Folks,
Greetings from Rio de Janeiro, where my thoughts are on some inspiring news happening in Chattanooga and a tough fight happening back in the Burgh. I want to take some time to get caught up on some overlooked stories.
700 Chattanooga Nurses to Unionize
Nearly 13 years ago, I first went down to Chattanooga to cover the UAW’s first union election at Volkswagen. It was a long, tough fight and took three union elections over a decade to finally win.
Many predicted that if the UAW could win a good first union contract at Volkswagen it could open the door for more union organizing elsewhere in Chattanooga. Now, it seems that that prediction was valid.
Yesterday, over 700 nurses at Chattanooga’s CommonSpirit Memorial Hospital announced that they were unionized with National Nurses United.
1,000 Pittsburgh Duquesne Light Workers Remain on Strike
Last night, while writing in Rio de Janeiro, I received several text messages that the power was out at my house in Pittsburgh as a result of storms and that repairss were taking longer than expected.
What the message didn’t say is that part of the reason that repairss were taking longer than expected is because nearly 1,000 Duquesne Light workers are currently out on strike in Pittsburgh. Workers say that they are determined to get better pay and increased staffing levels, which often force many workers to perform mandatory overtime.
“Hopefully they go back to the bargaining table and get this thing done today, or within the next couple of days, because these people need to feed their families. The work they do is dangerous work, and they need to be out in the field getting things done,” John Galuska, president of the Allegheny-Fayette Central Labor Council, told WTAE.
UAW Prez Shawn Fain Appears Headed Toward Landslide
While final results are not known yet, preliminary results posted on the UAW monitor’s website show that UAW President Shawn Fain is headed for a landslide while UAW Secretary-Treasurer Margaret Mock appears to be headed for defeat.
So far, vote counts are in from nearly half the regions, but in all of the regions Fain is leading widely while Mock is trailing badly.
I am slammed up covering the Brazilian presidential election, but will carve up some more time for analysis on the UAW vote count.
To read a list of the partial UAW vote count, go here.
Immigrant Who Helped Lead Delaney Hall Hunger Strike Released after 8 Months in Custody
After eight months of hunger strikes and protests against Delaney Hall Detention Facility, Peruvian asylum seeker Martin Soto was released from ICE custody yesterday. At a rally outside of the ICE detention center his wife thanked workers.
“He thought he was going to leave by deportation or committing suicide,” his wife, Gabriele Sotos, told assembled supporters.
For more on the victory, check out Religion News.
Border County Labor Shortages Could Swing House
Finally, The Washington Post has a look at how a trio of races along the Texas-Mexico border could shake up the House:
Fewer customers are coming to his lumber yard. Even fewer people are calling his upstairs real estate business. And the house he is building? It is stalled, a set of concrete slabs and wooden planks untouched for months.
“We didn’t think this administration was going to crack down on undocumented workers that hard,” Reyna said, but “it is completely devastating the local construction industry. It’s grinding it down to a halt.”
That slowdown has been weighing heavily on the 50-year-old as this slice of South Texas could determine control of Congress this fall. The Rio Grande Valley is carved up into three highly competitive House contests, all of which could be key in next month’s midterm elections. The region is also pivotal in unusually competitive races for Senate and governor.
Voters like Reyna, a second-generation Mexican American, helped Trump flip this overwhelmingly Latino area for the first time in generations, in part due to the president’s promise to lower the cost of living and secure the border. He is set to rally for GOP candidates in San Antonio on Wednesday.
But here, in a part of the country that depends on illegal immigrant labor to fuel the economy, a different part of Trump’s immigration agenda — his effort to deport people already in the U.S. — has come into conflict with his economic agenda. And interviews with more than two dozen business leaders, local officials and economists suggest what polls show: Republicans may suffer as a result.
For more, check out The Washington Post.
News & Headlines Elsewhere
- 100K Califronia State Workers announced a one-day strike on Oct. 21
- Unions back Senate push to limit stock buybacks for defense contractors
- Unifor to hold strike authorization votes at Stellantis
- Obama Foundation and Presidential Center workers to unionize: ‘We don’t even have a seat at the table’
- Workers behind Dungeons & Dragons vote to unionize
- Stanford University RAs withdraw union petition, citing concerns over Columbia precedent
- Spanish unions call for general strike ahead of snap elections, driven by housing crisis highlighted by eviction and death of 87 year-old woman
Alright folks, that’s all for. Keep sending tips comments, and complaints to melk@paydayreport.com
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