Workers at the Brooklyn Museum, members of UAW Local 2110, voted overwhelmingly to ratify their first contract yesterday, one day before the union had been set to strike on November 8.

“We’re thrilled to have finally reached this agreement with the Museum,” says Elizabeth St. George, an assistant curator of Decorative Arts. “I will now have the opportunity to do the work I love at a Museum I love in a workplace with union rights.”

The staff’s union, Local 2110 UAW, had been in negotiations for a first union contract since January of 2022 and has held repeated protests at the Museum over its low wage offer and unfair labor practices. Workers announced the November 8 strike deadline two weeks ago.

The new three-and-a-half-year contract will boost pay by over 23% over the life of the contract, raising minimum pay rates and guaranteeing annual increases. The contract also reduces the employee’s share of health premium costs, expands eligibility for health care benefits to part-time staff averaging 20 hours per week and establishes an annual $50,000 set aside for professional development.

“This agreement will bolster salaries and invest in staff professional development,” says Lauren Bradley, an associate conservator who has worked at the Museum for more than 8 years. “This contract will lay a solid foundation for building long term professional careers at the Museum.”

The contract also establishes a joint labor-management committee, a grievance procedure with binding arbitration, layoff protection, a health and safety committee and differential pay for workers who take on extra work when a position is unfilled. See HERE for a summary of the contract provisions.

“The hard work of Museum staff is behind the Museum’s incredible exhibitions and programs.” says Samantha Cortez, Senior Registrar. “Having a contract that raises our pay rates and spells out legally enforceable rights is an acknowledgment of the important contribution we make as a staff.”

Communicate with:  Maida Rosenstein, maidarosenstein@2110uaw.org, 917-495-8492

NEW YORK, NY – DETROIT, MI – SAN ANTONIO, HOUSTON, SAN MARCOS, TX – Across the nation, hundreds of workers at the Neighborhood Defender Service and their allies mobilized last week in support of a new collective bargaining agreement. The 200 workers are attorneys, social workers, paralegals, investigators, clerical staff, are represented by the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys (ALAA) – UAW Local 2325, which first won union representation at NDS in 2019. The Union’s contract campaign, titled, “Fulfill the Promise of Public Defense” has won the support of workers and communities as negotiations intensify.

On July 25 in Detroit, workers rallied outside the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice, chanting, “When NDS clients are under attack, what do we do? Stand up! Fight Back!”. Community members, autoworkers, and others joined in to spread the message before the bargaining committee headed into a negotiation session with management.

On July 26, NDS Texas workers, who are stationed in multiple locations throughout the state, held a virtual picket where they came together to share their struggles and discuss negotiations. They were joined by public defenders throughout the country.

To wrap up the nation-wide week of action, over a hundred NDS workers in New York City, held an informational picket outside NDS’ downtown offices where their union siblings from other offices joined the picket line in solidarity.

Despite several months of bargaining, NDS and the Union have failed to reach a new agreement, and the Union has been working under an expired contract since July 1, 2023. Front and center among the Union’s concerns are improving conditions for NDS employees such that NDS clients can continue to receive stellar representation. The Union has been vocal about the huge attrition that NDS has suffered in the past years which has led to disruption in client’s cases and difficulty in attracting new workers. In order to reverse attrition and provide the highest quality representation to clients, the Union has proposed competitive compensation, enforceable workload standards, and sustainable workplace flexibility.

While the Union’s bargaining committee has stayed laser focused on achieving a fair contract and delivering excellent representation to clients, NDS has continued to chase public defense contracts across the country. Even last week, instead of focusing on wrapping up a contract covering all of its current employees, NDS was bidding for its first public defense contract in Schuyler County, New York.

“Time and time again, management has scoffed at our demands and insisted we prove to them that the status quo isn’t working. Yet meeting after meeting, management has failed to prove to the union that this organization cares about its employees and the communities we claim to serve” said Cody Bradford, Staff Attorney at NDS Detroit. “Rather, NDS, Inc. is more interested in winning contracts across the country at the expense of its existing workers and the communities we’ve already made promises to. We are at a breaking point. It’s past time that management came to these bargaining sessions to work with the union instead of fighting us.”

“Management’s continued disinterest and unwillingness to bargain in good faith affects not only employees but also clients. Management seems to think that social workers, lawyers, advocates, administrators, and all employees at NDS should bear the burden of the work, and that there is no way to fix it” said Naomi Schachter, Social Worker at NDS Harlem. “This does not have to be the status quo – membership has reasonable demands to fix these problems, but management has failed to take them seriously. We cannot provide zealous and world-class representation without fair pay, caseload caps, and flexibility. We call on management to come to the bargaining table in good faith, for the sake of their employees and our clients.”

“What we do is extremely important in helping uphold people’s constitutional rights, but our rights don’t seem to matter to management right now and we need their support to better represent clients,” said Ringo Bosley, Staff Attorney at NDS Texas. “I hope they will listen and come prepared and ready with proposals and counter proposals that truly help us bring about a better future for NDS staff and our clients.”

NDS workers will continue their fight for a contract and are ready to escalate if necessary to achieve justice for their membership and clients.

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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NEW HYDE PARK, NY — UAW President Shawn Fain and Region 9A Director Brandon Mancilla will join Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien, Teamsters Local 804 President Vinnie Perrone, and hundreds of UPS workers at the Teamsters Contract Unity Rally in New York this Saturday, July 15th.

The rally comes as the Teamsters near their July 31st strike deadline at UPS, covering 340,000 Teamster drivers and warehouse workers, and amidst the opening of contract negotiations at the Big Three automakers, covering 150,000 autoworkers.  

WHAT: UPS Teamsters Contract Unity Rally

WHEN: Saturday, July 15, 9am

WHERE: Teamsters Local 282, 2500 Marcus Avenue, New Hyde Park, NY

“From UPS to the Big Three, Corporate America continues to attack the working class in this country, and the Teamsters are teaching us all a lesson in fighting back,” UAW President Shawn Fain said. “The UAW stands in solidarity with our Teamster family and I’m traveling to New York to deliver that message straight to the hardworking Teamsters at UPS.”

Today, the Supreme Court released yet another anti-worker decision, reversing efforts to cancel student debt. By definition, it is not the rich, but the working class, who suffer from student loan debt, taking out loans in hopes of bettering themselves and their economic prospects. In striking down student debt relief, the Court has effectively stolen $430 billion from the pockets of the working class.

While the Court finds no issue with massive tax cuts for the rich, billions in corporate welfare, or repeated efforts to make it more difficult to vote, strike, or organize, today’s decision shows the level of disdain the Court has for the working class and poor in this country.

Over 43 million Americans were set to receive modest relief. One in four Black borrowers would have seen their debt cleared entirely. A third of our seniors with student debt have already defaulted on their loans. In addition, loan repayments set to resume in October will have a devastating effect on workers across our country.

On behalf of countless Americans who suffer from the burden of student debt, the UAW calls on President Biden to use his existing authority under the Higher Education Act, as the Trump Administration did, to cancel the $1.7 trillion of student debt burdening 43 million Americans.

“The law is clear,” said UAW Local 2325 member Jane Fox, a longtime advocate for student debt relief, “Student debt cancellation is legal. President Biden made a promise to deliver relief and to close the racial wealth gap. UAW members call on the President to use every tool available to cancel these debts, protect student borrowers from default, and ensure American families are not pushed into economic ruin when payments resume. The time to act is now.”

It is critical that we fight for not only the cancellation of student debt, but for free public higher education for every American as well. Rest assured; the Court will not sway our conviction. The UAW will continue to fight for economic justice for the working class, on and off the job, from campuses to factories.

PLAINFIELD, Vermont – The staff of Goddard College have now been on strike for one week, as Goddard College President Dan Hocoy refuses to meet with them to provide a living wage. Instead, the College is planning to cut off workers’ health insurance effective at midnight tonight.

The striking staff is calling for a $20 minimum wage for workers who run the College’s housekeeping, facilities, financial aid, admissions, and other operations. Goddard College’s commitment to a fair wage is vital to the local economy of Plainfield, Vermont.

Trevor Utton, an IT department staffer on strike, said “We want to see Goddard succeed. But if we can’t take care of our day to day needs, it makes it very hard for us to do that. We’ve been out on the picket line in snow, sleet, single-digit weather. I just want to see a wage that allows Goddard staff to live in this economy.”

“President Hocoy is not just attacking Goddard College staff and faculty,” said UAW Local 2322 President Patrick Burke, “He’s attacking the whole community, and the ability of towns like Plainfield and Montpelier to thrive.”

“Across the country, higher education workers are standing up for fair wages and a voice on the job,” said UAW Region 9A Director Brandon Mancilla. “Now it’s up to Goddard College President Hocoy to do the right thing.”

The Goddard College strike is the latest in a wave of higher education worker organizing, following the largest higher education strike in US history at the University of California, where UAW Locals 2865 and 5810 won significant gains after 40 days on the picket line.

New York, NY — HarperCollins Union members have ratified their tentative agreement after a three-month strike against HarperCollins Publishers, a subsidiary of News Corp. Members will be returning to work on February 21.

“We are very proud of this agreement. Our members fought tooth and nail for every letter of it and the result goes beyond the many improvements we’ve won in this contract,” says Olga Brudastova, President of UAW Local 2110. “I am confident this will lead to a long-lasting change in work culture at HarperCollins and perhaps in publishing at large. There are more than two options now: stick it out or leave. There is now a third option of collective action and standing up together for what is right.”

“What members of the HarperCollins union in Local 2110 achieved will rewrite industry standards and inspire other workers in the publishing industry to stand up to employers,” adds UAW Region 9A Director Brandon Mancilla.  “Our region stood with the strikers from day one and we celebrate their victory with them.”

HarperCollins employees have had a union for more than 80 years and it is one of the earliest unions of “white collar” workers in the country. Currently, HarperCollins is the only major book publisher in the U.S. to be unionized, though book publishers in other countries have unions. The labor action saw support across the publishing industry and beyond, from authors, agents, booksellers, freelancers, and other publishing employees.

Local 2110 HarperCollins members have been working without a contract since April of 2022.  HarperCollins Union Local 2110 represents 250+ employees in editorial, sales, publicity, design, legal, and marketing departments. The full agreement can be found here.

Local 2110 UAW also represents workers at the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Columbia University, Film Forum, Teachers College, ACLU, Center for Reproductive Rights, The New Press, and many more. The union has a reputation for aggressive organizing and bargaining and progressive politics.