in and around Channahon, IL voted 5-8 against joining Operating Engineers Local 150. 17 workers at United Rentals in the Seattle area voted 6-9 against Teamsters Local 174. 14 utility workers at NW Natural Water of Oregon based in Sunriver, OR voted 3-8 against joining OPEIU Local 11. 12 workers who make office furniture for Rieke Office Interiors in Elgin, IL voted 4-8 not to join Machinists District Lodge 8. 12 pump equipment supply workers for Xylem in Mokena, IL voted 1-11 against joining Operating Engineers Local 150. Nine sprinkler fitters at Impact Fire Services in Englewood, CO voted 2-7 against joining UA Local 669.

Decertifications and raids: Attentive readers will recall the saga of United Production Workers Local 17-18, a longtime company union that was successfully taken over by its members in internal elections, but has now faced raids from other company unions (as the employers seek to evade having to deal with a union actually run by its members); 33 workers at Edison Lithograph and Printing in North Bergen, NJ have now “voted” 5-2 to join the bogus National Production Workers Union Local 438 (which, I have no idea how they conceive of the term “local,” as their website lists the affiliated “locals” of Local 438, each of which is clearly a copycat of a legit union or jurisdiction); same goes for Prime Packaging in Brooklyn, where Local 438 picked up 25 Local 17-18 members; Local 438 also went after Local 17-18’s 122 members at X-L Plastics in Clifton, NJ, but was edged out by the also-fake International Brotherhood of Trade Unions Local 713; Local 17-18 managed to hang on to a unit of 64 workers at Churchill Furniture in Hawthorne, NJ, which IUJAT Local 1212 attempted to raid. 18 workers at MDS Boring & Drilling in Houston voted 0-13 to drop Operating Engineers Local 450. 11 building engineers for CBRE in Skillman, NJ voted 1-5 to decertify Operating Engineers Local 68.

Security guard unions: 88 Garda security guards in Edison, NJ voted 17-2 to join Special and Superior Officers Benevolent Association over the United Federation of Special Police and Security Officers. 81 security guards at MGM National Harbor in Oxon Hill, MD voted 7-50 to decert Union Rights for Security Officers. 32 DHS security guards in DC voted 7-0 to join SPFPA.

The Chicago Sun-Times looked at the state of weed worker unionization in Illinois, two years after legalization; 11 stores have unionized, weed growers have been excluded on the basis of being “agricultural workers,” and employers have fought the unions tooth and nail. The article doesn’t mention the infighting between Teamsters Local 777 and UFCW Local 881, which probably isn’t helping matters.

Finally, a second NLRB vote has been ordered at the Bessemer, AL Amazon warehouse. It’s clearly the right decision on behalf of the Board, what with the extreme amount of interference the company engaged in, but whether RWDSU can pull out a victory is another question. Two massive factors they will have to overcome: (1) union reruns tend to lose; and (2) Amazon averages something like 150% annual turnover, meaning that in the 250 days since ballots were due in the last election, statistically speaking the warehouse could be employing 100% different employees. This isn’t probably true down to the person, but I bet it’s a small percentage of workers voting this time around who voted last time around. The point here is not to cast doubt on the possibilities of workers to win; but it’s going to take some radically different strategy to pull it off. Let’s hope the workers can make history.