UE NEWS Updates

The reviews are in! Three weeks ago UE released “Them and Us Unionism,” a new publication which outlines in detail UE’s philosophy of unionism, developed over more than eight decades of struggle. Read what some of our closest allies, in the U.S. and around the world, are saying and writing about it.

UE Local 683, whose members process and transport scrap metal, ratified a 1-year contract extension on Monday, July 20. Faced with bargaining during a pandemic and major economic recession, the union secured the continuation of employee healthcare premiums based on 2020 rates for the next 12 months, a hazard pay bonus for those who have worked since the COVID-19 outbreak, and a provision allowing accrued vacation payouts.

As colleges and universities around the country announce plans for re-opening in the fall, UE members who work on their campuses are expressing concerns that they are being treated like disposable plastic gloves and paper masks, by institutions more interested in making money than protecting workers’ health.

The protests that have swept our country since the killing of George Floyd by the Minneapolis police in May have put the issue of police violence front and center. The labor movement has a special responsibility to speak out on this issue. Too many of our members have experienced violence and harassment from the police due to nothing more than the color of their skin. All workers who struggle for a better life are threatened when the police are used to violently suppress protest. And just as our country is starved of needed social services due to a bloated military budget, state and local services are underfunded due to overspending on increasingly militarized police forces.