This Is a Crisis Point: The Working People Weekly List

Every week, we bring you a roundup of the top news and commentary about issues and events important to working families. Here’s the latest edition of the Working People Weekly List.

‘This Is a Crisis Point’: Job Training Deficit Leaves Critical Jobs Unfilled: “‘Employers have actually been putting less and less money in training over the course of time, and offloaded onto the government,” AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler said. ‘The government has been under-resourcing it; they offloaded it onto the individual. And so that means that they’re taking on more of the risk.’”

Coalition of Black Trade Unionists Meet in L.A.: “Melvin, who will celebrate his 10th anniversary as CBTU president, said, ‘Black workers, Black communities, Black women, Black youth, Black seniors, Black incarcerated men and women are under siege from all directions. ‘Our very humanity is in peril—stoked by anti-Black racism and by the monstrous Big Lie of a stolen presidential election. We must come together—now—in this embattled landscape to affirm our beautiful humanity and to lead the way out of these dark, dark days. True, our plate is full, but we come to L.A. ready to work.’ Melvin, who is also secretary-treasurer of the New York AFL-CIO, said the run-up to the midterm elections would be front and center. ‘Everything is on the ballot in November,’ he declared. ‘Voting rights, civil rights, women’s reproductive freedom, control of Congress and statehouses across the country. The January 6 insurrection showed the world that the Radical Right has decided to take down democracy in order to hold onto power by any means necessary.’”

OSHA Inspects Less Than One-Half of 1% of Firms Yearly: “In 2019, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspected fewer than one-half of 1% of U.S. firms it regulated, the non-partisan watchdog Government Accountability Office told Congress on May 25. And that’s around its usual inspection percentage, GAO official Thomas Costa said.”

Job Gains of Black Americans Are Under Threat as Economy Slows: “‘We’re still going to be the last hired, so if you increase the unemployment rate, you just undo all the gains,’ says William Spriggs, chief economist at the AFL-CIO and a Howard University professor. ‘What’s the point of the tight labor market? It is the necessary condition for Black advancement.’”

Culinary, Resorts World Las Vegas Ratify a Labor Contract Covering 2,000 Workers: “Culinary Workers Local 226 announced Wednesday it reached a three-year labor agreement with Resorts World Las Vegas, marking the first all-new union contract at a major Strip resort since 2015. Union negotiators representing the Culinary and its affiliated Bartenders Local 226 reached an agreement with Resorts World management on contract language following a negotiating session on May 17. Three days later, the contract covering more than 2,000 non-gaming employees was ratified by 99 percent of the workforce.”

Women in Construction Say They Find Their Work Rewarding. Why Are There So Few of Them?: “In the construction sector, by contrast, the statistics are drastically different. Preliminary U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data for February show that 13.9% of the 7.6 million employed construction workers are women, said Gary Steinberg, an economist for the agency who is also from Brighton. By comparison, women filled 74% of public education jobs at the beginning of this year, he noted. ‘Women taking on a skilled trade is not typically encouraged in American society and gender roles are ingrained in our culture,” said electrician apprentice, Natalia Reyes of Rochester.” 

Raven Software Employees Win Union Election: “A group of approximately 30 quality assurance testers at the Activision Blizzard subsidiary Raven Software won their bid for a union Monday afternoon. The workers, who have organized as the Game Workers Alliance, told The Washington Post they hope others in the video game industry follow suit. Eligible workers at Raven Software, which makes Call of Duty titles in Madison, Wisconsin, mailed in ballots to vote in the election this month. The Milwaukee office of the National Labor Relations Board counted the ballots via video conference Monday afternoon, with a tally of 19 voting in favor and 3 against. Both parties have until May 31 to file an objection. If no objection is filed, the results become official on that date, and Raven management must begin bargaining with the union in good faith.”

Report: Google Fiber Subcontractors’ Record Shows Value of Union Labor: “Prepared by the Texas Climate Jobs Project, a year-old nonprofit allied with the Texas AFL-CIO that promotes tackling the climate crisis through good union jobs, the study focuses on Google Fiber, which has been active in Austin since 2013 and San Antonio since 2015. The report homes in especially on the company’s contracting chain—the web of subcontractors that execute Google’s work in Texas. The Climate Jobs Project identified 46 Google Fiber subcontractors in Austin and San Antonio, then dug through government databases to find various violations and problems associated with the companies—issues that labor advocates say often stem from using non-union subcontractors who cut corners on safety and training.”

The U.S. Women’s National Team Notches Its Most Deserved Victory Yet: “The U.S. women’s national soccer team is no stranger to winning—yet this week’s victory closing the gender pay gap between the squad and its male counterpart must taste especially sweet. The battle was as hard-fought as any match, and the prize is worth more to all of sports than any trophy. The U.S. Soccer Federation announced on Wednesday that collective bargaining with the men’s and women’s national teams had resulted in a deal to equalize salaries and bonuses. This final hurrah comes after years of argument between the women’s team and the national governing body, including a lawsuit settled last year for $24 million. During this confrontation, the athlete-employees continued working hard for their employer on the pitch—defeating the globe’s best time and time again with their usual panache. The United States is now the first country to reach equal pay for its men’s and women’s soccer teams. Ideally, it will be far from the last.”

Amazon Accused of Firing North Randall Worker Who Was Trying to Unionize Fulfillment Center, NLRB Investigating: “But while details are lacking, the charge does point to one thing. Unionization is at least being discussed at North Randall’s Amazon facility. Dan O’Malley, leader of the North Shore AFL-CIO, said Amazon has tried to stop unions in the past. ‘Although we are still learning the details of this particular incident in North Randall, Amazon’s illegal and merciless union busting tactics are well documented,” O’Malley said.”