ALF Weekly Report — June 6th
The Texas Gulf Coast Area Labor Federation Weekly Report comes out (nearly) every Thursday with news and updates relevant to the Gulf Coast labor movement. To subscribe, click here.
Gulf Coast Unions Meet with Biden Labor Liaison
Last week, representatives from dozens of Gulf Coast unions met with Erika Dinkel-Smith, the White House Director of Labor Engagement in the Biden Administration. Dinkel-Smith, a dues-paying IATSE member and longtime labor organizer, shared updates on the progress of labor legislation and took questions about the Biden team’s efforts to strengthen labor rights.
IUPAT Glaziers Advocate for PRO Act Atop Houston Skyline
Union glaziers from IUPAT Local 1778 took the campaign to pass the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act to the Houston Skyline last week. The PRO Act will protect workers rights to organize unions, increasing wages, improving safety standards, and ensuring the workers who build our cities have a real voice on the job.
Outnumbered Texas Democrats Defeat GOP Voting Restriction Bill with Walkout
Texas House Democrats staged a dramatic exit from the state Capitol late Sunday, blocking the passage of a controversial voting bill just before a midnight deadline. As members were gathering their things and walking out, Gov. Greg Abbott conceded that the priority bill was dead — for now. He vowed to resurrect the election bill and another on bail reform in a special session.
Every Gulf Coast Democrat joined the walkout except Rep. Harold Dutton.
Bush Blamed Federal Rules for Harris County’s Lack of Flood Aid. A Houston Chronicle Analysis Shows That’s False.
After Land Commissioner George P Bush announced that Houston and Harris County would receive $0 of the $4 billion allocated to Texas for flood mitigation, a Houston Chronicle investigation found a different reality than Bush’s team presented. Not only does HUD give states significant discretion to decide how to spend their funds, but the criteria Bush’s General Land Office developed discriminated against populous areas.
Bush and his spokeswoman alternately blamed the snub on criteria Texas was forced to use by President Donald Trump’s housing department, complex regulations by the Biden administration and the failure of the city and county to submit better applications.
There Is No Justification For Cutting Federal Unemployment Benefits
Republican governors in 24 states — including Texas — have indicated they will pull out from the federal unemployment insurance (UI) programs created at the start of the pandemic. Some states are ending participation in all federal pandemic UI programs, others only some of the federal support. These actions are dangerously shortsighted.
Feds Could Add 50,000 New Workers Under Biden’s 2022 Budget
President Joe Biden’s fiscal year 2022 budget anticipates a more than 50,000 full-time-equivalent employee increase to the federal payrolls next year, as part of concerted efforts to attract young and expert workers to federal service.
The Texas Winter Storm And Power Outages Killed Hundreds More People Than The State Says
The true number of people killed by the disastrous winter storm and power outages that devastated Texas in February is likely four or five times what the state has acknowledged so far. A BuzzFeed News data analysis reveals the hidden scale of a catastrophe that trapped millions of people in freezing darkness, cut off access to running water, and overwhelmed emergency services for days.
Labor Movement Rallies to Kill ‘Right to Work’ In New Hampshire
The New Hampshire House soundly killed the latest attempt by state and national proponents to pass right-to-work legislation and then buried the measure with an indefinite postponement vote that meant it cannot be resurrected until 2023, barring a two-thirds vote to suspend the rules.
Oregon Legislative Aides Form First Staff Union in Country
Legislative aides at the Oregon State Legislature voted 75–31 to form the first legislative staff union in the country with IBEW Local 98; the state public sector labor board ruled in early April that the legislative staff were eligible for unionization.
A similar effort in Delaware stalled out when AFSCME deemed there to be no legal pathway in that state, and members of the California state legislature are renewing efforts to legalize a state legislative staff union in that state.
Analysis Finds Union First Contracts Take Average of 400 Days to Negotiate
A new analysis on private sector first contracts by Bloomberg Law further shows the need for the PRO Act. The biggest takeaway is that the average first contract takes more than 400 days to win, and that’s just in cases where a first contract is ever achieved. The PRO Act will force employers to come to the negotiating table to negotiate first contracts and prevent stalling tactics.
Artist Unions Organize in Support of the PRO Act
Many of the big performance unions, such as IATSE, alongside other AFL-CIO affiliates, are organizing to get the Protecting the Right to Organize bill passed. They are getting the word out about the benefits of the bill to their members and putting pressure on Democratic senators still refusing to sign on.
Workers Consider Strike at Meat Plant That Was Virus Hotspot
Workers at a South Dakota meatpacking plant that became a coronavirus hotspot last year are considering a strike after contract negotiations between Smithfield Foods and the union have stalled, the union said Wednesday.
Get Vaccinated!
Everyone age 12 and older, regardless of occupation or health status, is now eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine in Texas, according to state authorities. You can find the full list of Texas vaccine providers here. You do not need to be a resident of a county or city to register.
Sites in Harris County and across the region no longer required advance registration.
To find more information about vaccination sites, click on the links below (this is not a complete list of all vaccine providers)
- Harris County
- City of Houston
- Galveston County
- Montgomery County
- Fort Bend County
- Waller County
- Brazoria County
- Brazos County
- Chambers County
- Liberty County
- Walker County
- Austin County
- Matagorda County
- Wharton County
