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basketball

Biggest US Pro Women’s Sports Unions Are Working Together To Achieve Success And Progress

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The unions for the National Women’s Soccer League and Women’s National Basketball Association are teaming up to create collective action to find success. Back in July, the WNBA participants in the All-Star Game all wore shirts reading “Pay You What You Owe Us,” and now that message is continuing to be amplified through collaborative efforts between the two unions. 

“When you’re fighting for something historic, something that has never been done before, it cannot happen in a vacuum,” said Erin D Drake, the WNBPA’s senior advisor and legal counsel who was also credited for the shirt campaign, according to the Guardian. 

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The shirts were later made available online for purchase, and quickly after the WNBPA’s soccer counterparts were participating in the action. 

“Most of our staff had already gone on the website and purchased the shirts themselves,” said Tori Huster, the deputy executive director of the National Women’s Soccer League Players’ Association (NWSLPA).

The NWSLPA amplified images of the players who got the shirts. Hopkins stated that this was a major moment for women athletes all throughout the United States. 

“It’s not just female athletes in the W that are experiencing this. It’s a message to send for virtually every female athlete across the United States in whatever league it may be that we deserve pay.”

“We’re always in constant support of each other. Wearing the t-shirts was just an expression of that relationship,” Hopkins said.

The WNBPA was founded in 1998 and set a major precedent for advocacy in women’s sports. WNBA players have also spoken out against racist systems, police violence, discrimination against the LGBT+ community, and many other polarizing social issues. In many ways, they set the tone for the NWSLPA, which was founded in 2017, to be the same force.

“Their collective action, their advocacy, for sure has been a shining example of what we aspire to be,” Huster said.

“When the NWSLPA was in its infancy, its leaders were like, Googling what labor unions were,” said Huster. 

Meghann Burke is the organization’s executive director, and was the only full-time staff member at the beginning. Her relationship with her WNBPA counterpart Terri Carmichael Jackson was the main connector between the two unions. 

“There’s probably not a month that goes by without Erin and I communicating about something,” Huster said.

“Over time, as our union has grown in strength, that’s become a relationship of reciprocity and mutuality,” Burke said.

“Terri was really important to us in course-correcting the league and creating a new standard for player safety in the NWSL,” said Burke.

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“It’s a tactic to be divided. It’s a tactic to feel in isolation when you are trying to assert your value and your worth. Both the WNBPA and NWSLPA reject that tactic.” Drake said. “Our orientation to the issues that affect workers is certainly grounded in our experience as women,” said Burke.

Both unions have fought for ensuring protections for mothers, overcoming underinvestment when compared to the male leagues, and securing proper healthy working environments. 

“Anytime you have an emerging league, a newer league, it’s more challenging, and by definition, the union is going to have typically less strength and a more difficult time. [That] is why it’s especially important now for these two unions to collaborate and to assist each other,” said Nellie Drew, a professor in sports law at the University at Buffalo School of Law. 

The two unions recently issued a joint statement which opposes federal immigration raids after WNBPA members requested their union speak out. 

“All of our statements – all of them – come from our player leadership. It was clear through conversations that NWSLPA members were having similar observations,” Drake said. 

The WNBPA then invited the NWSLPA to be a part of the statement, and they immediately accepted. Both unions have become powerhouses independently, and together, and are working on the greater purpose of getting better working conditions while using their platforms to speak up on political issues. 

“We can see the NWSLPA standing with the WNBPA during this contract fight because they know what it means to fight for respect on the job, for fair pay, and for a share in the massive profit their labor generates,” said Liz Shuler, the president of the AFL-CIO.

The AFL-CIO Sports Council is a group of players’ unions that is within the largest federation of labor unions in the United States.

“We’ve always been here, and now everyone’s kind of just catching on, and we’re not just gonna be grateful for the quote unquote momentum, but continuing to build off of us to work towards what we know we deserve and have always deserved,” Hopkins stated. 

“It’s just now there’s eyes on us – about damn time.”

air canada

Ottawa Orders Air Canada Striking Flight Attendants Back to Work Amid Mass Disruption

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Canada’s federal government has stepped into the escalating labor dispute at Air Canada, directing more than 10,000 striking flight attendants to return to their posts as nationwide air travel grinds to a halt.

Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu announced Saturday that she instructed the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) to order the airline and its unionized staff to resume operations, citing the urgent need to safeguard both the economy and Canadians stranded by the work stoppage.

“The impact of the work stoppage at Air Canada that began early this morning is already being felt by travelers. This is causing significant harm and has negative impacts on Canadians and the Canadian economy.”

Hajdu added that the cancellations led to thousands of Canadians being stranded and pharmaceuticals left with no means of transport.

The walkout began around 1 a.m. ET Saturday, after flight attendants—represented by the Air Canada component of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE)—voted 99.7% in favor of strike action. Their demands include higher wages and compensation for duties performed when aircraft are grounded.

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By late morning, the strike’s impact was stark: aviation data firm Cirium reported 662 canceled flights, including 342 within Canada and 320 international routes. Flight-tracking service FlightAware estimated that nearly nine in ten Air Canada flights, along with nearly all of its Rouge subsidiary’s departures, had been scrapped. The airline warned that as many as 130,000 customers could be affected each day the shutdown drags on.

Air Canada suspended all operations shortly after the strike began. It is premature to comment, as the CIRB process is still underway,” the company said in a statement to CNN, urging passengers to confirm their bookings before heading to the airport.

Hajdu invoked Section 107 of the Canada Labour Code, a seldom-used measure that allows the minister to direct an arbitrator to impose a settlement. The CIRB, which will oversee negotiations, is also expected to extend the terms of the existing collective agreement while the process unfolds.

Air Canada formally requested government intervention earlier in the week, according to CUPE. The union sharply criticized Ottawa’s move, with Wesley Lesosky, president of the CUPE’s Air Canada component, accusing the Liberals of undermining workers’ rights.

“Now, when we’re at the bargaining table with an obstinate employer, the Liberals are violating our Charter rights to take job action and give Air Canada exactly what they want – hours and hours of unpaid labour from underpaid flight attendants, while the company pulls in sky-high profits and extraordinary executive compensation.”

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Hajdu rejected suggestions that the government was taking sides, insisting that the aim was to break the impasse and that this was not about being anti-union.

The airline has stated that its latest proposal would increase hourly pay by 12% to 16% in the first year, with total compensation rising by 38% over four years. Air Canada maintains that the package would make its flight attendants the best-paid in the country.

CUPE, however, argues that the figures mask systemic issues, such as unpaid hours on the ground, which significantly reduce attendants’ actual earnings.

The strike has left competitors scrambling to fill the void. WestJet, Canada’s second-largest airline, said it is deploying larger aircraft on busy routes and adding extra flights “where possible” to absorb displaced travelers.

Still, with Air Canada accounting for a dominant share of the domestic and transatlantic market, the disruptions are expected to linger even after operations restart. Hajdu noted it could take between five and ten days for regular schedules to resume once the strike ends.

The CIRB is now reviewing submissions from both Air Canada and CUPE. Hajdu said a ruling could come within 24 to 48 hours, but she cautioned against speculating.

For now, thousands of passengers remain stranded, airports across the country are in limbo, and one of Canada’s most vital industries hangs in the balance.

strike

7,000 Nurses Go on Strike at Two of NYC’s Largest Hospitals

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After a weekend of talks failed to produce agreements for new contracts, more than 7,000 nurses at Mount Sinai Medical Center and Montefiore Medical Center in New York City are going on strike to demand better pay and working conditions.

The walkouts began at 6 a.m. Monday morning. The New York State Nurses Association, representing 42,000 nurses, said that chronic understaffing prompted the strike. Hiring has not been sufficient to cover the nursing shortages created by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nancy Hagans, president of the NYSNA, said the nurses “do not take striking lightly, but that’s what’s going to happen if our bosses give us no other choice.”  The failure of hospital administrators to hire nurses left behind hundreds of unfilled slots, leaving current nurses to pick up the workload.  

“Our No. 1 issue is a crisis of staffing. It is an issue that our employers have ignored.” 

Despite having 760 open nursing positions, Montefiore Medical Center did not fill any of them. According to Ms. Hagan, some nurses tend to up to 20 patients at a time. This puts tremendous pressure on workers, especially in the emergency room, which is “so overcrowded that patients are admitted in beds in the hallway instead of hospital rooms.”

The union desires adequate enforcement mechanisms to ensure compliance with safe staffing levels. They are also requesting pay increases commensurate with inflation rates. Sunday night’s negotiation session failed to produce an agreement. Monday has no scheduled bargaining sessions, but the nurses are eager to return to the table.

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Monday’s strike put a strain on the NYC healthcare system, with hospitals having to relocate patients, reroute ambulances, and reduce other services. Hospitals were already feeling the impact of the citywide tripledemic of RSV, influenza and COVID-19. Because of nursing shortages, hospitals brought in temporary staff, including doctors, to continue operations.

Mario Cilento, the president of the New York State American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, showed support for the nurses in a statement released on Monday.

“It is time for the hospitals to treat these nurses fairly, with the dignity and respect they deserve, to ensure nurses can get back to serving their communities by providing superior care to their patients.”

 Gov. Kathy Hochul called for binding arbitration on Sunday night to postpone the strike, but the union rejected the offer.

“Gov. Hochul should listen to front-line COVID-19 nurse heroes and respect our federally protected labor and collective bargaining rights. Nurses don’t want to strike. Bosses have pushed us to strike by refusing to seriously consider our proposals to address the desperate crisis of unsafe staffing that harms our patients.”

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 The union leaders at Montefiore Medical Center turned down management’s offer of a 19.1% compounded wage increase over three years and a commitment to add more than 170 new nursing jobs. Mount Sinai administrators released a statement addressing the latest negotiations, during which union leaders walked out at 1 a.m. on Monday morning.

 “We remain committed to seamless and compassionate care, recognizing that the union leadership’s decision will spark fear and uncertainty across our community. Our first priority is the safety of our patients. We’re prepared to minimize disruption, and we encourage Mount Sinai nurses to continue providing the world-class care they’re known for.”

 The pandemic has left front-line medical workers with a distrust of hospital management. In recent years, nurses have walked out in states across the country as well as worldwide. Nurses in the United Kingdom went on strike last month for the first time in seven decades.

 Nurses and doctors still remember the dangerous working conditions when COVID-19 first swept through the city in 2020, inundating hospitals with patients and killing more than 22,000 residents. Hospitals were inadequately prepared, and there was insufficient personal protective equipment for medical staff.

Foreseeing the impending strike, both Montefiore and Mount Sinai have rushed to make preparations in recent days. Mayor Eric Adams said in a statement released Sunday night that the city is in contact with the hospital networks. Still, he acknowledged that some parts of the city’s hospitals would likely be overburdened.

 “In the event of a strike, our system will be prepared to meet the challenges. If there is a nurses’ strike, hospitals in certain areas may experience impacts to operations, including possible delayed or limited service. We encourage all New Yorkers to call 911 only for emergencies, and be prepared to seek an alternate facility in case their preferred hospital is impacted.”

Airplane Taking Off

With Airlines Expecting a Tenth Year of Profits, Employees Are Asking For Better Deals

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Thanks to the majority of United States airlines coming to the end of yet another profitable year – the tenth in a row – many of their employees are calling for bosses to provide improved remuneration packages.

Over 120,000 unionized employees will start negotiating their labor agreements that could potentially see major American carriers having higher expenses, including American Airlines who are starting to negotiate not only with pilots and flight attendants but maintenance workers too.

Currently airline companies spend the majority of their expenses on their labor costs with 28 percent of the overall $187 billion revenue being spent on labor costs, an increase of 21% in 2008 – mostly due to higher work forces and increased compensation payments.

Sara Nelson, international president of the Association of Flight Attendants – who has around 50,000 cabin crew members from 20 different airlines, including United Airlines and is calling for flight attendants at Delta Airlines to also join the union – commented that “there are simply more funds to get and workers are cognizant they’re turning out more value.”

This is in stark contrast to ten years ago when many airlines were hit with bankruptcies alongside several megamergers leaving three quarters of the market in the control of four carriers.

However profits started to increase and experts have forecast a net income of under 1% for each of the four big airlines, which although does not sound much actually equates to $12.44 billion.

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Kit Darby tracks the pay rate of pilots and notes that “when the airlines are making money, it’s hard to deny the increase in compensation. Everybody tries to get a good contract when times are good. If it’s a short downturn, they hold on to what they got.”

With the news that profits are continuing to increase airports across the country have started to see protests as airline workers demand better schedules and working conditions as well as pay increases.

Executives at American Airlines and Southwest Airlines have attempted to have labor talks with their employees however they have laid the blame with the mechanics’ unions for delaying talks in an attempt to gain leverage, which in turn has caused operational issues that have led to thousands of flights being delayed or even canceled, although the unions have denied this.

In March of this year a resolution between Southwest and their mechanics ended six years of discussions with the new five-year contract including a 20 percent increase in wages as well as $160 million in back pay for employees.

However the airline’s discussions with their flight attendants is still continuing as well as their discussions with their customer service agents, dispatchers, and pilots. Most of the staff is concerned regarding the Boeing 737 Max still being grounded with the unions claiming the issue has caused employees to lose over $100 million in wages.

American Airlines are still in talks with their mechanics’ unions with the airline suing the unions in May due to the travel disruptions they were causing, winning an injunction that means they can no longer get involved in the airlines’ operations.

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Josh Freed, the spokesman for American Airlines, said “since August, teams for the company and the union have met for multiple days nearly every week” confirming that both groups have “made considerable progress” although further talks have already been scheduled for January.

Another issue is the fact that although unionized airline workers’ contracts are allowed to have the dates amended they do not expire, all contracts are valid beyond the finalized date and any negotiated raises will no longer be applied.

It is worth noting that employees are not only looking for extra wages with American airlines mechanics asking for the outsourcing of jobs to be limited, especially those to foreign companies. American Airlines pilots are also requesting improved scheduling to ensure a “better quality of life.”

Eric Ferguson, Allied Pilots Association President as well as an Airbus A320 captain agrees that “scheduling is our no. 1 issue.” The union has also requested that employees on the less-desirable flights receive higher wages as well as providing easier ways for the routes to be available to pilots. This should encourage the trips to be picked up by pilots, reducing the operational problems, which in turn would enable revenue and profits to increase and therefore be shared with the airline’s employees. However Ferguson wants to make it clear that the unions are not just saying “pay us more,” but that they want the airlines to “fix the problems” they already have.

The APA represents around 15,000 pilots and although talks started in the first half of 2019, the contract would not be amendable until the beginning of 2020. However the union are asking for 16% raises over a three-year deal. The airline has countered with the same increase but over five years.

Doug Parker, CEO of American Airlines, spoke at a meeting in June last year telling their pilots “shame on us if we can’t figure out over the course of a year how to get a contract done before the amendable date.”

Classroom

Teacher Walkouts Continue Amid Education Crisis

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It’s been nearly two weeks since about 300,000 Chicago students have been to class. Even if they showed up, their 25,000 teachers wouldn’t be there. They’ve been on strike since 17 October, demanding pay raises, resource improvements, school staffing increases and even solutions to the city’s pricey housing.

Weeks of negotiations between the Chicago Teachers Union and the city’s school system – the third-largest in the US – have been unsuccessful. But Chicago is just the latest in a wave of teachers’ strikes that has swept through many US cities.

Last year saw the most US workers on strike in a generation. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were 20 major work stoppages in 2018, involving 485,000 workers – the most since 1986. In a big shift, the most-represented industry was teaching.

Significant state-wide work stoppages in education occurred in West Virginia, Arizona, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Colorado and North Carolina. In January 2019, teachers in Los Angeles – the nation’s second-largest school district – went on strike for six days. Smaller strikes have taken place nationwide as well.

The strikes are about better working conditions for school staff and better learning conditions for students, according to Eric Blanc, a sociologist at New York University and author of Red State Revolt, a book about the teachers’ strike wave.

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Specific demands may differ, but across the country teachers claim to face many of the same challenges – large class sizes, teacher shortages, low pay and a lack of proper resources. In Chicago, teachers are calling for things like raising teacher salaries, reducing class sizes and adjusting school schedules to add morning preparation time for teachers.

Strikes in other states involved similar issues, with some pointing towards a lack of funding as the root of the problem. During the financial crisis of 2008, most states cut school funding, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. And while school funding has gradually improved since 2015, most states have not yet recovered to pre-recession levels.

Dr Ileen Devault, labour historian at Cornell University, said the problems started earlier than that, pointing to decades of US tax policy. “All of the efforts in the US to cut back on taxes – which means cutbacks on public funding – has meant that schools have gotten less and less funded,” she said, adding teachers have finally reached a breaking point.

Dr Devault also said the strikes are about a lot more than salaries, with teachers demanding a variety of changes needed for schools to run effectively.

In early 2018, 35,000 teachers in West Virginia went on strike state-wide for almost two weeks, resulting in a 5% pay raise. Shortly after, 20,000 teachers across the state of Arizona won a 20% salary raise by 2020 after a five-day strike. And in early 2019, 30,000 teachers in Los Angeles went on strike for six days, resulting in a 6% salary raise, smaller class sizes and an increase in support staff.

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There have been significant wins in other cities as well. Dr Devault called the strikes “amazingly successful”. She believes the reason for this is that teachers have communicated to the public that they’re not just looking out for their own salaries, but for everyone, including students and support staff like bus drivers and nurses.

The spike in strikes might also be a contributing factor to their success. It’s given legitimacy and added power to teachers, allowing for them to make more transformative demands. “There’s a national teachers’ movement now,” Mr Blanc said. “Strikes as a whole are more successful because they’re feeding off one another.”

The wave may have been sparked in the same city that it’s playing out in now. The Chicago teachers’ strike back in 2012 sowed the seeds of protest for teachers across the US, according to Mr Blanc. “Organizers in West Virginia, Arizona, Oklahoma, very consciously looked at that 2012 strike,” he said. “They studied the experience of Chicago.”

The strike in 2012 – which included pay raises and blocking a programme that would’ve placed increased emphasis on student test scores – was successful, but much less ambitious than what’s being demanded now.

As a comparison, while the recent wave of US strikes has not been matched in the UK, teachers in both countries share many of the same concerns, including pay, class sizes and school staffing.

Earlier this year, the Department for Education announced a 2.75% increase in teachers’ pay. Dr Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the National Education Union – one of the UK’s biggest teaching unions – called the salary increase “fundamentally necessary” to encourage young graduates to pursue teaching and address the teacher shortage facing the country.

Another concern weighing heavily on UK teachers is the workload. A 2018 survey by the National Education Union found that 80% of teachers are considering leaving the profession due to the heavy workload, including long hours.

Labor Day

What Labor Day is Really About

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When most of us think of Labor Day, we think of back-to-school sales and having one last summer barbecue before the unofficial end of the season. But while many of us have a vague understanding that the federal holiday has to do with the labor rights movement in the United States, few of us fully appreciate the history behind the holiday, and how that history affects labor in this country today.

While the specific details about the origin of Labor Day have been disputed, the holiday traces its roots to the Industrial Revolution, a period of American history in which advances in technology had a substantial impact on society, as cities exploded in size and agricultural communities began to fade away. During the late 1800s, an increasing number of people worked in factories, mills, and mines. The working conditions for laborers in these fields was abysmal; the average American worker worked 12-hour days, seven days a week, just to make enough money to live. Additionally, these workers often lived in crowded, unsanitary, and unsafe tenement houses, which often lacked running water and other basic amenities. In the workplace, little concern was given to safety, as machinery had the potential to cause injuries, including dismemberment, and employees had little access to fresh air and breaks. Even worse, many of these employees were children, some as young as 5 years old.

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It was in the context of these living and working conditions that the labor movement began to emerge. Workers started to form unions, which would go on strike and rally in order to put pressure on employers to increase wages, reduce hours, and improve conditions. Employers were reluctant to take any actions that would cut into their profits, however, and resisted the demands of unions, oftentimes firing workers who organized and led unions or punishing them by other means. Occasionally, the tension between worker and employee would become so great that it would lead to violence, such as in the Haymarket Riot of 1886, in which a number of Chicago workers and policemen were killed. The first Labor Day parade was held on September 5th, 1882, when 10,000 workers took time off from work to march from City Hall to Union Square in New York City.

The idea of a holiday to celebrate the working man, taking place on the first Monday in September, spread to industrial communities across the country, and several states passed laws recognizing the holiday. However, Congress did not recognize the holiday until 1894, after the American Railroad Union called for a boycott of all Pullman railway cars in order to protest wage cuts and the firing of representatives of the union. The federal government sent the military to Chicago in order to break the strike, which led to riots in which over a dozen workers died. In an attempt to reconcile with laborers in the aftermath of the violence, President Grover Cleveland signed a bill recognizing Labor Day as a federal holiday into law. The original founder of Labor Day remains unknown.

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Of course, the struggle to improve working conditions in America did not end there. Though Labor Day was recognized by the federal government by the end of the nineteenth century, that recognition was largely symbolic, as employers remained relatively free to treat their employees as poorly as they pleased without breaking the law. Workers continued to protest and lobby for legislation protecting their rights, and on September 3rd, 1916, the Adamson Act was passed, which established a standard eight-hour workday for railroad workers, with additional pay being required for overtime. After this law was passed, railway companies refused to follow it, claiming that it was unconstitutional, until the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the law the following year. The success of this law led to similar efforts from other industries to pressure governments to pass legislation benefiting workers, and in 1938, the Fair Labor Standards Act was passed, which extended the eight-hour workday to other industries, created “time-and-a-half” pay for people who worked more than forty hours a week, established the right to a minimum wage, and placed restrictions on the type of work minors were allowed to do. 

Although a tremendous amount of progress has been made in securing workers’ rights, there are still areas that can be improved upon. Most notably, not every job pays time-and-a-half for overtime, as some industries and types of work are exempt from laws requiring employees to pay extra for hours beyond forty a week. Some jobs which have become popular in recent years, such as driving for Uber, lack the same protections of other jobs as workers are labelled as contractors rather than employees. And over the past several years, labor unions have been under an increasing amount of pressure, as only 10.5 percent of American workers belong to unions, whereas in the 1950s more than a third of American workers did. And, ironically, Labor Day is one of the busiest days for retail outlets, as many employees are expected to work overtime in order to meet demand created by sales. So this Labor Day, in between shopping, barbecuing, and picnicking, take some time to consider the history of the labor movement in this country.

Sources:

https://www.history.com/topics/holidays/labor-day-1

https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/adamson-act

https://www.nelp.org/blog/this-week-in-labor-history-remembering-the-adamson-act/