We Are Empowered: 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.

Unions Rally Around the Threat of A.I.: “Unions are confronting A.I. as an existential danger to workers, not only because of the possibility of massive job losses but also because of its hand in the widening gap between wages and corporate profits. In April, Liz Shuler, the president of the AFL-CIO, called A.I. ‘the single biggest threat to working people of our lifetime.’”

Revenge of the Labor Movement: Democrats with Union Backgrounds Aim to Retake Congress: “‘In a political environment that’s been dominated by wealthy elites for decades, union candidates provide a level of trust and credibility that’s simply unmatched,’ Steve Smith, a spokesperson for the AFL-CIO, the largest federation of labor unions in the U.S., told the Guardian. ‘These candidates are at long last returning the levers of power to the people.’”

At Vatican Conference, Labor Leader Critiques A.I. Execs Who ‘Want to Play God’: “‘Right now, we have CEOs who want to play God to make decisions that affect hundreds of millions of working people without our input and consent,’ said Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO. ‘We can choose a better path, with workers at the table, engaging in dialogue with stakeholders to shape a more hopeful and just future.’ Shuler attended a mid-September Vatican conference on the role of organized labor in confronting emerging social and ecological challenges in the Americas. During the gathering, she argued that labor movements and the Catholic Church can work together to promote an approach to A.I. that protects workers who are threatened by the mass unemployment that could be one of the technology’s effects.”

The New Union Way to Build Progressive Power: “Braxton Winston, president of the North Carolina AFL-CIO, told me, ‘Deep canvassing allowed us to affirm and adjust what we thought we knew, rather than just assuming. It helped us reach out to a part of our membership that often doesn’t vote with us.’ The details of the contracts are not all that different from standard progressive policy platforms, but they have an authenticity and legitimacy that top-down programs lack because they are built directly on the expressed concerns of rank-and-file workers. ‘The labor movement needs to lead and we need to have a broader moral vision that connects to a better life for working people,’ says Matt Schlobohm, executive director of the Maine AFL-CIO. ‘That theory of change informs this whole project.’”

Nurses at Central Maine Medical Center Vote to Unionize: “Central Maine Medical Center nurses voted overwhelmingly in favor of unionizing Thursday night. 204 nurses voted yes and 21 voted no, that’s about 91%. Healthcare workers at the hospital will now join the Maine State Nurses Association, which represents 4,000 nurses across the state.”

Samuel Adams Brewery Workers in Jamaica Plain Vote to Unionize: “Ye olde workers at the Samuel Adams Boston Brewery and Taproom in Jamaica Plain love wealth, as well as liberty—but they’d settle for a raise. About 30 bartenders, brewery tour ambassadors, and other staff members voted to unionize Tuesday night, joining roughly 11,000 workers of the United Food and Commercial Workers union Local 328 across Southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island, according to union officials.”

Smiling Bud Workers Vote to Unionize in New Jersey: “Employees at a cannabis contract manufacturing facility in Bergen County are the latest group of workers in New Jersey’s legalized industry to unionize. According to the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 360, staffers at Smiling Bud recently voted to organize. The union represents cannabis workers in dispensaries, labs, manufacturing, processing, delivery and grow facilities across the U.S.”

Nurses at Ascension St. Agnes Hospital Approve Contract: “After four years of negotiating, registered nurses at Ascension St. Agnes Hospital in Baltimore voted in favor of a three-year contract Sept. 19 that ends mandatory overtime, provides the right to union representation and includes a 5- to 6-percent pay increase over three years. ‘Over the long road to secure this contract, we won a lot of victories, from equipment improvements to staffing improvements to raises, through organizing and putting pressure on the hospital,’ said Melissa LaRue, a registered nurse in the intensive care unit, in a news release from National Nurses United. ‘Now that we have a contract, we are empowered, ready to hold Ascension accountable to it and ready to keep up the fight for a hospital that puts patients over profits.’”

Butterball Sanitation Workers in North Carolina Vote to Join Union: “The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) said 58 sanitation workers at the Butterball facility in Raeford, NC, joined the union as members. The employees clean and prepare the poultry plant for daily production of ready-to-eat and ready-to-cook turkey products.”

PNBC, AFL-CIO and Rainbow PUSH Join Forces to Launch ‘The People’s Revival’: “The Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc. (PNBC), in partnership with the AFL-CIO and Rainbow PUSH Coalition, will launch ‘The People’s Revival,’ a national voter mobilization movement focused on voter education, voter mobilization and voter protection. The national campaign launch will take place Tuesday, September 22, 2026, at 10:30 a.m. at Zion Baptist Church, 4850 Blagden Avenue NW, Washington, D.C. 20011. PNBC’s official campaign materials describe The People’s Revival as a multi-state get-out-the-vote initiative centered on voter education, mobilization and protection.”

IAM Union Members at NASSCO Ratify New Three-Year Labor Agreement: “The IAM Union (International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers) says that its members at General Dynamics NASSCO have ratified a new three-year collective bargaining agreement covering more than 800 shipbuilders in San Diego. The agreement comes less than a month after IAM Local S6 Members at GD Bath Iron Works ratified a new five-year labor agreement (see earlier story). The union says that the agreement with NASSCO delivers a 10% wage increase in the first year, followed by increases of 5% in the second year and 4% in the third year—raising wages by nearly 20% over the life of the contract.”