Tag Archives: current news

Recent News

OSHA Regulations Withdraw and Delayed

The Trump Administration has delayed or withdrawn 860 regulatory rules during its first five months, according to an article on manufacturing.net. Among suspended Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) rules were provisions regarding combustible dust exposure, construction noise, vehicles driving in reverse at factories and construction sites, and chemical exposure standards. According to Bloomberg, other industry-supported workplace safety rules, including those regulating communications towers and industrial trucks, have remained on track.

 

Peg Samenario of the AFL-CIO slammed the dust and told Bloomberg that the White House “is abandoning protecting workers from health and safety hazards.”

Recent News

Canadian Anti-Union Bills Repealed

Canadian unions are celebrating the adoption of Bill C-4, which repeals the Conservative, anti-union Bills C-377 and C-525. Bill C-377 created red tape that would have forced unions and the businesses they work with to spend millions of dollars and thousands of hours producing and processing expense reports to be reviewed and filed. Bill C-525 would have made it more difficult for federally-regulated workplaces to join a union. Prime Minster Justin Trudea had pledged to repeal the bills if elected.

“Our affiliates and labour activists across the country have organized and campaigned against these bills from the beginning, and this is their victory to celebrate,” says Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) President Hassan Yussuff. “By passing Bill C-4, the federal government has demonstrated it understands the importance of fair labour relations, and the critical role unions play advancing rights for all Canadian workers.”

 

Recent News

Workers Walk Off the Job at Canada’s Busiest Airport

On July 27, 700 workers employed by Swissport at Pearson Airport in Toronto, Ontario, walked off the job. The workers are baggage and cargo handlers, maintenance personnel, and cleaners for more than 30 airlines. They cited the company’s uncompromising attitude and disrespect for workers as the cause of the labor dispute.

The last collective agreement expired July 23. Swissport is attempting to impose a three-year wage freeze and would like “flexibility” to change schedules with 96 hours advance notice, leaving workers without stable, predictable schedules.

Swissport has brought in hundreds of untrained, inexperienced temporary workers to act as strikebreakers. “We’re shocked at how Swissport is willing to sacrifice airport safety and jeopardize travel plans to gain an upper hand at the bargaining table,” says Harjinder Badial, vice president of Teamsters Local Union 419, which represents the workers.

To safely work in sensitive areas of the airport, baggage handlers normally require three to four weeks of training, rather than the three or four days of training for the temporary workers. It is also unclear how the workers were able to quickly pass airport staff background checks that normally take three to six months.

Recent News

List Generates New Conversation About Women and Music

In July NPR released “The 150 Greatest Albums Made by Women,” a comprehensive list of women-generated albums from 1964 to the present. Compiled by nearly 50 women from across NPR and the public radio system, produced in partnership with the Lincoln Center, the list is “an intervention, a remedy, a correction of the historical record and hopefully the start of a new conversation” to put women at the center of popular music. Read through the list at: http://www.npr.org/2017/07/24/538387823/turning-the-tables-150-greatest-albums-made-by-women

Recent News

Nissan Charged with Unfair Labor Practices

Nissan workers in Canton, Mississippi, will vote today on union representation by United Auto Workers. In advance of the election, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has issued a complaint alleging unfair labor practices. Nissan has threatened the 3,700 employees with loss of wages and benefits and threatened to close the plant if employees do support a union and promised increased benefits and improved conditions if they oppose.

“Nissan is running one of the nastiest anti-union campaigns in the modern history of the American labor movement,” says Gary Casteel, secretary-treasurer of the United Auto Workers (UAW) and director of the international union’s Transitional Department. He asked company investors and policymakers around the world to join in to call a halt to Nissan’s illegal and unethical behavior.

Ever since the election petition, Nissan has delivered daily threatening anti-union messages via video and mandatory meetings. The company has a history of unfair labor practice conduct in Mississippi and has had multiple Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) citations issued against it for violations of federal safety and health laws. OSHA fund the company “did not furnish employment and a place of employment which was free from recognized hazards that were causing or likely to cause death or serious harm to employees.”

Kristin Joham
Recent News

Spokane Symphony Member Awarded Union Plus Scholarship

Kristin JohamAFM Local 105 (Spokane, WA) member Kristin Joham has been awarded a $1,000 Union Plus scholarship. Joham, who has been a member of the Spokane Symphony Orchestra and adjunct professor at Eastern Washington University since 2008, plans to study speech and hearing sciences. She completed Washington State University’s post-baccalaureate program in 2016. She plans to attend graduate school this fall and hopes to use her musical background and speech therapy training to create a multifaceted team approach for patients with neurogenic communication and motor speech disorders.

Joham holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music performance from Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music where she was in the Honors Scholars Program. She grew up in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, where her grandparents were very active in the National Education Association. “I was born into a union household, and my opinion of the importance of public education and teachers’ rights is still strong in me today,” she says. “Now as an AFM member, I am constantly reminded of the need and power of a union to fight for workers’ rights.”

In its 26th year, the Union Plus Scholarship Program awarded $150,000 in scholarships to 106 students representing 31 unions, in 2017. Recipients included university, college, and trade or technical school students in 35 states. The program, offered through the Union Plus Education Foundation, awards its scholarships based on outstanding academic achievement, personal character, financial need, and commitment to the values of organized labor.

Visit unionplus.org/scholarship for details and to apply.

Recent News

New AFM and SAG-AFTRA Fund Leader Named

AFM President Ray Hair announced that Robert DiPaola now leads the AFM and SAG-AFTRA Fund as its chief executive officer. Having served as the fund administrator of the Sound Recording Special Payments Fund for over a decade, DiPaola brings a wealth of experience to the AFM and SAG-AFTRA Fund.

The AFM and SAG-AFTRA Fund is a joint project of our union and SAG-AFTRA. It collects and distributes royalties in accordance with various statutory provisions of US copyright law and agreements with foreign collective management organizations. Musicians, singers, and nonfeatured performers received more than $50 million from the AFM and SAG-AFTRA Fund last year.

Some royalties remain unclaimed by performers because the AFM and SAG-AFTRA Fund has insufficient contact information for royalty processing. Visit: https://www.afmsagaftrafund.org/unclaimed-royalties to check if there is any money waiting for you.

Recent News

Mississippi Nissan Plant Workers Seek Organization

In mid-July pro-union workers at Nissan Motor Company’s Mississippi plant filed petitions with the National Labor Relations Board seeking a vote on union representation from the United Auto Workers (UAW). While Nissan managers continue their anti-union push, the federal labor board has accused the company of several violations surrounding union organizing, including allowing managers to illegally question and threaten union members. Nissan denies any wrongdoing.

The UAW has only won one vote among workers at foreign-owned auto plants in the South. After loosing an initial vote in 2014, 160 maintenance workers at Volkswagen AG’s plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, organized. That campaign featured heavy outside pressure from anti- union groups and politicians. Governor Phil Bryant spoke out against the UAW.

The pro-union campaign has sought support from ministers including Rev. Isiac Jackson, head of Mississippi’s largest black Baptist denomination. They’ve also received support from the NAACP and actor Danny Glover. A rally in March was headlined by Senator Bernie Sanders.

Recent News

Union Group Acquires Chicago Sun-Times

An investment group led by former Chicago Alderman Edwin Eisendrath acquired the Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Reader, staving off a competing bid by the owner of the Chicago Tribune Tronc, Inc and preserving the newspaper’s independent voice in Chicago. “A great group has come together and made sure that a genuine voice with honest and good reporting that connects with the working men and women thrives,” says Eisendrath. The investment group, ST Acquisition Holdings LLC, includes corporate restructuring expert William Brandt, the Chicago Federation of Labor, other local unions, and about a half-dozen individuals.

The Chicago News Guild, which represents newsroom employees at the Sun-Times and Chicago Reader, was strongly opposed to Tronc purchasing the papers. “We are thrilled with this development,” says News Guild consultant David Roeder. “We look forward to working with Edwin Eisendrath and his backers in charting a new course forward for the Sun-Times and Reader.”

Dan Beck
Recent News

MPTF Trustee Dan Beck Finalist for National Award

Dan BeckMusic Performance Trust Fund (MPTF) Trustee Dan Beck is a finalist in the 2017 Octicon Focus on People Awards, which honor outstanding people with hearing loss. The national competition recognizes individuals who help to change perceptions of what it means to live with hearing loss. During a 45-year career in the music industry, Beck pioneered closed captioning to music videos, working with artists including Cyndi Lauper, Michael Jackson, Pearl Jam, and more. When he stepped down as president of V2 Records, he committed to raising awareness of hearing conservation. A board member of Hearing Education Awareness for Rockers (HEAR), Beck promotes hearing awareness in musicians and speaks about hearing health to educational, healthcare, and music industry organizations.

You can read about the other two finalists and vote for the winner at: www.Oticon.com/FOP. The winner will be announced in October.