Deadline Extended to Register for Upcoming EAP II Program at the Winpisinger Center
Eligible members are encouraged to take advantage of the March 29-April 3, 2026 Employee Assistance Program (EAP) II course hosted at the William W. Winpisinger Education and Technology Center in Hollywood, Md. The program, offered through the Retirees and Membership Assistance Department, provides valuable training and resources to help IAM representatives better support members facing
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We’ll Get Through This Together: In the States Roundup
We’ll Get Through This Together: In the States Roundup
It’s time once again to take a look at the ways working people are making progress in the states. Click on any of the links to follow the state federations on X.
Alaska AFL-CIO:Our labor movement could not exist without the work of Black union members and leaders.During #BlackHistoryMonth and every month, America’s unions fight for racial justice in the workplace and beyond. pic.twitter.com/W3PQ09TY1Y— Alaska AFL-CIO (@AKAFLCIO) February 2, 2026California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO:This week, SoCal @UFCW healthcare workers joined their @unacuhcp sisters and brothers on the picket line, as they protest Kaiser Permanente’s unfair labor practices! We stand in solidarity with all the workers striking for a fair contract! pic.twitter.com/Tbfh4kzgW6— California Federation of Labor Unions (@CaliforniaLabor) February 10, 2026Illinois AFL-CIO:Early voting is underway across Illinois and begins in Cook County on Thursday! Visit the Illinois State Board of Elections website to find the exact date early voting starts in your community: https://t.co/fAPS2fVITD pic.twitter.com/BCmREOAcNa— Illinois AFL-CIO (@ILAFLCIO) February 9, 2026Maine AFL-CIO:After the first firefighter union in Maine dissolved in 1921, its officers either died or left the fire service due to PTSD. Their stories serve as a clear example of why they needed the rights and protections that a union could have provided.https://t.co/svGvbzozEE— Maine AFL-CIO (@MEAFLCIO) February 6, 2026Massachusetts AFL-CIO:Share this with any veteran you know who might be looking for a career change! pic.twitter.com/lEbjctysnk— Massachusetts AFL-CIO (@massaflcio) February 2, 2026Michigan State AFL-CIO:Love is solidarity. Solidarity is love. We’ll get through this together. https://t.co/dw42AMbJzv— Michigan AFL-CIO ✊ (@MIAFLCIO) February 9, 2026Minnesota AFL-CIO:From health care workers and letter carriers to transit workers and educators, the message has been clear: keep ICE out of our workplaces. #iceoutmn #BetterInAUnion https://t.co/JrcQW53v3a— Minnesota AFL-CIO (@MNAFLCIO) February 9, 2026Missouri AFL-CIO:Not if we have anything to say about it! Honest Day’s Pay for an Honest Day’s Work, FOR EVERYONE! #solidarity https://t.co/XCmr3k7ewG— Missouri AFL-CIO (@MOAFLCIO) February 10, 2026Nevada State AFL-CIO:Sometimes you gotta put the tools down and call a member of @IBEW for the best results⚡️✨ pic.twitter.com/toYBwWYoZl— Nevada State AFL-CIO // Pass the #PROAct (@NVAFLCIO) February 10, 2026New York State AFL-CIO:“The NY FAIR News Act will uphold journalists’ credibility, safeguard the integrity of news reporting and strengthen public trust. These common-sense guardrails are essential for a healthy democracy.” -President Mario Cilento https://t.co/fEVx6eKehd— NYS AFL-CIO // #UnionStrong (@NYSAFLCIO) February 2, 2026Oregon AFL-CIO:Oregon AFL-CIO Political & Legislative Director Catie Theisen testified before the Oregon House of Representatives Committee on Judiciary last week in support of a bill that protects immigrants from discrimination.Demand that representatives pass the Immigrant Justice Package… pic.twitter.com/zlYtj5HbzI— Oregon AFL-CIO (@OregonAFLCIO) February 10, 2026Pennsylvania AFL-CIO:President Ferritto and Secretary-Treasurer Cobb were at the PA Capitol today for @governorshapiro’s 2026-27 budget address. Read our full statement ➡️ https://t.co/exX2Em9eUG pic.twitter.com/NsAJAecgI4— PA AFL-CIO (@PaAFL_CIO) February 4, 2026Texas AFL-CIO:This Black History Month, we honor Frank Wallace — a trailblazer for Texas labor and civil rights who desegregated workplaces long before federal laws required it. His leadership over 39 years uplifted every worker in our state.Read more: https://t.co/8WPosnKu0A pic.twitter.com/kc7vtwghe5— Texas AFL-CIO (@TexasAFLCIO) February 10, 2026Vermont State Labor Council, AFL-CIO:The Vermont AFL-CIO stands in unwavering solidarity with Steven Tendo, a union member and dedicated health care worker who was detained by ICE this morning outside one of his workplaces in Shelburne. Read our full statement here:https://t.co/DmKpFM6txF— Vermont AFL-CIO #UnionYes (@VT_AFLCIO) February 4, 2026Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO:Yesterday we reminded our elected officials that worker power is the strongest force in this state.Big thanks to LDs 23, 25, and 30 for submitting their photos of the day 📸 #solidarity♾️ pic.twitter.com/rAK43VlN21— Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO (@WAAFLCIO) February 7, 2026
Kenneth Quinnell
Tue, 02/10/2026 – 12:26
From Capes to Collars: DC and GDA | TLC Raise Real-Life Heroes
When it comes to changing lives, real heroes don’t always wear capes. Sometimes, they walk on four paws. DC Comics has officially teamed up with the IAM Union’s favorite charity, Guide Dogs of America | Tender Loving Canines (GDA | TLC) in an exciting, yearlong collaboration designed to shine a spotlight on the life-changing power
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On East Palestine Anniversary, IAM Union and TCU/IAM Help Lead Labor’s Fight for Rail Safety
On the anniversary of the tragic and preventable East Palestine, Ohio train derailment, the IAM Union, Transportation Communications Union (TCU/IAM), Brotherhood of Railway Signalmen, International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF), and rail union leaders with Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD) went to the Capitol to tell Congress that it’s time to pass the Railway Safety
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Black History Month Profiles: Chris Puckett
Black History Month Profiles: Chris Puckett
For Black History Month, we’re taking a look at a group of leaders who are currently actively making Black history across the labor movement. Check back daily for a new profile and meet some of the people working to improve not only their community, but also to improve conditions for working people across the country. Today’s profile is Chris Puckett of the United Steelworkers (USW).
Chris Puckett has been an X11 fitter and a USW member for 23 years. He has served on the Local 8888 grievance and bargaining committees, and helped to organize the first Hampton Roads chapter of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, where he is sergeant-at-arms and sits on the Region 2 board. He’s also the labor and industry chair of the NAACP of Newport News, Virginia.
Kenneth Quinnell
Tue, 02/10/2026 – 10:25
Tags:
Black History Month
UAW’s Four Core Issues Take Center Stage on Day 2 of 2026 National CAP Conference
The UAW kicked off an event-filled Day 2 of its 2026 National CAP Conference, calling out corporate greed and focusing on the four core issues that will guide the union into 2028.
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Teamsters Sue UPS for Breach of National Contract
(WASHINGTON) – The Teamsters Union filed an emergency motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against United Parcel Service today, demanding the company shut down its plan to roll out a second illegal buyout scam targeting UPS Teamsters drivers. The package giant has told the union it aims to announce the Driver Choice Program (DCP) this week.
In court filings with the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, the Teamsters detailed at least six violations of its National Master Agreement by UPS in the rollout of the buyout program, including direct dealing of new contracts with workers, elimination of union jobs when UPS contractually agreed to establish more positions, and erosion of the rights and privileges of union shop stewards, among other charges.
Since late January, the Teamsters issued more than 57 requests for information and documents to UPS related to its plans for a revised driver buyout. UPS CEO Carol Tomé and other corporate executives ignored the union’s requests and appear to have developed the DCP behind closed doors in direct violation of the UPS Teamsters agreement. The national contract was overwhelmingly ratified in 2023 to protect hundreds of thousands of full- and part-time workers.
“For the second time in six months, UPS has proven it doesn’t care about the law, has no respect for its contract with the Teamsters, and is determined to try to screw our members out of their hard-earned money,” said Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien. “If Carol Tomé has buyer’s remorse for the historic, legally binding contract she signed with rank-and-file Teamsters, that’s her problem. Our union will not allow UPS to inflate its earnings reports on the backs of Teamsters families. We’ve given too much to grow and sustain this company, and we will not be sold short. UPS must dismantle its illegal buyout program and resolve its contract violations in the courts, or the Teamsters will see this greedy corporation in the streets.”
If implemented, UPS’s DCP would give drivers a one-time lump sum payment in exchange for Teamsters legally committing to never work for UPS again, to waive their rights to union representation, and to sacrifice a career’s worth of strong union wages, employer-paid health care, and guaranteed retirement benefits.
The scope of UPS’s updated buyout program is much broader than the payoff presented to workers late last summer, when UPS marketed payouts to more tenured drivers nearing retirement. The earlier program, which UPS called the Driver Voluntary Separation Program (DVSP), was widely rejected by Teamsters drivers nationwide, many of whom took to social media to shred and set fire to the insulting financial package offered by UPS to leave the company.
Multiple Teamsters local unions have filed grievances against UPS over the contract violations inherent in its DVSP program. Those grievances are expected to enter binding arbitration next month following a National Grievance Committee hearing between the union and the company.
The DCP, as noted in the union’s lawsuit, would be offered to all drivers at UPS regardless of length of service and would do irreparable damage to the Teamsters and its right to representation. The letter of separation that workers would be forced to sign by management to complete enrollment in the program would be irrevocable, further damaging the union or any individual worker’s ability to grieve or arbitrate the terms of separation.
In its motions before the court on Monday, the Teamsters requested an injunction to prevent the rollout of UPS’s DCP and a stay on further action by the company to offer such incentive programs until an arbitrator’s ruling on the pending DVSP violations. As the Teamsters noted in its filing in Massachusetts, the DVSP and DCP programs are unmistakably similar.
“UPS’s latest DCP scam is more than a contract violation — it’s an assault on the rule of law and on every member of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters,” said General Secretary-Treasurer Fred Zuckerman. “If UPS is allowed to move forward with this illegal program, it would cause irrevocable harm to our union and a majority of our hardworking members. The Teamsters Union ensured our members rejected UPS’s insulting payoff last year. Unfortunately, UPS continues to reach new levels of greed and corruption that require our fight to continue.”
On Jan. 27, UPS announced it collected more than $8.5 billion in cash during the previous quarter, returned more than $6.4 billion to shareholders, and spent $1 billion on stock buybacks.
Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.3 million hardworking people in the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico. Visit Teamster.org for more information. Follow us on X @Teamsters and on Facebook at Facebook.com/teamsters.
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Teamsters Attorneys Win Just Cause Protections
(SAN FRANCISCO) — For the first time, hundreds of attorneys with the San Francisco Municipal Attorneys Association (MAA) and members of Teamsters Local 856 have won just cause job protections through arbitration.
“This is a huge win for our members, and a great example of not backing down from a big fight,” said Peter Finn, Secretary-Treasurer of Local 856 and Director of the Teamsters Public Services and Health Care Division. “Teamsters attorney Matt Finnegan led this fight, and this win shows what can be accomplished through persistence and smart, tactical, and aggressive advocacy.”
The association is comprised of 500 deputy district attorneys, deputy public defenders, and city attorneys serving the citizens of San Francisco. The members — who affiliated with the Teamsters in 2024 — were at-will employees, meaning they had no job protections designed to insulate them from the political process. On the heels of similar wins in Alameda and San Mateo Counties, this group is the third group of Local 856 public attorneys to win just cause protections.
“This decision corrects a long-standing historical anomaly, finally bringing San Francisco into alignment with the standard employment expectations for public attorneys across California,” said Nathan Quigley, President of the Municipal Attorneys Association. “This change ensures that local public law offices cannot be weaponized for political gain. Public attorneys must be empowered to fulfill their duties based on ethics and the law.”
Teamsters Local 856 is a growing union of over 20,000 working people throughout Northern California and represents over 7,000 public sector members in the region. For more information, visit teamsters856.org.
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Teamsters at Belgioioso Cheese Ratify Contract
(ROCHESTER, N.Y.) – Teamsters at the BelGioioso Cheese facility in Campbell, New York, represented by Teamsters Local 118, have overwhelmingly ratified a new contract that secures higher wages and strengthens job protections. The agreement covers 180 workers responsible for the production, maintenance, and distribution of Polly-O cheeses across the region.
“Our members made it clear they expected a contract that respected their work, and that’s exactly what we achieved,” said Tim Barbeto, President of Teamsters Local 118. “This agreement raises wages, improves benefits, and strengthens the workplace protections our members rely on every day.”
The contract clarifies workplace rules, improves the posting process for line lead positions, limits the use of temporary workers, and strengthens rules around seniority and job assignments.
“This contract protects our jobs and gives us a stronger voice at work,” said Thomas Didas, a steward. “We finally feel respected for the essential role we play in producing and shipping thousands of Polly-O cheese products.”
Teamsters Local 118 proudly represents over 5,000 workers across upstate New York and in Northern Pennsylvania. For more information, go to teamsters118.com.
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We Will Have a Voice: The Working People Weekly List
We Will Have a Voice: The Working People Weekly List
Every week, we bring you a roundup of the top news and commentary about issues and events important to working families. Here’s the latest edition of the Working People Weekly List.
AI-Powered Robots Are Coming for Trade Jobs: “Unions are worried these current shifts could amount to a warning for jobs outside the office. ‘White collar work will probably be the first tranche, but every job across sectors will be impacted,’ AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler told my colleague Brock Hrehor on Wednesday. The union is pushing for a slate of AI bills in California, which partly include advanced notices for AI-related job cuts that should offer protections across different labor sectors.”Volkswagen Workers’ Victory Represents Rare Union Breakthrough for South: “Workers at Volkswagen’s Chattanooga, Tenn., factory won 20% raises and lower-health care costs in their first UAW contract after nearly two years of bargaining. Why it matters: The agreement is being billed as a historic breakthrough in the UAW’s decades-long effort to unionize foreign-owned auto plants in the South. Catch up quick: The UAW has been trying to organize the so-called transplant factories—a group now including Nissan, Mercedes-Benz and others—for 40 years.”Salt Lake City Finalizes ‘Historic’ Collective Bargaining Agreement with Librarians: “Library employees in Utah’s capital city are officially the first municipal library staff to unionize after city leaders approved a resolution to support their first collective bargaining agreement. ‘This is a historic day for the city,’ said Salt Lake City Council Chairman Alejandro Puy, moments before the body unanimously approved a memorandum of understanding that the Salt Lake City Library Board and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 1004 reached on behalf of eligible library employees.”The Unusual Working-Class Message That Turned a Deep-Red District Blue: “The issues that have worked for Democrats around the country this election season—affordability and working-class stability chief among them—also worked for Taylor Rehmet, a union president and machinist who beat his Trump-backed opponent for a deep-red state Senate seat in the Fort Worth area of Texas last weekend. But his platform included something more unusual and a little retro: a promise to return vocational education to public high schools.”Actors’ Equity, IATSE, Other Entertainment Unions Condemn Kennedy Center Closure: “Following President Trump’s announcement that the Kennedy Center would be the closed for two years beginning July 4 for renovations, a number of entities have roundly condemned the move from Congressional Senators to, now, a host of entertainment unions and workers. Actors’ Equity Association, American Federation of Musicians, American Guild of Musical Artists, International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, and Stage Directors and Choreographers Society—unions whose members are routinely hired by the Kennedy Center—have released a joint statement decrying the move, calling it ‘harmful for the arts and creative workers in America,’ and saying they have been given ‘no formal notice or briefing.’”MedStar Nurses Ratify New Labor Deal: “Registered nurses at MedStar Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C., have ratified a new three‑year labor agreement covering more than 2,200 nurses, according to a Feb. 2 National Nurses United news release shared with Becker’s. The contract, which will run from March 2026 through February 2029, includes wage increases of up to nearly 24% over the life of the agreement, the union said. Union leaders also highlighted several provisions intended to enhance safety and working conditions, including additional security resources and the addition of a registered nurse to the hospitalwide workplace violence committee. The agreement also includes new language allowing bargaining over new technology, bereavement leave for grandparents and staffing language intended to ensure nurses are immediately available for patient care.”Yet Another Judge Rejects Trump Effort to Block Offshore Wind, Saying New York Project Can Resume: “A federal judge on Monday ruled that an offshore wind project aimed at powering 600,000 New York homes can resume construction, the fifth such project put back on track after the Trump administration halted them in December. In clearing the way for Sunrise Wind to proceed, Judge Royce Lamberth found that the government had not shown that offshore wind is such an imminent national security risk that it must halt in the United States.”Quality Assurance Workers at Blizzard Ratify Union Contract with Microsoft: “A majority of quality assurance workers at Blizzard studios in Albany and Austin have ratified a union contract at Microsoft after just under three years of negotiations. In a statement to press, the Communications Workers of America (CWA) said employees in Albany and Austin—represented by CWA Locals 1118 and 6215, respectively—‘overwhelming voted’ to ratify a contract that guarantees wage increases, enhanced regulations around the usage of generative AI in the workplace, and crediting protections.”Nearly 500 of CHOMP’s 800 Nurses Vote in Favor of Joining a Union in Historic Vote: “Registered nurses at Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula have overwhelmingly voted in favor of joining the California Nurses Association in an election that ended Friday, Jan. 30. The vote has yet to be certified by the National Labor Relations Board, but according to CNA, nearly 500 of CHOMP’s 800 nurses voted yes. It will be the first union in the hospital’s 91-year history. CNA will now represent all 800 registered nurses at CHOMP. ‘This means everything to me and my fellow colleagues at CHOMP. It means we’ve got a seat at the table. It means with regard to patient care, patient safety we will have a voice in the policies,’ says Kristine Olalia, an orthopedic surgery nurse with the hospital for nine years.”Florida Lawmakers Unanimously Advance Bill to Expand Protections for Temp Workers: “A bill that would help temp workers and day laborers secure stable, permanent employment advanced through a Senate committee of lawmakers Wednesday in a unanimous and bipartisan vote of approval. The bill, sponsored by Republican Sen. Ileana Garcia of Miami, would effectively amend and strengthen the Florida Labor Pool Act—a 1995 law that established certain protections for temp workers that aren’t guaranteed under federal law. This includes preventing a business or temp agency (also known as a labor pool) from charging temp workers for safety equipment, or charging exorbitant fees for lunch or transportation to a job site. Nearly three dozen people spoke or waived in support of Garcia’s proposal Wednesday, including representatives of the Florida AFL-CIO—a statewide federation of over 500 labor unions—and the pro-labor Florida Center for Fiscal and Economic Policy.”
Kenneth Quinnell
Mon, 02/09/2026 – 14:09