Meeting on September 12 and 13, UE’s General Executive Board debated and approved a statement calling on UE locals and members, and the rest of the labor movement, to “get serious about building a true political alternative, a labor party that can unite and speak for the working class.”
UE Local 300-Cornell Graduate Students United (CGSU-UE), which represents graduate workers at Cornell University, are currently fighting against the unjust discipline of one of our members. On September 23, Cornell’s administration suspended international graduate worker Momodou Taal, citing his alleged participation in protest activity. This suspension fired Taal from his job and de-enrolled him as a student. He would have had to leave the country immediately once the University notified the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) of their choice to de-enroll him.
On September 24, a train derailment in Cleves, Ohio caused yet another toxic chemical spill. Members of UE Local 704, who live and work within miles of the spill, are concerned about the impacts and the response from both the local governments and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
After five months of negotiations, UE Local 203, which represents grocery workers at two City Market co-op locations, won a new contract that guarantees $2 increases in wages to every member and $2.25 increases for a quarter of membership. They also won a five percent wage increase for all workers in year two of the contract. Overall, the contract is worth 2.7 million dollars, the largest financial gains in the history of the local.
Two sublocals of UE Local 222, a statewide amalgamated public-sector local, settled new contracts this fall.
Librarians in Rocky Hill, members of Sublocal 39, ratified and signed their contract in late August. Their main issues were gaining extra personal time and a reorganization of the pay scale to make it equitable to new hires, as well as being placed in alignment with other union wages within the town. The union also discussed with the town problems with overtime pay caused by the former library director, which had just recently been brought to the union’s attention.
On September 27, twelve members from UE Locals 704, 728, 741, 777 and 799 participated in the 2024 Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky subregional educational event. This training took a new format, with member-leaders Janet Gray, business agent of Local 618 and a participant in the recent UE Women’s Leadership Program, and Kevin White, president of Local 728, presenting the majority of the materials and leading roundtable discussions about solving workplace and organizational issues based on their own experiences.
On Monday, September 16, UE Local 1107 members at Freudenberg marched on the boss during management's pre-shift meeting to protest the unjust termination of Jackie Beccera.
Members voted overwhelmingly to arbitrate Beccera’s termination at the membership meeting the day before. They also voted to use tools brought back from a recent subregion education event to mobilize the membership, instead of just waiting on the painfully slow arbitration process.
Rail crew drivers from UE Local 1077 joined environmental justice organizations in persuading the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) board to pass a life-saving regulation for rail yards in the Inland Empire, Los Angeles County, and Orange County. In response to overwhelming public support, including a letter signed by the UE local and its allies, the rule passed unanimously at the board’s meeting in August.
Michael Reynolds, a member of UE Local 150, testified at a Heat Safety Town Hall last night about the struggles faced by city workers across the state working outside in the increasingly hot weather.
The members of UE Locals 208, 808, and 1008 fighting to save their jobs from union-busting layoffs received some powerful help last month. Four Members of Congress and an Orange County Supervisor have sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary and the Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to urge them to stop union busting. (Update, September 6: U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has also sent a letter to USCIS.)
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