organized labor

Organized labor and pro-business groups are waging an intense lobbying campaign directed at school teachers who are deciding this month whether to remain in their union, in the first real test of the state's new right-to-work law. Many of the 112,000 active educators and school workers in the Michigan Education Association can now leave the union and stop paying fees under the law that took effect last year.

Days after the Texas Workforce Commission praised the economy as strong in part due to the strength of the construction industry, the Dallas Morning News ran a weekend feature about the dangers of construction in the Lone Star State. Their investigative report echoes past arguments made by the Workers Defense Project and the AFL-CIO. In that booming economy, the state's construction sites are 22 percent deadlier than the national average.

As of midnight on August 2nd, the six-year contract between FairPoint Communications, 1,700 International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) members, and 300 Communications Workers of America (CWA) workers expired. This is somewhat surprising, considering the unions have had a whopping 65 proposals rejected by management. They also say FairPoint has used some heavy-handed tactics throughout the process.

An Indiana Judge has ruled that the state’s “Right-to-Work” law is unconstitutional, the second such blow to the legislation since its passage in 2012. Following the decision, Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller said he would ask for a stay to prevent the decision from immediately taking effect. He also argued that the law’s fate is still truly in the hands of the state Supreme Court.

St. Louis County Council member Steve Stenger is asking labor to help him in his bid to become County Executive, claiming incumbent Charlie Dooley’s anti-union record should be enough to encourage union members to get out the vote. With low turnout likely (65,000 of the county’s 700,000+ voters are expected to make it to the polls for the August 5th Democratic primary), every vote will count.

Just weeks after the Fort Wayne City Council passed legislation ending collective bargaining for city employees, it has taken the assault on workers rights further by passing a new law which would make union membership for all public safety employees optional. This local “Right-to-Work” law goes further than the state’s bill which exempted policemen and firefighters.

Despite losing a close vote to unionize in an election marred by the Tennessee government's union-busting tactics, the United Auto Workers will come to Chattanooga anyway. Workers at the new plant will be represented by the Union and will work closely with Volkswagen as part of a 'works council.'

In Minnesota, union organizers are making inroads at charter schools as teachers increasingly feel they need power in numbers to affect positive change at the privatized schools. In January, teachers at the Twin Cities German Immersion School organized after minor clashes with higher-ups. And in July the teachers and staff of the Community School of Excellence in St. Paul did the same. The two schools are the first of Minnesota’s 150 charter schools to go union.

With their contracts expiring at midnight, city workers in Los Angeles flooded the streets around city hall in protest on Tuesday. They oppose predatory fees the city pays to Wall Street banks and believe that money should be redirected to improve city services.

Home care workers in Minnesota, Maryland and Vermont fought long and hard for representative rights. So many of them are saying "pfft!" to the Supreme Court's anti-union Harris vs. Quinn decision.