UE General President Carl Rosen was one of three witnesses invited to testify to a Senate subcommittee hearing on Wednesday, July 26 about opportunities to clean up pollution in rail yards, reduce carbon emissions, and create jobs by instituting stricter regulations on railroad emissions.
Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) has introduced a bill that would make striking workers eligible for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the federal food assistance program run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In an op-ed published in the Erie Times-News, Fetterman wrote, “The right to strike is fundamental to the right to organize and unionize — but being forced to choose between feeding your family and protecting your labor rights isn't a choice at all.”
The six-member right-wing majority of the Supreme Court has made it clear this term that it intends to impose its reactionary views on the American people, regardless of precedent or public opinion. The undemocratic nature of the Supreme Court — an unelected body who serve for life — has never been clearer. After attacking the rights of women when they overturned Roe v. Wade last year, this year the Court’s right wing has attacked the rights of Black people and other people of color, LGBTQ+ people, students, and workers.
UE condemns the increasing repression being directed towards the “Stop Cop City” movement in Atlanta and their supporters. The violent police attacks on peaceful protesters, including the murder of one activist in January, are unconscionable in a democracy. The charges of “domestic terrorism” against protesters, and the recent arrests of organizers whose sole “crime” was to provide bail for those arrested during the protests, are clearly designed to criminalize and stifle dissent.
On Wednesday, May 17, legislation to create a universal, “Medicare for All” healthcare system — a UE demand since the 1940s — was reintroduced in both the House and Senate. The House bill was introduced with a record number of co-sponsors, including the majority of the Democratic caucus and 13 powerful legislators who are the highest-ranking Democrats in their committees.
Sara Innamorato, a state representative who began her political career in 2018 by unseating an establishment Democrat, won the Democratic primary for county executive of Allegheny County yesterday. Allegheny County, the county in southwestern Pennsylvania which includes Pittsburgh, has a population of over 1.2 million, making it one of the largest counties in the U.S.
Two candidates endorsed by UE’s Western Region won important elections yesterday. Judge Janet Protasiewicz was elected to the Wisconsin Supreme Court by a 55-45 margin, and Brandon Johnson, a former rank-and-file member and organizer with the Chicago Teachers’ Union, was elected mayor of Chicago.
Brandon Johnson, a former rank-and-file Chicago teacher and Chicago Teachers Union organizer, has been endorsed in his bid for mayor of Chicago by UE’s Western Region. UE Locals 1118 and 1177, both of which represent members in Chicago, have also endorsed Johnson.
Local 1118 President Delores Phillips, said that her local endorsed Johnson “because of his ability to make things happen … he's been commissioner and he knows what the people of Chicago need.” Phillips also serves on the executive board of the Western Region.
UE Local 667, which represents workers at the East End Food Co-op, voted at their membership meeting last night to endorse Sara Innamorato for Allegheny County Executive. Innamorato has also been endorsed by UE Local 610, representing workers at Wabtec facilities in Wilmerding and Greensburg.
On Tuesday, February 28, U.S. Representatives Bobby Scott (D-VA) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) announced the re-introduction of the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act.
The bill would rein in employer lawbreaking when workers are organizing a union and negotiating a first contract, with punitive fines for labor law violations. It would streamline union elections, make it harder for an employer to interfere in the election process, and ban “captive audience meetings,” in which employers force workers to listen to anti-union propaganda on work time.