IN THIS EDITION, YOU WILL FIND: 

• Information from the NLRB on union petition increases this year.
• Announcement for USDA funding in underserved communities. 
• News around the nation and in your region.

Federal Legislative and Policy Updates

• The House passed the FY 2023 National Defense Authorization Act with two amendments supported by UFCW. One amendment would allow unions greater access to organizing on military bases and one would allow cannabis workers to use traditional banks.

• The NLRB reported that during the first nine months of Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 (October 1–June 30), the number of union representation petitions filed increased 56%, up to 1,935 from 1,240 during the first three quarters of FY 2021. By May 25, FY 2022 petitions exceeded the total number of petitions filed in all of FY 2021.

• USDA announced more than $14 million to support agricultural workforce training in historically underserved communities that is intended to increase the resilience of the U.S. meat and poultry processing sector. Funding is available through the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s (NIFA) process to eligible universities
• The U.S. government will extended the COVID-19 public health emergency, continuing measures that have given millions of Americans special access to health insurance and telehealth services.

 

• DOL’s Wage and Hour Division and Women’s Bureau will host representatives from the EEOC to present a series of webinars on workplace protections for new and expecting mothers on August 10th from 1:00 – 2:30 PM Eastern Time. The event will include information on the federal laws that protect pregnant workers from discrimination, provide time off for the birth or adoption of a child, and ensure nursing workers can take breaks to pump breast milk while at work.  Interested participants can register here.

 

News From Around the Nation

• Three Georgia Starbucks stores have voted to unionize, and other efforts are afoot to organize lower-wage workers. The Ansley Mall store in mid-June became the third Starbucks in Georgia to vote for a union, part of what seems to be a low-key, yet undeniable ripple of union organizing.

• The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that absentee ballot drop boxes will be outlawed, which will make voting harder in the future. Wisconsin voters will still be able to vote absentee, but will need to make sure to put them in the mail early to ensure they arrive on time. One of the Justices used her opinion to also cast doubts on Joe Biden’s victory in 2020 due to the drop boxes, which has resulted in Donald Trump calling for the 2020 Wisconsin results to be decertified.

 

• Outdoor retailer Patagonia settled allegations with Seattle’s Office of Labor Standards and agreed to pay $54,654 to 95 employees, plus a $575 fine to the city, the office announced Wednesday. Patagonia employs about 25 people at its Belltown store. The alleged violations spanned from May 2019 to April 2022.

Governor Gavin Newsom (D) signed into law a new state budget. The new budget passed by lawmakers in mid-June and signed by Governor Newsom two weeks later will take California’s existing tax deduction for union dues payments and turn it into a tax credit capped at 33% of dues paid. Changing the deduction to a credit makes the union tax break more generous and benefits those who don’t itemize or have a tax liability.

IN THIS EDITION, YOU WILL FIND: 

• The latest news regarding line speeds in poultry plants, the Biden Administration’s program to secure pension plans.
• Why the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade signals a future threat to labor laws.
• News around the nation and in your region.

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Federal Legislative and Policy Updates

• The mass shooting in Buffalo is the latest in a wave of racism and hate that has swept over grocery stores across the country in the past decade. UFCW has called on Congress to pass the STOP Violence Act, which would make grocery stores eligible for federal funding for active shooter preparedness.
• USDA announced a $65 million investment in a pilot program implementing health and safety standards for both U.S. and immigrant workers in the H-2A visa program. The program’s aim is to increase the resiliency of the food and agricultural supply chain.
• According to a report from Democrats on the Joint Economic Committee, unionized workers earn 10.2% more than their non-union peers and reduce racial and gender economic disparities because unionization increases wages by 17.3% for Black workers and 23.1% for Latino workers.
• Federal budget season is upon us. Labor Secretary Walsh testified before House Ed & Labor and Senate Appropriations on the FY 2023 budget request.
• UFCW celebrated the AFL-CIO’s election of the most diverse leadership team to ever lead the labor federation. President Liz Shuler is the first woman to ever hold the highest position in the AFL-CIO and Secretary-Treasurer Fred Redmond is the first African-American to hold the second-highest position in the federation.
• U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen told U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) that the expansion of the Child Tax Credit was “not a significant factor” and has “literally nothing to do” with inflation  – dispelling recent criticism that the expanded CTC helped fuel it.
• UFCW International President Marc Perrone released the following statement last Friday after the Supreme Court ruling: 

“The Supreme Court’s decisions this week needlessly eviscerated sacred rights and liberties of all Americans – especially women – that have stood in place for generations. The rights to privacy, to feel safe in one’s community, and to have control over one’s personal health and safety, should never be rolled back; they should be strengthened and protected. “

News From Around the Nation

• In the first 48 hours of the Minnesota frontline worker premium pay application, over 200,000 workers have applied. UFCW members in meatpacking, food processing, grocery retail, and nursing homes are eligible to apply for the program.
• Republican Governor Candidate Ryan Kelley was arrested on Thursday, June 9th for charges related to the January 6th U.S. Capitol riot. Kelly is one of five remaining candidates in the Republican Gubernatorial primary after five other candidates failed to make the ballot and were found guilty of signature fraud
• The Governor of Louisiana has signed a bill to provide workplace protections for most state employees who are registered medical marijuana patients. 
• The Colorado Supreme Court upheld Proposition 118, requiring most employers give workers 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave starting in 2024. The ballot initiative was approved by voters in 2020 passing by nearly 60 percent.  Employers with nine or fewer employees are required to only pay half of the premium and can deduct up to that amount from that employee’s wages.
• The Washington State Legislature moves to expand nursing programs statewide, addressing a health care staffing shortage, made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic. Providing more than $38 million to state schools to create new programs and bolster existing programs.   

Governor Gavin Newsom (D-CA) and legislative leaders have agreed to provide as much as $1,050 to California families to help with rising gas prices and inflation. The three-tier program would benefit an estimated 23 million California taxpayers.

IN THIS EDITION, YOU WILL FIND:

• Updates on the introduction of the Seasonal Worker Solidarity Act and UFCW role.
• News from the Hill and the Department of Labor.
• News around the nation and in your region.

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Federal Legislative and Policy Updates

• Reps. Joaquin Castro (TX-20) and Judy Chu (CA-27) held a press conference with labor leaders on Friday to rally support for the Seasonal Worker Solidarity Act of 2022.
  The legislation would reform the H-2B guest worker visa program to facilitate recruitment, require safe and fair workplace conditions, and require benefits like workers’ compensation insurance, and adequate transportation and housing. The bill would also create a pathway to citizenship for guest workers and force employers to recognize any labor organizations or unions with majority support from the workforce. Local 540 Secretary Treasurer Celestino Rivera spoke at the introduction and press conference.
• The National Labor Relations Board on Thursday moved for a court order requiring Amazon.com Inc to reinstate a former New York City warehouse employee who was fired after raising concerns about a lack of COVID-19 safety protections at the facility.

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News From Around the Nation

• Texas Frontline Workers Win New Protections in County Government.  The Harris County Essential Workers Board is the latest effort by workers nationwide to leverage the hard lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic to advocate for better working conditions going forward. Local labor groups met regularly for months to advocate for the creation of the workers board, and in November, the Harris County Commissioners Court voted to approve the idea 3-2 with Democrats in favor and the Republican commissioners opposed.
• The U.S. Department of Labor today announced a proposal to reconsider and revoke the final approval of Arizona’s State OSHA plan, in response to nearly a decade-long pattern of failures to adopt and enforce standards and enforcement policies at least as effective as those used by the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration. State plans are OSHA-approved job safety and health programs operated by individual states rather than federal OSHA. The OSHA Act encourages states to develop and operate their programs. OSHA approves and monitors all state plans, and provides up to 50 percent of each program’s funding.

IN THIS EDITION, YOU WILL FIND:

• News from the historic vote in the Senate making Ketanji Brown Jackson the newest Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
• News around the nation and in your region.

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Federal Legislative and Policy Updates

• Senate confirms Ketanji Brown Jackson to Supreme Court, making her the first Black woman to serve as a justice.  The 53-47 final vote tally showed bipartisan support for Jackson, with three Republicans joining all Democrats to elevate the 51-year-old federal judge to a lifetime appointment.
• The surprising unionization victory late last month at the Amazon warehouse facility on Staten Island known as JFK8 has had seismic ripple effects in the week-plus since.  Late last week, Amazon formally lodged objectionsto the validity of the election, seeking to nullify its results and force a do-over. It filed an array of challenges, both against the organizing group and the National Labor Relations Board.
• Today, National Labor Relations Board General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo issued a memorandum to all Field offices announcing that she will ask the Board to find mandatory meetings in which employees are forced to listen to employer speech concerning the exercise of their statutory labor rights, including captive audience meetings, a violation of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).
• U.S. House Democrats have passed a bill to legalize cannabis use for adults, for the second time. The vote fell upon party lines with only 3 republicans voting yes. The bill is a solid start in creating a national, and legal cannabis market but more work need to be done to ensure workers are given necessary protections. The bill now moves to the Senate where more debate is needed.

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News From Around the Nation

• The Delaware House has fast tracked legislation to provide $300 of relief money to all Delaware residents in the wake of rising fuel costs and grocery prices. The legislation, which would base the receipt of relief upon a 2020 tax return, now heads to the Delaware Senate, where it enjoys support from both Democratic and Republican leadership.
• Workers’ unions have been cropping up in non-traditional places in Texas over the last few months. The trend gained widespread recognition when employees at a Buffalo, New York, Starbucks store unionized in 2021. Now, in Texas, at least five workplaces have filed for unionization, four of them Starbucks stores in San Antonio and Austin.
• In a move to upend 50 years of political tradition, The Democratic National Committee has a plan to restructure the Democratic party’s presidential nominating calendar that would remove the Iowa Caucus from the top of the political calendar, reducing its influence in the selection of its party’s nominee for President.
• Nursing home workers may soon be paid at least $15 per hour under a state-funded minimum wage increase approved by the Colorado legislature. The state Senate passed House Bill 1333 which changes the definition of “eligible nursing facility provider” and makes other conforming changes to allow any Colorado nursing facility that meets the defined criteria to be eligible to receive wage enhancement supplemental payments, as defined in the bill, to increase the minimum wage for nursing facility employees to at least $15 per hour.
• New Mexico will provide new payments totaling $500 for individual adults or $1,000 per household to offset steep prices for fuel and raging inflation, under a bill approved by the state Legislature. In all, the aid package would distribute nearly $700 million to adult residents of all income levels, including elderly people with little or no income who don’t ordinarily file taxes and undocumented immigrants.