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The Children’s Law Center Union Announces Strike, Demands Fair Wages and Better Working Conditions

July 17, 2023 (Brooklyn, NY) – Today, the Children’s Law Center (CLC) staff announced that they are on strike. CLC is a 26-year-old, non-profit law firm, and the first organization in New York City dedicated primarily to the representation of children in custody, visitation, and guardianship litigation. Their attorneys, social workers, and other staff are dedicated to ensuring that the children whom they represent have a voice in the legal proceedings that have a critical impact on their lives.

In 2020, faced with enormous caseloads and low wages that did not meet industry standards, CLC staff voted overwhelmingly to unionize with the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys, UAW Local 2325, which represents 3,000 members at 25 non-profit legal services providers primarily in New York City.

In March 2021, CLC’s union presented its initial contract proposal to management. In the 838 days since, CLC Management has failed to bargain in good faith, only making a first insulting and abysmal salary offer last week and forcing the union to call for a strike.

CLC is not alone in calling for higher wages and better working conditions. Legal and human services organizations across the city have chosen to organize in recent years. The importance of our legal and social work cannot be overstated. Unfortunately, the way that CLC’s Management and Board of Directors have treated staff at the bargaining table demonstrates that, ultimately, they do not value staff’s significant experience, expertise, and dedication to improving the lives of some of New York City’s most at-risk children.

 

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HIGH RISK & LOW PAY: New Report Exposes Major Health and Safety Problems at GM’s New Battery Cell Plant in Ohio

Today, the UAW releases “High Risk & Low Pay: A Case Study of Ultium Cells Lordstown,” a white paper that highlights the dangerous working conditions at General Motors’ joint-venture battery cell plant in Lordstown, Ohio. It includes worker testimonials and health & safety research that show the urgent need to raise wages and safety standards in the EV battery industry.

READ THE WHITE PAPER HERE: UAW.org/Ultium

In December 2022, the workers who build electric vehicle batteries for Ultium Cells in Lordstown, Ohio, voted overwhelmingly to join the UAW.

The white paper follows a video released last week, “Our Defining Moment,” featuring the voices of Ultium workers speaking out on the risk of a failed transition to electric vehicles if companies like General Motors continue to pursue a low-road approach. View the video here.

It also follows an independent report by Good Jobs First, “Power Outrage: Will Heavily Subsidized Battery Factories Generate Substandard Jobs?” The report details the immense government subsidies going into the EV battery industry, and how corporate America is using them to drastically lower industry standards for EV workers. Read the report here.

For the full story of the Ultium workers’ fight for justice, visit UAW.org/Ultium

 

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Good Jobs First – Power Outrage: Will Heavily Subsidized Battery Factories Generate Substandard Jobs?

Under a provision of the Inflation Reduction Act, some factories making batteries for electric vehicles will each receive more than a billion dollars per year from the U.S. government, with no requirement to pay good wages to production workers. Thanks to the Advanced Manufacturing Production Credit, also called 45X for its section in the Internal Revenue Code, battery companies will receive tax credits that they can use, sell, or cash out.

The 45X program alone will cost taxpayers over $200 billion in the next decade, far more than the $31 billion estimated by Congress’s Joint Committee on Taxation. On top of 45X and other federal incentives, factories manufacturing electric vehicles and batteries have also been promised well over $13 billion in state and local economic development incentives in just the past 18 months.

Read more on GOODJOBSFIRST.org >>>

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WFMJ: UAW president says Ultium Cells workers receive ‘poverty wages,’ face safety concerns

United Auto Workers Union President Shawn Fain addressed UAW workers about concerns facing auto workers and battery workers at Ultium Cells in Lordstown.

Fain said that some of the UAW workers were struggling to get by, and stated that the big 3 automakers, GM, Ford, and Stellantis (Chrysler, Fiat) made more than $36 million nearly profit last year he said during a live stream on Facebook from Detriot, Michigan Friday.

Read the full article on WFMJ.com >>>

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WATCH: New Video, “Our Defining Moment,” Calls Out Big Three Race to the Bottom in EV Transition

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UAW STANDS IN SOLIDARITY WITH 1400 STRIKING UE MEMBERS AT WABTEC

The UAW stands in solidarity with the 1400 members of UE Locals 506 and 618 who are on strike at Wabtec in Erie, Pennsylvania. Just like the UAW, these workers are standing up for good, green jobs, and against disinvestment in our nation’s working class communities.

Today, members of UAW Local 1112 at Ultium visited the UE picket line at Wabtec to stand in solidarity. In 2021, General Motors announced plans to work with Wabtec to build Ultium cells to power green locomotives. From Lordstown to Erie, workers are united in the fight for justice in the new green manufacturing industry.

“As we transition to green manufacturing, we have a major opportunity to reinvest in good jobs in this country,” said UAW President Shawn Fain. “But corporate America isn’t going to let that happen without a fight. Just like they’ve done for generations, UE is leading the way, on and off the job, on the picket line, and in our communities. To our UE family: we’ve got your back.”

“The UE’s fight in Erie is everybody’s fight,” said UAW Region 9 Director Dan Vicente. “An attack on UE is an attack on all union workers in this country. We need to keep good manufacturing jobs in Pennsylvania, and we’ll support anyone taking action to make that happen.”

 

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UAW Statement on Supreme Court Decision on Affirmative Action in Higher Education

Today, the Supreme Court upended 50 years of precedent to make access to higher education more difficult for students of color. Students of color often come from working class families and rely on higher education to access good jobs and stable careers. Access to higher education is a labor issue.

This latest anti-worker, divide-and-conquer tactic from the Court seeks to block the pathway to good jobs both on and off campuses. The 100,000 UAW members working in higher education, from coast to coast, from the public to the private sector, stand united against this attack on working people.

“Institutionalized and systemic racism continue to disproportionately affect students of color, and affirmative action has been a small yet significant step in addressing these inequalities,” said Woohee Kim, a working member of the Harvard Graduate Students Union, UAW Local 5118. “No Supreme Court decision can erase the racism that permeates into every social fabric of our society. Affirmative action is necessary for a diverse workforce and a multicultural democracy that champions diversity, equity, and justice.”

“In California, the state’s 1995 ban on affirmative action in public education and public sector employment immediately devastated diversity at UC,” said Yunyi Li, Vice President of UAW Local 2865. “It’s a national embarrassment to see the US Supreme Court embrace this massive setback for higher education.”

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NEW VIDEO, “FIGHTING FOR COLA”: UAW CALLS ON BIG THREE TO REINSTATE COST OF LIVING ADJUSTMENTS

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UAW Celebrates the 60th Anniversary of the Detroit Freedom Walk

UAW International President Shawn Fain, members of the UAW International Executive Board, and thousands of UAW members joined the Detroit community on Saturday, June 24th, to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Detroit Freedom Walk of 1963.

During the 1963 “Walk to Freedom,” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave an early version of his iconic “I Have a Dream” speech at Cobo Hall in Detroit.

The 2023 walk and rally, led by the Detroit chapter of the NAACP, commemorate historic events that have shaped U.S. progress towards equality, justice, and civil rights.

President Fain marched shoulder to shoulder with NAACP leaders and community leaders including President Derrick Johnson and Dr. Reverend Wendel Anthony, President of the Detroit Branch of NAACP.

UAW Vice Presidents Chuck Browning and Mike Booth, along with Region 1 Director LaShawn English, Region 1A Director Laura Dickerson, Region 2B Director Dave Green, Region 9A Director Brandon Mancilla, and many UAW members and local leaders participated in the 60th Commemorative Freedom Walk.

The walk culminated in a rally at Hart Plaza, where President Fain emphasized the UAW’s commitment to civil rights and labor rights.

“The UAW will not abide racist attacks on our brothers and sisters and family of color. Civil rights are labor rights!”

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