Worker Wins: What We Deserve

Our latest roundup of worker wins includes numerous examples of working people organizing, bargaining and mobilizing for a better life.

NWSL Players Association Scores Historic New Contract: This morning, the National Women’s Soccer League Players Association (NWSLPA) announced that they have secured an historic new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) that ensures free agency for all players, revenue sharing on top of salaries, important health and safety protections and other provisions that will help create a more equitable league. “Just weeks after some members of the NWSLPA became Olympic champions with Team USA, these athletes have made history yet again,” said AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler. “This game-changing collective bargaining agreement sets the gold standard for all professional sports and affirms what workers in unions can accomplish when we stand together….The AFL-CIO is beyond proud to count the NWSLPA among its Sports Council and affiliate unions, and we look forward to continuing to support the NWSL players to ensure fair implementation of this contract. It’s a damn good day for union women in America!” Read the AFL-CIO’s full statement here.

Las Vegas Venetian Workers Win Historic TA with Major Pay Boosts: On Tuesday, Culinary Workers Union Local 226 and Bartenders Union Local 165—Nevada affiliates of UNITE HERE—announced with The Venetian Resort Las Vegas that they have reached a tentative agreement (TA) on a new four-year contract. Before workers organized in June 2023 through a card-check neutrality agreement, the Venetian Resort Las Vegas—which includes both The Venetian and The Palazzo properties—had been a decades-long holdout under the previous ownership as the Las Vegas Strip’s only nonunion property. If ratified by members, this would be the first union contract covering the more than 4,000 food, beverage, housekeeping, bar, lounge and bell department workers at the casino resorts. A committee of more than 100 staff participated in every main table negotiating session and subcommittee meeting over the past year, resulting in a milestone TA with standard protections, such as health care benefits, language on increased worker security regarding sexual harassment and immigration, a pension and more. The deal also secured wins including the largest wage increases ever, workload reductions, daily room cleaning for guest room attendants, safety protections for workers on the job and recall rights. “I’m happy to have the union protections and voice we deserve,” said Sergio Javier Andrade, floor attendant at The Venetian Resort for 17 years, in a union press release. “This new contract is a game-changer for all of us—getting such a significant wage increase and a pension, is something we’ve been working toward for a long time, and to see it happen this morning is exciting, and I appreciate the Culinary Union and The Venetian Resort working together to make it happen. We’ve worked hard for this for over a year, and I feel very proud of what we were able to accomplish together. By voting yes to ratify, we’re setting ourselves up for a better, more secure future.”

WMATA Metro Workers Ratify New Contract: With 90% in approval, Washington Metro workers overwhelmingly ratified a new contract between the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority Board and their union, the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 689. The ratification vote took place Monday, and Local 689 announced Wednesday that the WMATA Board has concurred, making the new agreement official. ATU represents over 8,500 workers across the regional transit system who are indispensable in keeping the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area moving. The new contract includes major victories to improve members’ livelihoods, WMATA’s fiscal responsibility and system accountability. “The contract overwhelmingly approved by Metro workers is a huge win for the dedicated transit professionals who move our region day in and day out,” said ATU Local 689 President Raymond Jackson. “We negotiated a fair and equitable deal with the Authority ensuring our members continue to receive fair compensation they’ve earned while also enforcing accountability throughout the system. Notably, we were able to get retiree healthcare back for many of our members while also guaranteeing that everyone would see raises through the life of this contract.”

Workers at Hyatt Regency Crystal City Vote Decisively to Organize Despite Anti-Union Campaign: Despite weeks of aggressive anti-union campaigning from hotel management, a majority of housekeepers at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City in Arlington, Virginia, voted Friday to join UNITE HERE Local 25. After a supermajority of staff signed union authorization cards, housekeepers at the hotel filed for a union election on July 12. Hyatt then began an intensive anti-union crusade inside, which included regular anti-union meetings and distribution of anti-union literature. In the face of these attempts at undermining their organizing, workers picketed outside the hotel every Saturday with the support of labor allies and local lawmakers until their scheduled National Labor Relations Board election this past Friday. While the fight isn’t over, housekeepers are hoping that forming a union will help them address their workload and benefits concerns. “We are so excited and proud,” said Olga Ortiz, a housekeeper at the hotel and a leader on the organizing campaign. “It didn’t matter what the company threw at us—we stood strong and stood together. Now we are preparing to win our first contract with fairer workloads, higher pay and affordable benefits.”

TA Reached Between OHSU and Postdoc Workers United: After almost a year of negotiations, postdoctoral researchers reached their first tentative agreement (TA) last week on a four-year contract with Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU). Members of OHSU Postdoc Workers United—an affiliate of the Oregon AFSCME Council 75—certified their union back in May 2023. After repeated lowball proposals from the public research university, workers earlier this month voted with 87.5% support to authorize a strike that would have started Thursday. But thanks to the dedication of the bargaining committee, the 250 members of Postdoc Workers United have avoided a strike and will now decide whether to accept an exciting new agreement. The deal includes a 6% pay increase upon ratification, with annual increases of 3.5% through the life of the contract, provisions that support international postdocs, increased paid time off, a commitment to forming a joint labor-management committee and more. “It’s been a long haul,” said Paige Arneson-Wissink, a pancreatic cancer researcher who is on the bargaining team. “Our union was able to stand strong in our belief that this is what we deserved. There were a lot of smiles in the room last night.”

New Mexico School for the Deaf Educators Form Union: Staff at the New Mexico School for the Deaf (NMSD) joined AFT New Mexico earlier this month, forming a wall-to-wall union at the Santa Fe campus. The New Mexico School for the Deaf Faculty & Staff Association bargaining unit includes all workers, from educators to bus drivers to administrative secretaries and more. The state Public Employee Labor Relations Board voted Aug. 6 to ratify the results of a union card-check, and the union has described the organizing process as a “relatively amicable” one. The workers who staff the school—which serves students from prekindergarten to 12th grade—really united over the need to secure wages that keep up with the high costs of living in Santa Fe. Funding for the institution comes from the state, but unlike other public schools, the NMSD doesn’t get money on a per-student basis. So, if the New Mexico Legislature passes a raise for teachers, it doesn’t necessarily mean these staff will receive a pay increase. Members are hoping that with the union, they can better negotiate for transparency and consistency in their salaries and benefits.

Torrance Nurses Ratify New Contract by Overwhelming Majority: Registered nurses (RNs) at Providence Little Company of Mary Medical Center in Torrance, California, voted late last week with 89% supporting the ratification of a new three-year contract. The RNs are represented by the California Nurses Association, an affiliate of National Nurses United (NNU), and have been bargaining for this agreement since April of this year. Thanks to the bargaining unit’s unfaltering unity—including during an informational picket in June—members are celebrating a powerful new contract that secures critical provisions members need to continue delivering quality care to patients. Highlights of the deal include strengthened health and safety measures, the establishment of an equity and inclusion committee focused on diversity, language to ensure nurses can take their breaks with safe staffing levels and a 14.5% across-the-board wage increase over the three-year term. “We’re very proud of what we were able to achieve,” said Maria Chavez, an RN in the telemetry oncology unit. “We now have an agreement that we think will improve our recruitment and retention rates of RNs, including our vastly expanded educational program that offers RNs tuition assistance and more.”

Maine Can Now Order Employers to Pay Workers Back Pay and Damages for Missed Wages: A new law went into effect Friday in Maine that will give the state Department of Labor more tools to hold businesses accountable for failure to pay workers the wages they are rightfully owed. Aimed at fighting wage theft, this legislation empowers the Labor Department to order an employer to pay both the unpaid wages as well as damages equal to twice the amount of those wages with interest. The bill is a major win in the effort to combat a widespread issue. The Maine Center for Economic Policy reports that minimum wage violations in Maine amounted to an estimated $30 million in 2017. Additionally, they found that between 2021 to 2023, employers who were caught violating wage and hour laws paid an average penalty of just $9.61 per violation. To make it worse, only 10.7% of the assessed fines were actually paid. “In my 25 years working in the construction industry I have seen countless examples of disreputable contractors taking advantage of non-union workers and cheating them out of their hard-earned wages and benefits,” said Maine AFL-CIO vice president and Ironworkers Local 7 member, Grant Provost. “When the punishment for violating wage and hour protections is just a slap on the wrist, companies have a perverse incentive to break the law and treat fines as a cost of doing business. This law will finally put some teeth in our labor laws to hold corporate lawbreakers accountable and ensure working Mainers are paid fully for an honest day’s work.”

NLRB Rules in Favor of NPEU Over Member’s Illegal Termination: The Nonprofit Professional Employees Union (NPEU) is celebrating a huge win after the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled on Wednesday that the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) acted illegally when it terminated a worker who was punished for raising concerns about poor working conditions at the nonprofit. NPEU, a local of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE), represents professionals employed at more than 50 nonprofit organizations. An administrative law judge for the agency found that the ACLU did in fact violate the National Labor Relations Act by denying NPEU member Kate Oh a transfer and discharging her in retaliation for exercising her right to engage in protected concerted activities. As a remedy, the judge ordered the ACLU to offer her reinstatement and to make her whole for any loss of earnings and other benefits. “This decision sends a clear message: no one is above the law, including and especially powerful management officials claiming to champion civil liberties with their words while illegally doing the opposite with their actions,” said Oh. “I am deeply grateful for my union having my back and for an NLRB that seeks to vindicate workers’ rights.” Amy Chin-Lai, president of NPEU, added: “We are thrilled with the NLRB’s decision, which protects the fundamental rights of workers to advocate for better working conditions and speak out without fear of retaliation. Kate Oh’s dedication to her colleagues and her resilience in the face of unlawful treatment exemplify the spirit of our union. I am proud to call her a union sister. We look forward to finishing a first contract for all of our ACLU workers who fight for civil liberties, including Kate.”