A federal judge found merit in a case filed by retired coal miners alleging that CONSOL Energy engaged in a decades-long scheme to rob them of lifetime health benefits that were promised as a condition of employment (Karen Kasmauski | Getty Images)

Several retired coal miners are feeling validated this month as a federal judge found merit in their case alleging that CONSOL Energy engaged in a decades-long scheme to rob them of lifetime health benefits for them and their spouses that were promised as a condition of employment.

The coal miners who brought the case all worked at CONSOL Energy mines between 1969 and 2014. Unlike many of their colleagues, they abstained from joining a union to work in the CONSOL mines, largely due to promises made by leaders at CONSOL that if the workers stayed non-union, they would earn higher wages and receive lifetime health benefits that were competitive with those offered by the United Mine Workers of America.

Thousands of miners took CONSOL operators at their word that their benefits would remain as long as they served the company for at least 10 years or worked until they were 55 years old. The promises of lifetime health benefits were repeated time and time again — at human resources fairs, informational workshops for employees, company picnics and more — to workers across different states and different mining operations.

But in 2014, as many of the miners were forced to retire in preceding years due to downsizing at the mines and a sale of some CONSOL properties to Murray Energy, those promises were proven to be false.

Miners — who were told numerous times without question that their health coverage would persist for them and their spouses into retirement — began getting letters saying that coverage was coming to an end.

Allan “A.J.” Jack, a 75-year-old former coal miner who retired in 2009 after spending 18 of his 39 year career underground for CONSOL in Pennsylvania, remembers getting the initial letter in the fall of 2014 telling him the benefits would expire in 2019. Less than a year later, he received another letter from CONSOL, this one saying both he and his wife’s medical, dental and prescription insurance coverage would end on Dec. 31, 2015.

“I was devastated. I mean, you retire and you just know that you’re going to have this,” Jack said in an interview with West Virginia Watch. “Why would anybody tell you time and time again that you were going to have these benefits and then take them away? It really is devastating.”

Jack was initially told of the lifetime health benefits in an orientation in 1991. He was working at another mine in Pennsylvania at the time but — based largely on the promises of lifetime benefits, which were already guaranteed to miners affiliated with the UMWA, and a 401(k), which union miners did not qualify for — decided to leave his job and begin work at the Enlow Fork mine in southwestern Pennsylvania.

Throughout his nearly two decades with CONSOL, not one manager mentioned to him that the company reserved the right to terminate the retiree benefits at any time.

According to the order issued on Sept. 30 by Senior U.S. District Judge John T. Copenhaver Jr., the fact that CONSOL executives repeatedly failed to tell employees working for the company in different states, at different mining operations and in different departments this fact was a clear misrepresentation of benefits and therefore a violation of the company’s fiduciary obligations.

Terry Prater, a 69-year-old who worked for CONSOL for 15 years in Kentucky, unexpectedly retired from his job on Sept. 30, 2014. He showed up to work for his evening shift that day like he usually did. In the middle of his shift, Gerald Kowzan — who worked in human resources for CONSOL — addressed employees, telling them that anyone who retired on or after Oct. 1 would not be receiving their promised lifetime health, dental and prescription insurance benefits. A coworker asked what would happen if they retired before midnight. Kowzan told them if they did, they could get the benefits for five years.

“There were six of us there on the night shift who had put the time in and were of age to retire. So at 11 o’clock, we hollered in the foreman’s radio. We told him to come and get us, we’re retiring,” Prater said. “I got my insurance and kept it for 15 months, then I got the letter that it was going to be taken away. Just like that and it was gone.”

A ‘union-busting scheme’

Sam Petsonk, a labor rights attorney who litigated the CONSOL case along with attorneys from the nonprofit legal advocacy organization Mountain State Justice, said the repeated lies told by CONSOL to its employees were clearly part of an overarching scheme to keep the mines from being unionized.

This was despite attempts at those mines by workers over decades to gain union recognition and join the UMWA.

“Anyone who’s lived in Appalachia over the last 30 years has watched this union-busting scheme unfold. I mean, many miners wanted to organize a union at these operations,” Petsonk said. “I grew up in these communities. I watched the parents of many of my friends choose to work in non-union jobs because of misrepresentations just like this. An entire generation of wealth that our miners thought they had earned is now gone because of these broken promises.”

Before beginning to offer the promise that CONSOL employees would have lifetime benefits, the company was a “wall-to-wall” union operation, Petsonk said. The misrepresentations were an attempt to compete with union operations, where workers were guaranteed more protections and legally mandated to receive those lifetime benefits through an act of congress.

“The judge found and agreed that Bobby Brown, the CEO of CONSOL [at the time] directed this scheme to defraud thousands of Appalachian coal miners out of joining the union, out of gaining those benefits,” Petsonk said. “That’s what the judge found, that is a finding of fact in this record.”

And the misrepresentations weren’t the only union-busting activities happening at the CONSOL mines. Other attempts were more direct and explicit — and they worked.

Jack remembers colleagues of his at the Enlow-Bailey mining complex beginning work to unionize around 1992. There were picket lines, walkouts and other traditional unionizing attempts. Jack said they had things thrown at them. Four of his tires were slashed. He and his colleagues were threatened and told that unionizing would lower their wages and mean worse health insurance.

“We retired thinking that way, thinking, ‘man, we did have better pay and we’re going to have all these great retirement benefits,’” Jack said. “Well, in the end we ended up with nothing. They gave us nothing they told us they would and they left us all without.”

Jack said it was clear that the attempts by CONSOL to remain non-union was a scheme because of how widespread the lies were told.

Sitting in a courtroom in 2021, when the case went to trial, he remembers looking around at other former miners he’d never met. Most worked in other states, many in different parts of the coal mining operations. All of them, however, had been fed the same lines about lifetime benefits throughout their careers, and now all of them were going without those promised benefits.

“I’m from Pennsylvania. There were some there from West Virginia, from Kentucky. And I just said to the judge, ‘isn’t it amazing that I never saw any of these people before? That we don’t know each other? But we all were told the same thing by the same people,” Jack recalls. “I mean, what are the odds of that? It was clear that it was planned to tell everybody the same thing and to just renege on the whole thing, right?”

What the case means and what’s next for the affected miners

The case brought to the federal court was not an all around win. Only two of the seven plaintiffs — including Prater — were successful in proving their cases against CONSOL, and those successes were only granted in part. Others were thrown out due to limitations with the claims process, missed deadlines and other technical reasons, as well as not enough clear evidence proving that they individually were misled by the company’s leadership.

Overall, at least 3,000 miners were affected by the misrepresentations and lies from CONSOL operators over decades. Petsonk said that while it’s good that the court saw clear merit in the case and the claims made within it, much work remains to get justice for all the miners. In last month’s order, the judge wrote that the claims would likely need to be decided on a case-by-case basis.

But that’s nearly impossible, Petsonk said.

Now, he and his colleagues are reassessing and moving forward with filing an appeal to last month’s order in the hopes that the case can turn into a class action proceeding for all those affected.

“We’re very grateful to the judge for finding merit in this case [but] we’re going to ask the appeals court to review, to see this as a class action,” Petsonk said.

In the meantime, however, those affected like Prater and Jack will remain in limbo.

While the judge ruled partially in favor of Prater, his benefits won’t kick back in until all appeals are adjudicated. And while the judge agreed that Jack proved his claims against CONSOL, his claim came too late to entitle him to a remedy.

For Jack, who was grateful to the judge for agreeing with his claims, continuing to go without the benefits is having real repercussions in his and his wife’s lives.

Throughout Jack’s last 25 years of employment, he never missed a single day of work. He took pride in what he did and believed those above him who promised his commitment would be worth it.

And coal mining, as well as aging, is hard on the body. Both Prater, Jack and their wives are paying thousands of dollars a year for out-of-pocket medical expenses that they never planned for.

In the years since their promised lifetime benefits were pulled, it’s been difficult for Jack and his wife to enjoy their retirement.

“When you’re working that long, especially for a coal mine, it’s three different shifts, it’s weekends, it’s long hours and a lot of things that you want to do in life, you sort of pull off until you retire,” Jack said. “Hopefully, at that time, your health is good enough to do those things. And so now we want to make plans to maybe travel a little bit, do the things we weren’t able to do when we were younger, but then these medical expenses come up that you never thought you’d have to pay. Those plans you have, you’re putting them aside again, and this time until when?”

This story is republished from West Virginia Watch, a sister publication to the Kentucky Lantern and part of the nonprofit States Newsroom network.

A youngster holds up a pro-union sign during a break between speeches at Laborfest in Milwaukee. Both presidential candidates are trying to appeal to union members. (Erik Gunn | Wisconsin Examiner)

Editor’s note: This five-day series explores the priorities of voters in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin as they consider the upcoming presidential election. With the outcome expected to be close, these “swing states” may decide the future of the country.

Wisconsin carpenter Efrain Campos just retired this summer after 30 years, working mostly in commercial multi-story buildings — “from 15 floors and up,” he said. For him the last four years have been a boom period.

On Labor Day, Campos, 68, was among the thousands of union members and their families who turned out for Laborfest on Milwaukee’s festival grounds on the shores of Lake Michigan.

He had planned to vote for President Joe Biden for a second term in office, but when the Democratic Party pivoted to Vice President Kamala Harris as its candidate, he pivoted as well. “We need somebody to help the middle people,” he said, “so they can advance, get a little bit better than what we are now.”

Campos dismisses the notion that the Republican candidate, former President Donald Trump, is a pro-worker candidate despite Trump’s populist appeal that grabbed a slice of the working class electorate in 2016.

“Not at all,” he said. “It’s ignorant. He’s a rich man, he gets his way. That’s not what this country is about.”

As the Nov. 5 presidential election nears, Democrats are counting on union workers to deliver voters, particularly in the swing states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and Nevada where unions have remained an influential bloc, even as their strength has declined over the decades.

Many labor union leaders say they’re working as hard as they ever have to oppose Republican candidate and former President Donald Trump and elect Vice President Kamala Harris. The AFL-CIO, a federation of 60 unions that range from Major League Baseball players to firefighters to workers in the food industry, has endorsed Harris.

A growing share of rank-and-file union members, however, have been less likely to follow their leadership — some of them among Trump’s base.

“It has to be recognized that union members are not monolithic in terms of the party they support,” said Paul Clark, a professor of labor and employment relations at Penn State University. “Many unions have 30, 40, maybe 50% or more of their members who either are registered Republicans or are going to support Donald Trump in this election.”

Last week, International Brotherhood of Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien announced the union’s executive council would not endorse either ticket and cited the support of a majority of his members for Trump. (The Teamsters aren’t part of the AFL-CIO).

Other union leaders insist that O’Brien is an outlier.

Nick Webber, a political organizer for the North American Building Trades Unions, said, “It’s unprecedented the amount of interest in people in getting involved” as he marshals? union canvassers this fall for the Democratic national ticket. He said in his conversations he’s hearing union members say “not only, ‘am I going to be voting,’ and [that they’re] tuned in, but ‘how can I get involved’ and ‘doing my part.’”

Appeals to steel and culinary workers

When Biden dropped out July 21, the national executive council of the 12.5 million-member AFL-CIO endorsed Harris the next day “because we knew that the administration that has been fighting for working people for the last three and a half years, we know what they’ve delivered, and we knew that her record spoke for itself,” said Liz Shuler, national AFL-CIO president, in an interview with NC Newsline.

But the Trump campaign is continuing to try to reach union voters, even as union leaders argue his record as president and his rhetoric — such as suggesting in a conversation with Elon Musk that employers should fire strikers — should make him unacceptable.

In an appeal to United Steelworkers, the most powerful union in western Pennsylvania, Trump said in January he would block a potential acquisition of U.S. Steel by Japan-based Nippon Steel.

Nevertheless the union endorsed Biden, who said in a visit in April he also opposed the sale. Both he and Harris reiterated that stance during a Labor Day visit to Pittsburgh. “I couldn’t agree more with President Biden: U.S. Steel should remain in American hands,” Harris said.

In Nevada, Trump held a rally in June where he proposed ending federal taxes on tipped income — an appeal aimed at the workers in the state’s largest industry, hotel-casinos.

Harris adopted the no-tax-on-tips position as well in a visit in August, a day after the powerful Culinary Workers Local Union 226, endorsed her. The union reports that its 60,000 members are 55% women and 60% immigrants.

In a return visit in August, Trump suggested his “no tax on tips” position would draw Culinary members’ support — “A lot of them are voting for us, I can tell you that,” he said.

But the union responded by doubling down on its support for Harris, who on a visit months before had celebrated the union’s successful contract negotiations with the Las Vegas Strip’s largest gambling-resort corporations.

“Kamala Harris has promised to raise the minimum wage for all workers — including tipped workers — and eliminate tax on tips,” said Culinary Vice President Leain Vashon. Vashon said Trump didn’t help tipped workers while he was president, so “Why would we trust him? Kamala has a plan, Trump has a slogan.”

Making the case

For most union leaders, the case for Harris is the stark contrast they see between Trump’s record in the White House from 2016 to 2020 and that of his successor.

“When you talk about the politics of what’s at stake in this election, it’s very clear,” said Kent Miller, president and business manager for the Laborers Union Wisconsin District Council.

The 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law, the 2022 bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act and the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, which passed with only Democratic votes, opened the sluices to fund a range of investments in roads and bridges, clean energy and electric vehicle infrastructure.

The programs include strong incentives for union labor and for the enrollment of new apprentices in training programs operated by unions and their employers.

Larry Davis, a Michigan United Auto Workers local president, said Biden-Harris administration policies helped boost the auto industry.

“I can just go from Detroit-Hamtramck, [which was] on the brink of closing, and now you have over 3,000 almost 4,000 workers in there now,” Davis said.

But the messages unions have been pushing about manufacturing growth, the infrastructure advances and jobs — even unemployment rates that have fallen to just over 4% nationally and 3% or lower in states such as Wisconsin — have been slow to resonate with voters who are focused on higher prices resulting from supply chain shortages.

“Part of that is the investment is still in the works,” said William Jones, a labor historian at the University of Minnesota. “It was slow to be distributed, and it depended largely on state and local government taking it up and creating jobs. It’s possible some people haven’t felt the full impact.”

Jones also suggests there may have been inadequate messaging from the administration — something that unions are trying to make up for in their member outreach.

Beyond what Miller and other union leaders see as those bread-and-butter accomplishments are other policy stakes in who holds the White House, such as the makeup of the National Labor Relations Board and who holds the post of general counsel, the principal architect of the agency’s legal perspective.

Those differences further underscore what most union leaders see as a sharp distinction between the two tickets. “We’ve seen both these movies before,” said Webber of the electrical workers union.

Under the Trump administration the NLRB veered to positions less favorable to unions, Miller observed. Under Biden, it has issued more decisions that have supported union positions.

How much does Trump appeal?

Can the former president succeed in once again carving out some support among union voters?

Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan, all previously reliable Democratic states with strong union political involvement, famously flipped to Trump by narrow margins in 2016, leading to Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton’s defeat that year. All three flipped back to help carry Biden to victory against Trump in 2020.

Jones said Trump’s criticism of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 2016 — enacted under Democratic President Bill Clinton in 1993 — “helped him among a certain demographic in 2016” — primarily working class white men from rural and small town regions.

When Teamsters President O’Brien announced the union wouldn’t make an endorsement this year, the union released a poll of rank-and-file members that found nearly 60% support for Trump compared to 31% for Harris. The union said the survey was conducted by Lake Research Partners, a Democratic polling firm.

O’Brien’s announcement followed his precedent-breaking speech to the Republican National Convention in July, where he called Trump “one tough SOB,” proclaimed a willingness to work with either political party and attacked business lobbies and corporations.

“I think he feels that at least half of his members are Trump supporters,” said Clark, the Penn State professor, in an interview before the non-endorsement announcement. “And while I think he recognizes that Biden has been very pro-labor, you know, politically, I think he felt a need to sort of send a message to his members that he hears them.”

The outcome opened up a rift in the union, however. Within hours of O’Brien’s announcement, local, state and regional Teamsters bodies representing at least 500,000 members of the 1.3 million-member union endorsed Harris, including groups? in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and Nevada.

The pro-Harris Teamsters highlighted Biden’s role in signing legislation, included in the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act, that shored up the union’s Central States Pension Fund. The fund faced insolvency by 2026 after years of underfunding.

In a statement, Bill Carroll, president of the union’s Council 39, representing about 15,000 Wisconsin Teamsters, said Harris would also build on Biden’s pro-union record. “In contrast, Donald Trump tried to gut workers’ rights as president by appointing union busters to the NLRB and advocating for national right-to-work,” Carroll said. “Trump’s project 2025 would go even further, attacking the ability for unions to even have the ability to organize.”

The labor-related provisions in the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 document — billed as a blueprint for the next Republican White House — include proposals that experts have said would eliminate public sector unions nationwide, make forming private sector unions more difficult and allow states to opt out of federal labor laws. Other proposals would reduce federal protections for workers whether unionized or not.

Union messaging to members has emphasized the document and its ties to Trump, despite his repeated disavowal of the agenda and claims of ignorance about its contents.

“It is absolutely his plan,” the AFL-CIO’s Shuler told NC Newsline. “He’s had over 100 former administration officials and the Heritage Foundation basically writing the blueprint for his next term, which would eliminate unions as we know it.”

Reaching out to members

Union leaders say they’re trying to make sure their members are seeing the campaign the way they see it.

In Nevada, where the Culinary’s canvassing and get-out-the-vote effort is regarded as one of the state’s most formidable, the union boasts that during the 2022 campaign cycle it knocked on 1 million doors.

This year, UNITE HERE says it is once again mobilizing its members and plans to knock on more than 3 million doors in Nevada, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Ohio, North Carolina and Michigan “to ensure that Kamala Harris wins the presidency.”

In Wisconsin, the Laborers are building political messaging into a union project to engage members more closely, “connecting union members with other union members,” Miller said, to explain how negotiations affect wages and health and retirement benefits, as well as the importance of increasing union representation.

“We’re a jobs club,” Miller said. The message to the union members, he adds, is that “at the end of the day it’s everybody’s right to decide who to vote for — but we want to let you guys know these are the issues at stake in this upcoming election.”

Experienced union members are holding one-on-one conversations, particularly with newer and younger members. “We’re not just doing phone calls, we’re doing job site visits, and member-to-member doing doors,” Miller said.

Webber’s work with the building trades group is similar. “We’ve been doing a lot of reaching out and making sure to have those conversations,” he said — on job sites and during union meetings.

The message: “These jobs don’t come out of thin air,” Webber says. “There’s been strategic, intentional investment for a need in the community.”

The communications don’t just focus on other union members, either, he said. “You need to be sure people on the periphery of the union hear [the message],” said Webber. “Union household members are a huge part of these conversations — a partner, a spouse or child.”

On Monday, the United Auto Workers union unveiled a national YouTube video aimed directly at members who might still see Trump through the lens of his attacks on NAFTA in his first presidential campaign.

The UAW has endorsed Harris. In the 3 1/2-minute video, UAW President Shawn Fain finds both Democrats and Republicans culpable for NAFTA and the factory closings over the quarter-century since it was enacted. In 2016, Fain says, “All of that pain had to go somewhere. And for a lot of working-class people, it went to voting for Donald Trump.”

The video, however, portrays Trump as a con man, highlighting his 2017 tax cut as favoring the wealthy and the USMCA, the trade law Trump enacted, as no better than NAFTA, which it replaced.

While emphasizing that “both parties have done harm to the working class,” Fain said that under Biden and Harris, “we’ve seen the tide starting to turn.”

Under Biden there’s been “more manufacturing investment in this country than at any point in my lifetime,” he says, and under Harris, “the Democratic Party is getting back to its roots.”

Paula Uhing is president of the local Steelworkers union at a suburban Milwaukee factory. She’s another enthusiastic Harris supporter, but said she and other labor leaders “know that we still have a lot of work to do” to pull more union voters behind the vice president.

“We have so many union members that vote against their own interests,” Uhing said. “It’s just because they’re not paying attention, they’re not listening to the right people.”

She describes herself as “optimistically cautious,” though. One reason has been some of the conversations she’s had with coworkers.

“There are people at work who are not necessarily turning away from the Republican Party altogether, but they are considering the Democratic ticket,” Uhing said. “They’re looking at it in a completely different way than they did last cycle, which is a good thing.”

Kim Lyons, Pennsylvania Capital-Star; Hugh Jackson, Nevada Current; Rob Schofield, NC Newsline; and Andrew Roth, for Michigan Advance, contributed reporting for this story.

Almost 8,000 holders of H2-A visas worked on Kentucky farms in fiscal 2023, including harvesting burley tobacco. (Getty Images)

Seven Kentucky farmers last week sued the U.S. Department of Labor to block new federal protections for foreign farmworkers who enter the country on H2-A temporary visas.

On Monday Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman joined them, saying the new rule would clear the way for farmworkers in Kentucky to unionize.

Also moving to intervene to block the new rule are Republican attorneys general in Alabama, Ohio and West Virginia, according to a release from Coleman’s office.

A federal judge in Georgia earlier this year blocked the Biden administration from enforcing the rule in 17 other states.

Announced in April, the rule expands protections to seasonal workers, including against employer retaliation, unsafe working conditions and illegal recruitment practices. It requires that vans used to transport workers have seat belts.

Coleman, a Republican, said the new regulation “would force Kentucky farmers to allow temporary foreign-migrant workers to form a union and engage in collective bargaining. It would add excessive new bureaucratic burdens to Kentucky agricultural employers, who are already struggling to make ends meet.”

The Labor Department issued H2-A visas to 378,000 temporary workers, most from Mexico, in fiscal year 2023, according to Rural Migration News. Almost 8,000 of the temporary workers were employed in Kentucky.

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court of Kentucky’s Eastern District, also include organizations that help growers navigate the H2-A process, including the Lexington-based Agriculture Workforce Management Association, which says it is “owned and managed by agricultural employers.”

They argue that without authorization from Congress, the Labor Department lacks the authority to confer “certain new ‘rights’ on foreign agricultural workers who are employed temporarily in the United States on H-2A visas, as well as on American agricultural workers deemed to be engaged in ‘corresponding employment’ with the H-2A workers.”?

Federal law requires the Labor Department to determine U.S. workers won’t lose work or wages to foreign workers admitted under the temporary visas.

Unveiling the rule in a California vineyard, U.S. Labor Secretary Julie Su said it “is meant to give H2-A workers more ability to advocate for themselves, to speak up when they experience labor law abuses.”?

Coleman said the rule “will force new burdens on our growers, making it harder to get their products to market and raising costs on families at the grocery store.”

The attorney who filed the suit, Joe Bilby, is a former general counsel in the Kentucky Department of Agriculture.

Porchá Perry demonstrates with other workers in Lansing, Michigan, in favor of bills restoring local control to pass workforce and labor policies on Sept.13, 2023. A new report finds growing union organizing across the country has triggered an anti-labor legislative response in some states, but cities and counties are increasingly pushing back. (Photo courtesy of SEIU Local 1)

Growing union organizing across the country has triggered an anti-labor legislative response in some states, but cities and counties are increasingly pushing back, a new report found.

The report, released this month?by the New York University Wagner Labor Initiative and Local Progress Impact Lab, a group for local elected officials focused on economic and racial justice issues, cites examples of localities all over the U.S. using commissions to document working conditions, creating roles for protecting workers in the heat and educating workers on their labor rights.

In the face of increased worker organizing and Americans’ higher approval of labor unions in the past few years (hitting levels not seen since the 1960s), many states have introduced bills aimed at stopping payroll deduction for union dues and punishing employers that voluntarily recognize a union through the card check process. In April, several governors in Southern states, including Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi, advocated against auto workers voting for a union.

“We know that there has been an increase in worker organizing and definitely an increase in high-profile worker organizing and certainly that action has had a reaction,” said Terri Gerstein, director of the NYU Wagner Labor Initiative and co-author of the report.

Kentucky kids deserve better than being exploited like it’s 1899

However, state preemption laws, which can make local ordinances void and could prevent many localities from implementing more worker-friendly policies, are also on the rise. There was a surge in preemption laws from 2015 to 2017 on everything from the minimum wage to paid leave, according to a June 2024 analysis from the Economic Policy Institute, a left-of-center think tank.

Although the passage of preemption legislation has slowed, according to the EPI analysis, the effects on localities are still damaging to workers’ rights, authors of the report explain. But labor and policy experts say there are still opportunities for localities to push back against efforts to limit labor organizing and gut the enforcement of labor protections.

“Localities are doing more to fight for working people and advance workers’ rights, and I think in states where there is rampant state hostility and abusive state preemption, local governments are also the leaders of trying to advance workers rights in those states and address new challenges and threats like heat, for example,” said the report’s other co-author, LiJia Gong, the policy and legal director at Local Progress.

Some business organizations, such as the National Federation of Independent Business, say preemption laws help small businesses, which don’t have the capacity “to navigate duplicative, overlapping and potentially contradictory local labor laws.”

“NFIB has supported legislation that creates statewide, uniform standards for minimum wage rates and legislation that establishes a preemption of paid sick leave proposals by local governments,” the group said in a prepared statement.

Gerstein and Gong argue that these efforts are not always concerned with uniformity, such as taking away a locality’s ability to raise the minimum wage when the state does not set a higher minimum wage itself.

In states where there isn’t state-level wage enforcement, localities can pass ordinances that allow workers to file complaints and get stolen wages back without a lawyer, as some Florida localities have done.

There are also things cities and counties can do to prevent heat-related injuries and illnesses, including in the workplace. Miami-Dade County, Phoenix, and Los Angeles have chief heat officers whose role it is to protect people from the effects of extreme heat.

“Unlike a lot of other hazards, people don’t really understand how dangerous workplace heat is and that there are workplace fatalities. But research also shows that there are high rates of worker injuries and accidents of various kinds on hotter days,” Gerstein said.

Amid state efforts to weaken child labor laws, schools are also some of the best tools localities have to ensure kids aren’t working in dangerous conditions, the authors said. School boards could use their power to include workers’ rights education in the curricula, for example.

“School districts can do a lot to educate families on child labor laws and age-appropriate employment opportunities, and they can also play an important role in identifying students who might be working in prohibited occupations and refer those cases to state and federal labor enforcers,” Gong said.

Worker boards can also document and seek to improve working conditions on the local level. The boards, created by local governments, have worker representation and can conduct worker outreach and make policy recommendations on wages and benefits. Last year, the Detroit City Council voted to create an industry standards board for workers at pro sports facilities including Ford Field, Little Caesars Arena, and Comerica Park.

Board member Porchá Perry, a mother of two children who works at Comerica Park and Ford Field, said her role is reaching out to workers to share their experience of working conditions. Workers say they are concerned about low wages, child care, transportation and safety. Perry said that although she is personally less concerned about finding child care, she wouldn’t have to work multiple jobs if wages were higher and she would be able to see her kids more.

“It’s hard to have quality time,” she said.

The board also has spots for city council members and the mayor’s office.

“It’s a voice for everybody – government officials, employees, the management department. It’s somewhere for everybody to sit at the table and speak,” she said.

Britain Forsyth, legislative coordinator for Step Up Louisiana, a group that organizes for economic and education justice, said New Orleans has focused on becoming a model employer. New Orleans increased the minimum wage to $13.25 for city employees, which became effective in 2022, and rose to $15 in 2023. In 2023, the New Orleans City Council codified city employees’ right to organize. Louisiana does not have a state minimum wage law, so the city’s minimum wage is far above $7.25, the federal minimum wage.

Step Up Louisiana is also working to pass a workers’ bill of rights on the November ballot in New Orleans. It would add to the bill of rights in the city’s home rule charter that workers deserve a living wage, paid leave, safe workplaces and health care coverage and says that all laws and regulations regarding unions should be respected.

“We call the question to the city about what we believe in, and we make it clear to employers here and folks who want to open businesses here that this is how we think workers should be treated,” he said.

Authors of the report also suggest that more localities should take on wage theft, since state and federal authorities frequently struggle to enforce wage judgments and recover wages.

These agencies are often under-resourced, have frequent staff turnover and manage complex cases, Gerstein said. Local labor agencies could provide help conducting interviews or prepare cases for state or federal agencies to follow up on. San Diego County has a fund for staff to pursue employers for wages and provides $3,000 to people who are victims of wage theft and have final unpaid wage orders from the state.

Gerstein said she’s seeing cutting-edge approaches to enforcing worker protections in places like Seattle, Boston, New York City and Denver, where the state is friendlier to workers. For example, in Sept 2022, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu created the Worker Empowerment Cabinet, including the Office of Labor Compliance and Worker Protections.

Jodi Sugerman-Brozan, Boston’s deputy chief of worker empowerment and the director of the office of labor compliance and worker protections, said her office has done educational outreach, including free OSHA training sessions for over 1,200 people and a set of trainings for how to create a heat illness prevention plan. Last year, Wu signed an ordinance that requires certain safety standards and training for city construction projects.

“Cities and countries don’t have a lot of power but they can use the power of contracting and vending to drive labor standards,” Sugerman-Brozan said.

But Gerstein added that local governments in more employer-friendly states are also stepping up to advocate for workers.

“It’s a very different landscape where the local government may be the only place where the government is standing up for workers,” she said. “There is largely stagnation in Congress because of the filibuster and other reasons, an unfriendly state government, and your state department of labor isn’t particularly worker protective and is more focused on being employer and business-friendly. State AG offices aren’t really doing anything.”

Even a small local office can make a difference, Gerstein said.

“Hire dedicated staff to be the worker rights person. Create an office and an army of one. That’s how these things can start.”

A new federal rule is aimed at reducing coal miners’ exposure to silica dust, a leading cause of black lung disease. (Getty Images)

This Labor Day, as a new federal rule is being rolled out to prevent deadly black lung disease in miners, Christopher Williamson is remembering the coal miners who fought for the creation of his agency and who weren’t afforded the protections that current and future workers hopefully will.

Williamson, assistant secretary for the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration, is a native of Mingo County in southern West Virginia which is separated from Kentucky by the Big Sandy River. Since he entered his federal position about two years ago, he’s focused heavily on developing and now? implementing the new silica rule that was finalized earlier this year.

“I come from the southern coalfields. I know mining. This issue is not one that needed to be explained to me … it was a priority for me from the moment I got confirmed and walked in the door at MSHA,” Williamson said. “Looking and reflecting on it in the context of Labor Day — especially in the context of all the labor history in West Virginia that I’m very familiar with and happened in my backyard — all these miners in West Virginia fought for my agency to be created, fought for these regulations that are in place, fought for the Mine Act to be put in place.”

When the Federal Mine Safety & Health Act of 1977 was passed, Williamson said, it’s main goal was made clear in the first sentence on its first page: “the first priority and concern of all in the coal or other mining industry must be the health and safety of its most precious resource — the miner,” the act reads.

Today, Williamson said, the new silica rule will, hopefully, do just that.

The new rule — initially proposed in July 2023 — implements for the first time ever a separate exposure limit for silica dust in mines, cuts the maximum exposure limit to 50 micrograms per cubic meter for a full-shift and creates an “action level” for when exposure comes at 25 micrograms per cubic meter for a full shift. It also establishes uniform exposure monitoring and control requirements for mine operators to follow as well as increasing sampling requirements. It was finalized in April and most of it began to go into effect in June.

The rule’s implementation comes more than five decades after the federal government first recommended limiting silica exposure among workers based on a wide body of evidence and years after other industries adopted similar standards to enforce the exposure limits of silica.

It also comes as younger coal miners in the region are being diagnosed with the disease at rates unseen by their predecessors due to a lack of easily accessible coal and an increase in the amount of silica-rich sandstone they have to dig through to reach what remains.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 20% of coal miners in central Appalachia are suffering from black lung — the highest rate detected for the disease in more than 25 years. One in 20 of those coal miners are living with the most severe form of the condition, and fatalities tied to black lung are steadily increasing in central Appalachia faster than the rest of the country.

“Unfortunately, there’s been too many generations of miners in West Virginia and other places that have had to sacrifice their lungs just to support their families,” Wiliamson said. “This rule is a huge step forward to try to prevent those types of things from happening.”

The rule grants MSHA, for the first time, the authority to issue citations at mines that report elevated levels of silica dust without efforts to remediate. When levels are too high, the agency can issue a withdrawal order, meaning workers must leave the mine until the levels drop and corrective actions are taken. Williamson said this alone is an improvement that will change how the agency is able to perform its oversight responsibilities.

“We have all these enforcement tools that we can’t use,” Williamson said. “For the first time, we’re going to be able to use the full suite of MSHA’s enforcement authority to protect miners from exposure to silica, and that’s huge. We hope we don’t have to use those things, but we will if we have to.”

The rule isn’t without its challenges, no matter how unlikely they may be to take hold.

In Congress, an appropriations bill for the federal Department of Labor is awaiting consideration by the U.S. House of Representatives. It contains a rider that, if adopted, would halt the use of any Department of Labor funding for the implementation of the rule. That bill previously passed a House subcommittee and the appropriations committee. The Senate’s version of the same appropriations bill, however, does not contain the same language.

Coal mining advocates have decried the efforts to stop the funding, which would complicate enforcement of the rule. Even if it’s not adopted — which is likely — they’ve said efforts by Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Ala., to include the language is “unconscionable, indefensible and frankly insulting” to the nation’s miners.

For Williamson, until something affecting the rule is actually passed, the efforts in Congress are little more than background noise. Officials at MSHA, he said, are staying busy educating those in the mining community about the new policies and ensuring resources are available to become compliant before enforcement starts next year.

“I appreciate the process and I appreciate that [Congress goes] through it, but we’re full steam ahead. We’re implementing this thing,” Williamson said. “We’ve got a mission to complete, we’ve got miners to protect, and unfortunately, there are too many that are out there that need this rule and need these health protections. We’re not going to sit around and wait. We’re moving full steam ahead.”

This story is republished from West Virginia Watch, a sister publication to the Kentucky Lantern and part of the nonprofit States Newsroom network.

Gov. Jim Justice stands with his family — daughter Jill, wife Cathy and son Jay — at his final State of the State address in Charleston, W.Va., on Jan. 10, 2024. (Office of the Gov. Jim Justice)

Federal attorneys asking a court to hold 23 of West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice’s family-owned coal companies in contempt for nonpayment of health and safety fines entered a filing this week saying the companies shouldn’t have entered into a payment plan if they knew they couldn’t honor it.

The filing, entered Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia and first reported by West Virginia MetroNews, comes in response to a memorandum filed last week by Justice family attorneys. In that filing, they contend that the companies in question are too broke to pay the nearly $600,000 they still owe to the government.

In Tuesday’s filing, the federal attorneys say this claim has been made with no evidence and, as such, should not be considered as a valid defense against putting the companies in contempt. Further, the companies should not have entered into a settlement agreement in 2020 if they knew they would not be able to pay what they owe on the set schedule.

“[The companies] willingly and knowingly entered into the payment plan and consent judgment in this case, representing to the government and the Court that it would comply with the payment plan in the consent judgment,” the filing reads. “However, they now claim that they faced financial difficulties at the time of the consent judgment that preclude them from being able to pay. If [the companies] knew they could not comply with the consent judgment at the time of execution, they should have said so.”

In 2023, according to the filing, representatives for the Justice companies told the government that they “had difficulty” making payments, but that the situation would be remedied by borrowing money from another business to catch up on payments. Federal representatives agreed at that time to adjust the payment plan.

“Yet once again, [the companies] failed to comply with the adjusted payment plan. [They] have not provided any explanation for their noncompliance,” the federal attorneys write. “Between August 2023 and?present, [the companies] did not communicate to the government an inability to pay on the modified schedule, nor did they seek alternative payment arrangements with the government.”

In a memorandum earlier this month asking the court to hold the companies in contempt, federal attorneys provided dozens of emails sent between Aug. 14, 2023 and July 9, 2024 reminding the companies of their debts and the past due amounts.

Responses from the companies’ attorneys were few, even as the companies fell months behind on their payments.

“Instead of notifying the government about their alleged inability to comply with the consent judgment, [the companies] have kept their proverbial heads in the sand,” the federal attorneys wrote in Tuesday’s filing. “Even when the government notified Defendants in July 2024 that the government would have no choice but to seek action with the Court unless payment in full was made, [they] offered no explanation or response.”

In last week’s memorandum from the Justice companies, attorneys argued that it would be improper to hold the companies in contempt since their financial struggles are not self-inflicted and have existed since they agreed upon the payment plan. They said the economic downturn in the coal industry is to blame for the financial challenges at the companies. The federal government, they continue, was aware of these challenges.

Since payments were being made — albeit sporadically — from 2020 on, the feds argued Tuesday that this defense shouldn’t stand.

Also in last week’s memorandum, Justice family attorneys requested discovery for the ongoing case. While alleging a dire financial situation at the companies, they did not provide any exhibits or evidence to back up this claim in their filing.

In Tuesday’s filing, federal attorneys say that the request for discovery is “unnecessary and a delay tactic.” The companies, they say, are responsible for proving they are unable to meet their financial obligations and evidence underscoring that claim can be presented at a hearing for the case if it exists.

The nearly $600,000 the federal government is seeking to collect comes from a decade’s worth of unpaid health and safety fines at Justice-owned coal mines. The debt, at one point, totaled about $5.13 million from hundreds of violations incurred since 2014.

The government initially filed suit against the Justices in 2019 to collect the money. In 2020, the Justice-owned companies and the government entered into an agreement where the family would make monthly payments to pay off the debt by March 2024. The debt, however, was not paid off.

Justice has maintained that he is not at all directly involved in his family’s business empire, leaving the companies in the leadership of his children despite refusing to enter most of his businesses into a blind trust.

He said earlier this month that, “if there’s a problem, it gets taken care of … We may be a few minutes late to the fire, but we always show up at the fire.”

Last week, however, Jay Justice — Jim Justice’s son and president of several of the family’s companies — failed to “show up at the fire.”

A federal judge in Alabama filed an order last Thursday finding Jay Justice and Bluestone Coke — of which he is president — in civil contempt.

The order, according to Inside Climate News, came after Jay Justice failed to attend a hearing — despite being ordered to do so by the federal court — for a lawsuit alleging the coking plant is responsible for polluting groundwater and rivers and violating the Clean Water Act.

“[Jay Justice and Bluestone Coke] have violated three separate court orders requiring them to produce responses and negotiate, in good faith, dates for depositions,” the order reads.

The story is republished from West Virginia Watch, a sister publication to the Kentucky Lantern and part of the nonprofit States Newsroom network.

UAW President Shawn Fain, left, and former President Donald Trump. (Photos by Anna Liz Nichols and Ashley Murray)

The United Auto Workers Union (UAW) announced Tuesday that it has filed federal charges against former President Donald Trump and Tesla founder Elon Musk saying the pair illegally threatened and intimidated workers.

The remarks the UAW is concerned with stem from a Monday night discussion where Musk, a vocal supporter of Trump, held a two-hour discussion on his platform “X” with the presidential candidate where the pair praised each other, talking about foreign policy, immigration, plans for Trump’s reelection and the possibility of Musk to serve on a government efficiency commission in a potential second Trump administration.

Trump said he would “love” to have Musk on such a commission, telling him, “You’re the greatest cutter. I mean, I look at what you do. You walk in and you just say, ‘you want to quit? ‘ They go on strike. I won’t mention the name of the company, but they go on strike and you say, ‘that’s okay. You’re all gone.”

Workers can’t be fired for engaging in a legal strike under the National Labor Relations Act and the UAW said in a statement Tuesday that? the pair of “disgraced billionaires” advocated for the illegal firing of workers standing up for themselves.”

“When we say Donald Trump is a scab, this is what we mean,” UAW President Shawn Fain said in a statement Tuesday. Fain has for months spoken in Michigan, supporting president Joe Biden’s campaign and now Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign, praising both Democrats for walking picket lines with striking UAW workers.

A request for comment was made to the Trump/Vance campaign, but has yet to be returned.

Kayla Blado, press secretary for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), told Michigan Advance that the NLRB’s Region 5-Baltimore office received an unfair labor practice charge against Donald J. Trump for President, Inc., which is located in Arlington, Virginia, and another complaint filed in Region 32-Oakland against Tesla, which maintains its North American manufacturing facility nearby.

Fain spoke during Harris’ campaign visit to Detroit last week, reminding Michigan voters that while Biden became the first sitting president of the United States to walk a picket line with striking workers, Trump came to Michigan to speak at a non-union plant as the UAW was in the middle of its successful historic strike against Detroit’s “Big Three” automakers.

“Donald Trump will always side against workers standing up for themselves, and he will always side with billionaires like Elon Musk, who is contributing $45 million a month to a Super PAC to get him elected,” Fain said. “Both Trump and Musk want working class people to sit down and shut up, and they laugh about it openly. It’s disgusting, illegal, and totally predictable from these two clowns.”

Trump and Musk’s conversation was marked by technical problems. Musk said the 40 minute delay on the conversation was caused by a distributed denial of service attack of listeners flooding the server to shut it down.

Michigan Advance is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Michigan Advance maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Susan J. Demas for questions: [email protected]. Follow Michigan Advance on Facebook and X.

Chan Kemper with her daughters, Tavi and Mika. (Photo provided)

This story discusses postpartum depression and suicide. If you or someone you know is contemplating suicide, please call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988.?

Before having children, Chan Kemper pictured how the experience would go.?

“I was determined to have the hippiest, dippiest, crunchy, earth goddess pregnancies and deliveries that I could have,” said Kemper, 43.?

The attorney, who is from the Virgin Islands and now lives in Louisville, researched “the crap out of pregnancy” and her baby, she said. “I didn’t do that much research about after.”??

She had a fairly smooth experience with her first baby, Tavi, whom she had at 37. In fact, she said, it was “so fine” that she and her husband decided to have another baby right away.?

After having her second child, Mika, at 39, “it was just immediately different,” said Kemper, who was then diagnosed with postpartum depression (PPD).?

Her blood pressure spiked and she could not breastfeed. She cried nonstop — to the point of dehydration. Prozac didn’t help what Kemper described as a “profound sense of sadness.” She feared her baby would die, a fear that escalated when Mika had to be hospitalized with a severe urinary tract infection.?

Eventually, “I just thought to myself, ‘I don’t want to be here,’” she recalled. “And I meant like, ‘I don’t want to be here on this Earth.’ And I had never felt like that in my life, ever.”?

Kentucky therapists who treat postpartum and perinatal depression said people who have it can often experience suicidal ideation — which needs to be addressed immediately. People with PPD also often experience headaches, irritability, trouble sleeping, anxiety, depression, low self esteem, visceral feelings of panic, trouble connecting with their baby and more.?

Societal stigma and cultural shame can compound these symptoms, therapists say, making it a debilitating illness.?

The illness can affect anyone, therapists say, but is more likely to affect people of color and those with a history of trauma, anxiety and/or depression.?

What is postpartum depression??

Rebecca Kerr, a Bowling Green therapist who specializes in PPD, said it falls under the umbrella of perinatal mood and anxiety disorders (PMADs) and is “very common.”?

PPD “doesn’t necessarily discriminate,” said Kerr. “Really, anyone could experience postpartum depression, but there are populations that may be more vulnerable. So, if you have a personal history of depression, anxiety, OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder), anything like that, you may be more prone to experiencing it.”

Wesley Belknap-Greene, a Richmond therapist, said it’s important to distinguish between PPD and the “baby blues.”?

Baby blues can mimic some of the symptoms of PPD — but they don’t last past two weeks and come on because of hormone shifts following delivery.?

“A lot of people, probably especially around here, who have experienced actual true postpartum depression have systematically, continuously been told ‘oh, it’s just the baby blues,’” said Belknap-Greene. “Whether that’s a thing with rural America, Appalachia, … mental health has not been talked about in this country historically.”?

Baby blues is an “emotional disruption” for sure, she explained. But “perinatal depression, or postpartum depression, is this? debilitating, very difficult, deep, dark depression that makes it difficult for the mother to be able to provide care to herself, let alone her baby.”??

The film industry has added stigma, Belknap-Greene said, by depicting PPD as a condition in which a mother wants to kill her baby. While it can take that form, she said, it’s “very rare.”?

Chan Kemper’s story?

In addition to feeling like she didn’t want to live anymore after giving birth to her second child, Kemper recalls feeling guilty for feeling that way.?

“I had … access … to a lot of things, and I still felt alone,” she said. “As a Black woman, I felt even more like I’m supposed to be strong, and I wasn’t. I wasn’t strong at all.”?

Even her cat, Cosmo, whom she described as “the worst cat ever,” was “distressed by my distress.”

Kemper’s blood pressure spikes turned out to be panic attacks — and she feels her race was a factor in those symptoms being dismissed. She went to the hospital when she “felt like I was having a heart attack” with “insanely high” blood pressure and sat waiting for care.?

“I think there would have been more concern or care if I had not been a Black woman,” said Kemper, who is also Jewish. “I’m … larger, I’m tall, and I feel like it’s like, ‘oh, she’s strong, she’s fine.’ And it’s like, ‘no. I deserve, and I need, help.’”??

But, she said, lack of mental health care for new mothers is an equal opportunity offender “across the board.”?

Kemper got into therapy and on the right dosage of medication, and is doing “so much better” but “I’m still crawling my way out of this.”?

She would like to see classes focused on PPD, just as there are birth classes, as well as more public health education about PPD.?

“There’s so many red flags,” she said. “We don’t talk about it. … I think it’s so important to talk about things that are stigmatized.”??

She predicts fewer new mothers would be surprised by the symptoms if more people — and health organizations — talked about PPD publicly.

“I had no clue that this could ever happen to me,” Kemper said. “I did not in a million years think that there were signs that I should have been looking out for or having my partner look out for.”?

Kemper isn’t alone. Other Kentucky mothers who spoke to the Lantern about their PPD experiences described feelings of loneliness and depression exacerbated by shame and guilt that took them by surprise.?

Proctor and Luntzel?

Vashti Proctor, one of those mothers, found out she was pregnant — unplanned — in March 2021. COVID-19 was everywhere and racial justice protests were ongoing following the police killing of Breonna Taylor in Louisville.?

Proctor, who lives in Louisville, said she considered abortion, which was legal at that time in Kentucky.?

“I was literally scared out of my mind to think that I’m gonna enter a Black child, a Black baby, into this world when a Black woman was just shot and killed … in her home,” Proctor said. “That was very, very scary for me.”??

With support from her family, she decided against abortion and gave birth to Aaliyah in December 2021. At her four-week checkup, she got on Zoloft to help with her PPD symptoms.?

The stressors compounded quickly. Proctor, who had to work, couldn’t find child care — much less affordable child care — for the baby. So, she took her to work with her until she found an opening — which remains her second highest bill behind only rent.? She nursed on demand while not being able to sleep at night.?

The first person in her friend group to have a baby, the then-28-year-old had entered a new chapter of life her friends couldn’t relate to. The COVID-19 pandemic also kept her from a social life. Therapy was too expensive. There was a national formula shortage.?

All this made her feel “really heavy” and “very overwhelmed,” she said. Having more accessible child care would have helped her in her transition to motherhood, she said.?

It would also be helpful if there were more medical providers who look like her, she said. A 2020 study from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that Black babies were twice as likely to survive when their doctor was also Black.?

Autumn Luntzel of Bowling Green had a slightly different experience. She felt immense guilt when she had her son in late 2019 and the depression, numbness, anxiety and sadness hit her.?

“I’m never going to be a better mom,” she remembers thinking. “My husband’s never going to divorce me so I need to just end it all so (my son) can have a better mom.”?

Reid, her son, was happy and healthy. Her husband was “very hands on.” Her career thrived.?

But Luntzel, the daughter of Bangladesh immigrants, felt tremendous pressure to be perfect, she said.?

“My whole personality is my parents — specifically my dad — sacrificing everything to have the life that I have,” she said.?

So, she thought, “here I am being sad and I shouldn’t be.”?

In February 2021, Luntzel attempted to end her life: “I truly believed that Reid, my son, needed a better mom because I couldn’t be a good mom to him because of the way that I was feeling.”

Her husband found her after that attempt, and helped her get into an intensive six-month therapy program, where she began taking medication. She no longer lives with suicidality and advocates for mental health in her community.?

What policies could help combat PPD in Kentucky??

PPD doesn’t have much space in The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Illnesses (DSM) — a paragraph compared to pages for other conditions, Belknap-Greene said.? More research and space for the condition is much needed, she added.?

Kentucky also needs a universal, paid parental leave, she said. That would put it in line with 13 states and Washington D.C. that provide paid family and medical leave.??

“If mom and dad — or mom and mom, dad and dad, whatever that nuclear family looks like — if there’s not that opportunity to provide secure attachment, we’re looking at a whole host of other issues for the baby,” said Belknap-Greene.?

Research published in the National Library of Medicine in 2023 backs up the importance of leave, saying that “paid, longer maternity leave is associated with less postpartum depression.”?

During the 2024 legislative session, a bill that would have given teachers 20 days of maternity leave died. Another bill to give state workers with at least a year on the job up to four weeks of paid leave made it through the Senate but failed to advance in the House.?

There is bipartisan appetite in Congress to pass paid parental leave, with bipartisan and bicameral working groups working on solutions. Members’ legislative framework for such solutions includes having public-private partnerships and cross-state program harmony.?????

Meanwhile, Kentucky therapists and mothers who spoke to the Lantern agreed: screening mothers earlier would be a huge step toward combating postpartum depression and anxiety early.?

“We should start screening moms before they deliver,” said Kerr. But certainly, screening them as they are leaving the hospital after delivery would help as well.?

“If it were up to me, that would be a thing that had to be discussed before discharge,” Belknap-Greene said. And: “A follow up appointment for mom needs to be done much sooner than the two-week checkup for the baby.”?

Because she spent so much time internalizing her PPD symptoms, Luntzel said having OB-GYNs better trained to spot those symptoms early would have helped her. She’d also like to see mental health professionals give on-site consultations with new moms at hospitals after delivery.?

Mental health services like therapy should generally be more accessible as well, she said. The Lantern previously reported Kentuckians are more likely to pay out of pocket for mental health services than medical services.?

“Mental health, in general, I think, needs to be discussed more because our brains are so complex, and yet we treat it like it’s just this one being and that’s just not it,” Luntzel said. “I don’t think it’s okay to treat it like that.”?

The coal preparation plant was photographed from the air on Nov. 1, 2023, the day after its collapse. Louisville Emergency Management took the photo via a drone. (Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet records)

On a cool evening in late October, David Peyton heard a pop then a warning scream to get out. Within seconds two men were trapped under 11 stories of steel and concrete.

Peyton ran to where Alvin Nees and Billy Joe “Bo” Daniels were trapped in the collapsed Pontiki/Excel coal preparation plant in Martin County. He talked with the men but lost contact with Nees after a half hour, maybe a little longer.

Peyton, a subcontractor on the project to demolish the plant, told state investigators that he had refused to do the demolition himself because of his concerns about the plant’s decades-old condition. That’s according to a report by state workplace safety officers and released to the Lantern through an open records request.?

Emergency responders from across Kentucky worked for several days in a dangerous but ultimately futile attempt to rescue Nees and Daniels. Both men died from their injuries, a loss that Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear in early November called a “heartbreaking situation.”?

A months-long investigation by the Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet found that it was a situation that might have been averted had federally-required safety precautions been followed.?

The investigation found multiple safety violations that preceded the collapse, including:?

• Not having an engineering survey and plan before demolition.
• Not bracing corroded load-bearing steel columns or ensuring the columns were not “overstressed” before using welding torches to cut into them.
• Not having someone certified in first aid on site.
• Not informing Nees and Daniels of the hazardous conditions involved with the demolition.

The cabinet on April 30 fined Skeens Enterprises, the primary contractor charged with demolishing and scrapping the plant, $31,500 for five violations that preceded the deaths of Nees and Daniels.

A voicemail and text message to Peyton from the Lantern asking about the state report were not returned. Attempts to reach Stanley Skeens, the CEO of Skeens Enterprises, or a representative of Skeens Enterprises were not successful.??

What state and federal officials found

Lexington Coal Co., a prominent mining operator with a history of environmental compliance issues, holds the state permit to reclaim the site of the coal preparation plant, which had been operated by Alliance Resource Partners until it was closed and sold in 2014.?

Lexington Coal Co. is led by Jeremy Hoops, the son of Jeff Hoops whose bankrupt coal company, Blackjewel, in 2019 withheld final paychecks from employees who then blocked a coal train for two months. Jeff Hoops was Blackjewel’s CEO and president.

Lexington Coal Co. contracted with Pike County-based Skeens Enterprises to demolish and salvage the plant. Skeens Enterprises then subcontracted with Tennessee-based Bordeau Metals, LLC to help with the demolition including with the loading and transportation of metal. Bordeau Metals, led by Brad Bordeau, then subcontracted with Peyton’s McLean County-based company Ace Welding and Fabrication to conduct the demolition of the plant.?

State workplace safety officials noted in their report that Lexington Coal Company required in its contract with Skeens Enterprises that the contractor get permission before subcontracting the demolition work. Lexington Coal Company was unaware that subcontractors had been brought on or that demolition work had begun in late October, according to the state report. State officials investigated Lexington Coal Co. separately after the collapse but didn’t issue the company any citations.?

Peyton, head of the welding company, had his doubts about the demolition project going back to September 2023.

Peyton told Skeens in September he wasn’t comfortable demolishing the plant due to its condition. The steel of the idled preparation plant had been widely corroded. State inspectors later attributed the corrosion to decades of exposure to chemicals used and coal ash created by crushing and removing excess rock from the mined coal.?

Skeens persisted in keeping Peyton on the project; the two agreed that month that Peyton would move forward with his work if Skeens “could get the building on the ground.”?

But in late October, Peyton told Brad Bordeau, the other subcontractor, he wasn’t going to go forward with his part in the demolition project. Bordeau then decided to bring in a Louisville company specializing in demolitions to look at the structure. Bordeau informed Skeens and Peyton he was bringing in the Louisville company.

Skeens, the primary contractor, had another idea. He reached out to Bo Daniels and Alvin Nees, unbeknownst to Bordeau. Daniels had worked with Skeens before but not on a demolition project, according to the state report, and Skeens had demolished around a dozen coal preparation plants before tackling the project.?

Skeens asked Peyton if Nees and Daniels could use Peyton’s welding torches and equipment, which Peyton provided them, along with protective gear. Peyton also taught Nees and Daniels how to use the torches. On the day of the demolition, Oct. 31, 2023, Nees and Daniels began cutting two-foot notches out of the steel columns at the base of the plant.?

It was Skeens’ screaming that Peyton heard when the plant began to collapse, according to the state report. Skeens felt sick following the collapse and was taken to the hospital.

State officers didn’t find any evidence of an engineer conducting a survey before the demolition was done as required by federal regulations. Nor was there someone certified with first aid at the plant site, also required by federal regulations, though Skeens had a first aid certification that had expired in 2008. Skeens told state officers he didn’t advise Daniels on how to drop the building other than to have it fall to the east. Daniels and Nees were supposed to be paid $5,000 for their work.?

That same day, Bordeau had brought in Jon Davies, the president of Louisville-based Complete Demolition Services, to price the demolition of the plant. State officers write Skeens said Davies told him at the plant site the demolition process Nees and Daniels were undertaking “looked good.” But when state officers interviewed Davies, he told them the demolition process was “not how he would do it” and that he requested to get away from the building.?

A federal engineering report stated that while using welding torches isn’t uncommon with a demolition, the cuts made into load-bearing steel columns on the ground floor of the plant posed a “serious risk to the structural integrity of the building.” One of the columns that had been cut into by the torches had a calculated load of 56,000 pounds, or the equivalent of more than a dozen large SUVs.?

That column was overstressed and “in a precarious state even before the collapse transpired,” Alan Lu with the federal Office of Engineering Services wrote. “Field investigations further reveal that some columns in the eastern section of the building were subjected to torch cuts resulting in the complete loss of their load bearing capacity.”?

“The inadequate demolition procedures ultimately culminated in the premature and catastrophic collapse of the building during demolition operations,” Lu wrote.?

Rescuers from around the state worked for more than two days, using dogs, listening devices and cameras to search the unstable debris. The county sheriff told the Mountain Citizen of Inez that responders crawled under tons of steel and concrete that was “snapping and popping” and at one point attempted to free Daniels by surgically amputating his leg.?

The two men were remembered last year by their families and loved ones as “a great father”? and “a great person.”

A union volunteer removes pro-union t-shirts from the back of his car at UAW headquarters on Friday, May 17, 2024 in Coaling, Alabama. (Stew Milne for Alabama Reflector)

Workers at a Mercedes-Benz plant in Vance, Alabama, voted Friday to reject a union after a months-long campaign to organize the plant.

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which oversaw the election, said 2,045 workers (44%) voted for the union, while 2,642 workers (56%) voted against it.

The results, the first setback for organized labor after a string of recent victories dating back to last fall, came after an intense battle between the United Auto Workers, who have tried to unionize the plant for decades; Mercedes-Benz, which opposed it, and Alabama state officials and business groups, who waged an aggressive anti-union campaign. The “no” comes after state leaders advocated against the union amid a series of labor victories nationwide.

Shawn Fain, president of the UAW, said at the Coaling UAW office on Friday that the result was not what they were hoping for, but the workers made gains in their campaign.

“Justice isn’t just about one vote or one campaign,” said Fain. “It’s about getting a voice and getting your fair share.”

Mercedes-Benz United States International (MBUSI), the entity overseeing the plant, said in a statement Friday that they wanted “to ensure every eligible Team Member had the opportunity to participate in a fair election.” The company thanked “all Team Members who asked questions, engaged in discussions, and ultimately, made their voices heard on this important issue.”

Workers who supported the union said they had concerns about work-life balance, pay, benefits and policies, such as a doctor’s note not excusing time off when a worker is out of days.

Rick Webster, a two body panel adjuster, told reporters ahead of the vote counts becoming public on Friday that he hoped a union would allow employees to negotiate on an equal playing field.

“We’ll be able to sit down at the table with the company, and we will be able to negotiate what we need as workers and not have it dictated to us by the company,” he said.

He also said that if the union vote fell short, supporters would try again.

As the votes rolled in, pained sounds came from people in the room as the vote count swung to “no’s” as the votes came in chunks throughout the day. The early vote counts did not look favorable for unionization.

Near the end of count, the running vote totals on the white board were changed to “ONWARD!”

The vote at Mercedes, whose arrival in Alabama in 1993 is credited with creating the state’s automotive industry, was the first defeat for organized labor after a string of victories.

Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga, Tennessee voted to unionize in April. UAW won a major strike against the Big Three automakers last year, and secured a contract with 25% wage increases at Daimler Truck earlier this month.

Volkswagen employees had first rejected the union in close votes in 2014 (712 yes’s to 626 no’s) and 2019 (833 no’s among around 1,600 who voted), according to the Washington Post and New York Times, respectively.

Drew Hall, team lead in the paint shop at Volkswagen in Chattanooga drove down with his wife, Kristina Hall in support of the drive on Friday.

Hall, who was also involved in the 2019 Volkswagen union drive, said that it was “exhilarating” after the more recent vote.

“The amount of time that you’ve actually put into it that once it’s over and done with all you want to do is cry,” he said ahead of the vote counts becoming public.

The UAW has tried to organize the plant for years, but none have made it as far as the current effort. While the wages had stagnated, autoworkers still make more on average than others in the state. Workers who did not state support of the union told the Reflector at a recent shift change that they were not sure where they would find better work.

The union drive has faced push back from state leaders, with both Gov. Kay Ivey and the Business Council of Alabama opposing the union.

Ivey recently signed legislation sponsored by Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, which would require companies to forfeit state economic incentives if they voluntarily recognize unions.

In a statement released Friday afternoon, Ivey called the automotive industry a “crown jewel” industry in the state and wrote that she was grateful for the companies.

“The workers in Vance have spoken, and they have spoken clearly!” she wrote. “Alabama is not Michigan, and we are not the Sweet Home to the UAW. We urge the UAW to respect the results of this secret ballot election.”

A message was left with BCA Friday morning.

In February, the UAW said that a majority of the workers had signaled support for the union. The union called for a vote in April and had previously said that they would call for a vote when 70% of workers had signaled support for the union, though they did not disclose their level of support at the time.

A November report from the progressive non-profit organization Alabama Arise found that wage growth had stalled for the workers. The report found that real wages had declined 11% from 2002-2019 and that Alabama workers made less than autoworkers in other states. Hispanic, Black and women workers also made less on average.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated.

This story is republished from the Alabama Reflector, a sister publication to the Kentucky Lantern and part of the nonprofit States Newsroom network.

The new silica dust limit, 50 micrograms per cubic meter of air, is half of what is currently allowed, and has long been called for by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, along with others. (Getty Images)

It was a celebratory moment years in the making when acting Labor Secretary Julie Su, flanked by miners and advocates, announced the rollout of a new rule limiting silica dust exposure for miners in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, last week.

For years, advocates for mine safety had urged the federal government to adopt strict rules around the substance that has led to an increase in severe black lung cases among young miners. Finally, one was announced.

“For too long, we accepted this as just the way things are for people who work in mines,” Su said in Uniontown Tuesday. “They’ve had to work without the same protections from silica dust that people in other industries have, even though we’ve known about the harms of silica dust.”

McGarvey, coal miner advocates renew push to ease burden of proof for black lung benefits

Mine safety advocates largely agree the rule is a positive change. But some are concerned that it still leaves too much power in the hands of mining companies instead of regulators, and lacks clarity when it comes to how it should be enforced.

“Overall, the rule is a step in the right direction, which is what we’ve been asking for for many years now,” said Erin Bates, a spokesperson for the United Mine Workers of America. “But coal operators are going to have to be held accountable at the end of the day.”

In recent years, severe cases of black lung disease have become more common. One of the major causes is silica dust. Contact with the substance is becoming more prevalent as the Appalachian region has been so aggressively mined that miners are digging into more narrow coal seams. Silica dust is produced when miners break through the rock surrounding those seams.

The new rule,which was published April 18, creates a limit for levels of silica dust exposure and requires mining companies to actively monitor it. The new limit, 50 micrograms per cubic meter of air, is half of what is currently allowed, and has long been called for by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, along with others.

But the rule largely relies on mining companies themselves to measure the quality of air in their mines and to alert regulators when silica dust levels exceed the new limit.

This is in part, Bates said, because the Mine Safety and Health Administration simply doesn’t have the funding to regularly sample air in mines across the country. Still, she likened the rule to asking drivers to enforce the speed limit.

“How often is a driver going to call the police and say, ‘hey, you know, I’m really sorry,’” Bates said. “‘I was going 75 in a 55. Go ahead and write me a ticket.’”

“But the fact that there’s something in place that we can fight with and we can use is huge,” Bates said. “Every time we find a violation, we can point back to this rule … Before, when we found that there were high levels of silica dust in our mines, there was nothing we could do.”

Rebecca Shelton is the director of policy of the Appalachian Citizens Law Center in Whitesburg, a group that has advocated for silica dust regulation.

“I got into this work through being from Kentucky, really,” Shelton said. “Everyone knows someone who has black lung, it seems. I think that’s something that is a fairly foreign or detached concept for most people in this country: that somebody in your family has a disease related to their occupation and occupational hazards.”

Like Bates, Shelton believes the rule is a positive step, but is concerned about enforcement.

And Shelton worries that the Mine Safety and Health Administration may not be up to the task of enforcement, even when companies do report silica dust levels above the established limit.

“Something we’ve been pushing for for a long time is for MSHA just to have the funding they need to hire more inspectors,” Shelton said. “There has been a decline in the number of inspectors, especially for the coal mining industry over the last decade … It makes it harder to do more rigorous enforcement.”

A November 2023 report published by the US Office of Inspector General found that MSHA was struggling to keep up with its work enforcing regulations. When announcing the final rule, Su noted that the agency was hiring an additional 270 inspectors to help enforce it.

The rule will take effect in one year for coal mines, and in two years for all other types of mines.

“I think we are going to have to figure out how we are going to watchdog the implementation of this rule, and find our path forward there,” Shelton said. She added that the lack of specified thresholds for penalties for mine operators found in violation of the rule would add to the difficulties of enforcement.

Willie Dodson, a field coordinator with Appalachian Voices, a group that works closely with Shelton’s, said in a statement that one major source of concern was that the rule does not require mine companies to close their mines when silica dust levels are too high.

“Without strong enforcement mechanisms, and without any prohibition against miners being forced to work in excessive dust, I’m not sure that this will actually reduce levels of black lung,” Dodson said in a statement. “This rule gives MSHA too much discretion where there should be automatic enforcement actions.”

The rule gives MSHA? the authority to take a number of actions if silica dust limits exceed the new limit, from financial penalties to shutting down unsafe mines.

A spokesperson for the Department of Labor told the Capital-Star that it is willing to take all available actions if a mining company does not take action “in a reasonable period of time” to lower silica dust levels.

Sam Petsonk, a West Virginia lawyer and advocate for mine safety, was optimistic about the prospects of enforcement. He believes the rule’s language is stricter than other similar regulations that had come before it.

“This rule is a stronger dust protection rule than MSHA ever promulgated before when it comes to the stringency of the limit and the tolerance for violations,” he said.

Petsonk believes the language of the rule will allow MSHA to take action against coal companies much more quickly than previous rules limiting other harmful airborne substances in mines. As an example, he pointed to a 2014 rule regulating coal dust levels that generally required the collection of multiple dangerous air samples before regulators could act. This rule, he said, would only require one.

Petsonk also praised MSHA for adding language to the rule requiring mining companies to regularly come up with plans for how they will limit silica dust exposure and submit those to regulators.

“This rule acknowledges that the operator has to engineer a better way of avoiding extreme silica exposure,” Petsonk said. “That’s a real innovation. That’s something that’s new in this rule.”

But Petsonk understands that enforcement of the rule will come down to who is in charge of the agency. For the moment, he believes the current administration is committed to enforcing the rule to the fullest extent possible.

“I always believe in the adage, trust, but verify,” Petsonk said. And he believes that the current rule, along with what he saw as the agency’s willingness to adapt it in light of criticism received during its public comment period, is at least the start of verification.

Bates, the UMWA spokesperson, is less certain than Petsonk. She says the union is concerned that the rule could allow mining to continue even in mines where excessive levels of silica dust are measured. While it requires mining companies to take corrective actions when silica levels are high, one such action it notes is requiring miners to wear appropriate respirators. The union would prefer work in a mine where levels were too high be stopped altogether until it can continue safely.

“We strongly advocated for the agency to not require respirators when the miners were exposed to levels of silica that are above the exposure limit,” Bates said. “Honestly, we believe that if there is overexposure the work should stop completely.”

Bates pointed to one other aspect of the rule she found troubling. In the final published rule, MSHA included studies on the potential efficacy of the new, 50 micrograms per cubic meter of air silica dust limit. The studies also looked at how effective an even lower limit of 25 micrograms per cubic meter would be.

Generally speaking, those studies found that the lower limit would expose only half as many miners to what it deemed excessive risk for disease. But that’s not where the agency landed.

“It’s absolutely not a surprise,” Bates said. “At the end of the day, the most important thing is the miners’ lives. It is a shame that 30- and 40-year-olds are contracting this disease.”

To Bates and others, the knowledge that stricter regulations would result in fewer miner deaths is only proof that there’s more work to be done.

This article is republished from the Pennsylvania Capital-Star, a sister publication of the Kentucky Lantern and part of the nonprofit States Newsroom network of free news services.

Celebrating at a United Auto Workers vote watch party in Chattanooga after Volkswagen workers voted to unionize, April 19, 2024. (Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images)

After the United Auto Workers (UAW) won big contracts last year resulting from its stand-up strike against the Detroit Three — Ford, General Motors and Stellantis — President Shawn Fain vowed that the union would take that momentum into organizing foreign auto companies in the U.S. On Friday night, the UAW scored its first victory with Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga, Tennessee, voting to join the UAW, the the National Labor Relations Board confirmed.

That marks the first time that southern autoworkers outside of the Detroit Three have won an organizing drive. According to the union, the vote was 73% in favor and 27% against.

UAW President Shawn Fain touts solidarity as Kentucky AFL-CIO prepares to choose a new leader

“This election is big,” said Kelcey Smith, a worker in the paint department at Volkswagen. “People in high places told us good things can’t happen here in Chattanooga. They told us this isn’t the time to stand up, this isn’t the place. But we did stand up and we won. This is the time; this is the place. Southern workers are ready to stand up and win a better life.”

President Joe Biden, who walked a Michigan picket line in September in support of the UAW strike against the Detroit Three, sent out his congratulation Friday night for the “historic vote.”

“I was proud to stand alongside auto workers in their successful fight for record contracts, and I am proud to stand with auto workers now as they successfully organize at Volkswagen,” Biden said. “Across the country, union members have logged major wins and large raises, including auto workers, actors, port workers, Teamsters, writers, warehouse and health care workers, and more. Together, these union wins have helped raise wages and demonstrate once again that the middle-class built America and that unions are still building and expanding the middle class for all workers.”

However, six Republican governors — Bill Lee of Tennessee, Kay Ivey of Alabama, Brian Kemp of Georgia, Tate Reeves of Mississippi, Henry McMaster of South Carolina and Greg Abbott of Texas — wrote a letter opposing the union drive.

“The reality is companies have choices when it comes to where to invest and bring jobs and opportunity. We have worked tirelessly on behalf of our constituents to bring good-paying jobs to our states. Unionization would certainly put our states’ jobs in jeopardy,” the letter said.

Biden, who is seeking reelection this year and likely faces former President Donald Trump, blasted the GOP governors for “attempting to influence workers’ votes by falsely claiming that a successful vote would jeopardize jobs in their states.

“Let me be clear to the Republican governors that tried to undermine this vote: there is nothing to fear from American workers using their voice and their legal right to form a union if they so choose. In fact, the growing strength of unions over the last year has gone hand-in-hand with record small business and jobs growth alongside the longest stretch of low unemployment in more than 50 years. I will continue to stand with American workers and stand against Republican’s effort to weaken workers’ voice,” Biden continued.

The UAW said that 5,000 workers at Mercedes-Benz in Vance, Ala., will vote to join the UAW on May 13 to 17. Following the Detroit Three strike, over 10,000 non-union autoworkers have signed union cards in recent months, with public campaigns launched at Mercedes, Volkswagen, Hyundai in Montgomery, Ala., and Toyota in Troy, Mo. Workers at over two dozen other facilities are also actively organizing, the union said.

“We saw the big contract that UAW workers won at the Big Three and that got everybody talking,” said Zachary Costello, a trainer in VW’s proficiency room. “You see the pay, the benefits, the rights UAW members have on the job, and you see how that would change your life. That’s why we voted overwhelmingly for the union. Once people see the difference a union makes, there’s no way to stop them.”

The UAW had unsuccessfully tried in 2014 and 2019 to unionize the Chattanooga plant.

“This gives workers everywhere else the indication that it’s OK,” Fain said. “All we’ve heard for years is we can’t win here; you can’t do this in the South, and you can.”

This story is republished from Michigan Advance, a sister publication to Kentucky Lantern and part of the nonprofit States Newsroom network.

The Kentucky Senate, Feb. 27, 2024. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Arden Barnes)

FRANKFORT — A bill that open government advocates warn would introduce loopholes into Kentucky’s open records law could make its way to Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s desk when lawmakers return to Frankfort later this week.?

The final two days of the 60-day regular session — Friday and Monday — are set aside to consider gubernatorial vetoes of bills that both chambers have passed. The Republican supermajority can easily reach the simple majority of votes needed to override ?vetoes.

Legislation that has yet to make it through both chambers also could come up in the final two days, including a bill to end the certificate of need requirement for freestanding birth centers and a maternal health bill that ran aground in the Senate after a late amendment was added in committee.

The Senate is expected to consider confirming Robbie Fletcher as the state education commissioner, along with appointments to other positions. Thanks to a law enacted last year, it will be the first time the education commissioner has required Senate confirmation.

Any bill that lawmakers pass would be subject to a successful veto by Beshear because the legislature would have no chance to override it.

‘Bad actors’

Beshear has voiced support for the controversial changes to the open records law proposed in House Bill 509. During his weekly news conference last week he said he needs to see the bill’s final form before deciding what action to take on the bill. “We’ll review it when it gets to me.”

The House passed the bill, but the Senate did not give it a floor vote ahead of the veto period. The Senate could give final passage to the bill when both chambers reconvene Friday and Monday.

HB 509 would require state and local government agencies to provide email accounts to public officials on which to conduct official business. However, the bill doesn’t address what happens to public records created on private devices.?

Beshear told reporters he thinks the bill would be more effective than current law in deterring officials from conducting public business on their personal devices or email accounts. He traced the controversy to the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources (KDFWR), which has waged a so far unsuccessful court fight to block release of commissioners’ text messages. The challenge is now before the state Supreme Court.

“Fish and Wildlife hadn’t issued state email addresses to their commissioners and they insisted on texting each other on their own devices,” Beshear said. “That’s wrong. So, right now, what the law says is if you do that, that is an open record. But all we can do in terms of enforcement is ask that person ‘would you please look through your phone and take snapshots of anything that we’re asking for and send them to us now?’ Do you think a bad actor who’s trying to get around the open records request is going to do that and send them to you?”

HB 509 would destroy Kentucky’s long tradition of openness. And Beshear knows it.

Beshear said HB 509’s mandate that official business be conducted on government email accounts could aid transparency by making government agencies responsible for the records. “What it does is take whether you get a record away from a potential bad actor and put it with the agency that can secure those records.”

Agencies could discipline employees who violate HB 509’s mandates — by using a personal cell phone or email account for official communications, for example — but it’s unclear if and how those records could be publicly disclosed. The bill includes no penalties for violations by elected officials. The bill also does not require agencies to search for public records on personal devices.?

When asked if he thought Beshear would veto the bill, Republican Senate President Robert Stivers told reporters as the veto period began: “You’d have to ask the governor on that. I do not know. I don’t know what he would do.”?

The open records challenge against the KDFWR was spurred by a former member of the KDFWR’s governing board requesting text messages among Fish and Wildlife officials and lawmakers. The governor and Republican legislature have also clashed over the Kentucky Senate not confirming gubernatorial appointments to the KDFWR’s governing board. Five appointments are? awaiting confirmation this session.?

Here’s a look at where some other high-profile legislation stands:?

Momnibus?

After picking up some controversial baggage in the last leg of the legislative session, the maternal health bill called “Momnibus” failed to get final passage.?

The bill would incentivize Kentuckians to get prenatal care by adding pregnancy to the list of qualifying life events for health insurance coverage, among other things. It had bipartisan support.

But a late amendment borrowed language from a bill filed by an anti-abortion lawmaker that requires hospitals and midwives to refer patients who have nonviable pregnancies or whose fetuses have been diagnosed with fatal conditions to perinatal palliative care services. Abortion rights advocates say the requirement could become coercive.

The bill awaits Senate passage and Beshear’s action.?

Meanwhile, Democrats in the Senate have filed amendments

Democrats in the Senate have filed amendments to loosen the state’s near-total ban on abortion by adding exceptions for rape, incest and lethal fetal anomalies ?and changing the word “baby” to “fetus.”?

It could still pass in the final two days but would have to be a version that meets Beshear’s approval because lawmakers would be unable to override a veto.??

Freestanding birth centers?

A bill to remove the certificate of need requirement for freestanding birth centers that meet a set of criteria was approved by the House. It has had two readings in the Senate but still needs to pass a Senate committee.?

A Senate Resolution to reestablish a task force to study certificate of need in Kentucky has also not passed.?

Crime bill awaits action by Beshear

A sweeping crime bill backed by Jefferson County House Republicans has been awaiting action by the governor for about a week. House Bill 5 has been hotly debated, with House Democrats futilely arguing on the last day before the veto period against the measure.??

The bill includes new or increased criminal penalties, bans street camping and imposes a three strikes rule on violent offenders. It requires prisoners convicted of violent offenses to serve 85% of their sentences instead of the current 20% before becoming eligible for parole, and classifies more crimes as violent.

HB 5 has gained opposition from across the political spectrum, as both progressive and conservative groups have argued that a more in-depth fiscal analysis is needed before implementing the legislation. However, the Kentucky Fraternal Order of Police and some families of deceased crime victims have expressed support for the bill.?

Beshear told reporters Thursday that he was still reviewing the bill and was supportive of parts of it but concerned about other sections. He added that he supported the carjacking provision but had reservations about provisions that could criminalize homelessness by creating the crime of illegal street camping.?

He said a part of the bill that would “allow for the destruction of a weapon used in a murder” is close to him a year after the Old National Bank shooting in Louisville. The bill would allow someone to purchase such a weapon at auction and ask Kentucky State Police to destroy it. The funds are used for local government and law enforcement grants.?

Local officials highlighted the issue of the auctions after the shooting last year. One of the victims, Tommy Elliot, was a close friend of Beshear’s.?

“Thankfully, the ATF seized that weapon, and it was destroyed,” Beshear said of the weapon used in the bank shooting. “Otherwise, I was going to have to watch a weapon that murdered my friend be auctioned to the highest bidder.”?

Beshear also added that he wished legislation like this would be broken up into separate bills. He can only issue line-item vetoes on budget bills.?

Changes to horse racing and gambling oversight

Beshear can also take action on another bill that was passed by the General Assembly just before the veto period began that would dissolve the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission and Department of Charitable Gaming.?

Senate Bill 299 would form a new government corporation to oversee the duties of the commission and department. Both of those are currently under the Public Protection Cabinet. The House and Senate have both given approval on the measure.

The bill has been backed by the legislature’s Republican leadership. In a joint meeting of the Senate and House economic development committees, Senate Majority Floor Leader Damon Thayer and House Speaker David Osborne presented the bill.?

Beshear told reporters that it does not impact gubernatorial appointment powers but would create an independent corporation that could “take regulatory action and punish different groups,” such as trainers. That raises a question about the constitutionality of the bill, he said, as an executive branch officer will not be over the corporation.

“So, how are you independent but have full regulatory and enforcement authority? I think that’s the thing to work through there,” Beshear said. “We’ve never seen it before. We don’t know of another group that acts that way, so a little complex legally.”?

New hurdles for fossil fuel-fired power plant retirements

Beshear has yet to act on Senate Bill 349, a Senate president-backed bill that would add new bureaucratic hurdles to slow the retirement of fossil fuel-fired power plants. Before utilities could retire a fossil fuel-fired plant, they would have to notify a newly created board, whose membership would be dominated by fossil fuel industries.

Investor-owned utilities and environmental advocacy groups have decried the bill, saying it could keep aging, uneconomical coal-fired power plants on the grid and burden ratepayers with the costs of their maintenance. Advocates for the bill, including coal industry interests, have argued SB 349 is needed to ensure the reliability of the state’s energy grid, an assertion rebuffed by the leader of Kentucky’s largest utility.

Beshear last month criticized the bill, saying it was going to “take authority” from the state’s utility regulator, the Kentucky Public Service Commission, which makes decisions on power plant retirement requests. He said he’s been in the “same place” as some of the people who have pushed for SB 349, but that the proposed board is “not the way” to address the issue.

Limiting power of Louisville’s air pollution regulator

Beshear on Monday vetoed House Bill 136, sponsored by Rep. Jared Bauman, R-Louisville. The bill would prevent the Louisville Air Pollution Control District from issuing fines against industries that self-disclose violations of federal pollution regulations. Critics, including the environmental law group Kentucky Resources Council, say it could give industry in Jefferson County a “free pass” from penalties when a self-disclosure of a violation happens by ending the air pollution regulator’s ability to issue penalties in such cases.

Bauman and other Republicans have argued HB 136 is needed to align air pollution regulations in Jefferson County with the rest of the state. Most Democrats have opposed the bill, worried the bill could create less accountability over air pollution in Jefferson County.?

Criminalizing documentation of meatpacking plants, ag operations without consent?

Senate Bill 16, sponsored by Sen. John Schickel, R-Union and backed by Tyson Foods and Kentucky’s poultry industry, would criminalize using recording equipment or drones at concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) and commercial food processing and manufacturing plants without the permission of the operation’s owner or manager. It would also criminalize distributing the footage.

Group alleges ‘hidden-camera’ video reveals ‘cruelty’ in chicken production in Kentucky?

Critics, including animal welfare groups, have said the bill is a so-called “ag gag” bill meant to hide from the public and prevent whistleblowers from exposing the conduct and practices of large-scale, corporate agricultural operations. An animal protection advocacy group released a video from a “hidden-camera” investigation of alleged “cruelty” within Kentucky poultry production, an investigation the group argues would be criminalized under SB 16.?

Schickel and other SB 16 supporters have said the bill is needed to prevent harassment of employees and agricultural operations that provide jobs to Kentucky communities. The bill passed through the legislature largely on party lines.?

Bills that are in the legislative graveyard or near

Anti-DEI bills: Republican efforts to limit or end diversity, equity and inclusion programs in public universities and colleges died when the Senate declined to consider changes made in its bill by the House. Any effort to revive anti-DEI legislation would almost certain be vetoed by Beshear.

Drag bill: After several edits to soften the legislation, a bill to place restrictions on adult-oriented businesses with “sexually explicit” performances sputtered on the House side despite passing a committee.??

Vaccine bill: A bill to bar employers and educational institutions from requiring the COVID-19 vaccination for treatment, employment or school, passed in the Senate but failed to advance on the House side.?

Though it could still pass in the final days of the session, Beshear, an outspoken supporter of the vaccines, would likely veto it.?

Abortion bills: None of the bills seeking to loosen Kentucky’s near-total abortion ban were assigned committees, making them effectively dead on arrival.?Those include:?

• A Republican bill to add rape and incest exceptions and clarify doctors can treat ectopic pregnancies?
• A Democratic bill to add rape and incest exceptions.?
• A Democratic bill to roll back all abortion restrictions.?

Loosening state child labor law: A bill that would allow some teenagers to work longer and later hours, voted down and then revived by a Senate committee, still needs final passage through the Senate to get to Beshear’s desk.?

Lawmakers wouldn’t have the chance to override a veto of House Bill 255 from Beshear, who in past comments panned the legislation saying child labor protections are there “for a reason.”?

Education and Labor Cabinet officials have said HB 255 also deletes language in state law that mirrors federal prohibitions on employing 14- and 15-year olds in hazardous occupations, such as jobs involving railroad cars and conveyors, loading and unloading goods from motor vehicles and requiring the use of ladders. State labor officials said they wouldn’t be able to enforce those hazardous occupation standards even if still federally prohibited.?

Bill sponsor Rep. Phillip Pratt, R-Georgetown, who owns a lawn and landscaping company, said his legislation would help minors “gain valuable experience in the workplace.”

Weakening a mine safety protection: House Bill 85, sponsored by Rep. Bill Wesley, R-Ravenna, would weaken a key workplace protection for coal miners, according to a long-time coal miner safety advocate. Wesley has argued HB 85 is needed to help smaller coal mines continue operating.?The bill would need approval from the Senate Natural Resources and Energy Committee and three required readings before being sent to the governor, who could veto it without the legislature overriding it.?

The Mercedes emblem seen on the GLE 350 model at the New York International Auto Show at the Javits Center on April 1, 2015 in New York City. The GLE is one of several car models manufactured at Mercedes’ plant in Vance, Alabama, outside Tuscaloosa. (Kevin Hagen/Getty Images)

The United Auto Workers said Tuesday that more than half of the workers at a Mercedes-Benz plant in Vance had signed union cards, another milestone in an organization drive with significant symbolic importance.

“We haven’t taken this step lightly,” Jeremy Kimbrell, a longtime worker and union supporter at the plant, said in a statement released by the UAW on Tuesday. “For years, we’ve fallen further behind while Mercedes has made billions.”

An email seeking comment was sent to Mercedes-Benz on Tuesday.

Workers at the plant announced the union drive in January, citing stalled wages at the plant. An Alabama Arise report published in November found that while Alabama auto workers on average make more than the median household income in the state ($64,682 v. $59,674), their real wages had declined 11% between 2002 and 2019.

The report also found that state autoworkers’ pay trailed national averages. It also said that Black workers, Hispanic workers and women are paid substantially less in the automotive industry.

UAW said in January that 30% of the workforce had indicated their preference for a union, enough to allow organizers to call for an election. However, the UAW said it wants to sign up 70% of employees before asking for voluntary recognition by Mercedes-Benz or calling for an election, supervised by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

The drive is taking place at a plant widely viewed as laying the groundwork for Alabama’s automotive industry. Mercedes-Benz agreed to build the plant in Vance in 1993 thanks to a large incentive package offered by the state. Since Mercedes’ arrival, Honda, Hyundai and Toyota have opened factories in Alabama.

A major attraction for companies was the relative lack of unions in the state. Prior attempts to organize the workforce at the auto plants failed, but UAW has been active in Alabama and Tennessee in recent months. Workers at the Hyundai plant in Montgomery?have also launched a union drive, citing pay and health concerns.

The union drive has led to push back from the company and state officials. Gov. Kay Ivey, a Republican, has been sharply critical of the union and called it an “out-of-state interest group” at a speech at the Montgomery Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday.

“We need your efforts to serve as a model to other local areas grappling with this threat from Detroit,” she said. “Alabamians work harder than anyone and make the best automobiles in the world. And we must not let UAW tell us any different.”

UAW has not criticized the work ethic of the state’s autoworkers or the products they make.

According to?the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 7.5% of Alabama’s workforce (156,000 people) belonged to a union in 2023, while 8.6% (180,000 people) were represented by unions. Both numbers are below national averages but are the highest in the South.

Jemma Stephenson contributed to this report.

This story is republished from the Alabama Reflector, a sister publication of the Kentucky Lantern and ?part of?States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and donors as a 501c(3) public charity.?

Auto workers rallied at a local union hall in Louisville in September. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Liam Niemeyer)

The United Auto Workers and Ford have reached a tentative local agreement in Louisville, the UAW announced Wednesday.

“After months of negotiations over local issues, UAW Local 862 has reached a tentative local agreement with Ford Motor Co., averting a potential strike this week” at the Kentucky Truck Plant, the union said in a release.

The release goes on: “Workers at Ford’s most profitable plant were set to walk off the job over local issues related to skilled trades, health & safety, and ergonomics. The tentative deal addresses these and other core issues of concern to KTP autoworkers.

“There are dozens of remaining open local agreements across the Big Three automakers, while the national contracts were ratified this fall after the union’s Stand Up Strike secured record contracts.”

Ford said in a statement it was “pleased to have reached a tentative agreement,” according to CNBC.

The plant manufactures the?Ford Super Duty and?Ford Expedition and the Lincoln Navigator.

Outgoing Kentucky AFL-CIO president Bill Londrigan, left, greets United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain. (Photo by Berry Craig)

LEXINGTON —? United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain told Kentucky union members Monday night that the working class is fed up with “being left behind” and called on labor to challenge massive income disparity and “the billionaire class.”

“The one equalizer in all this is organized labor, and we have an obligation to humanity to lead this fight.”?

Fresh off a strike that ended in record contracts with the Detroit Three automakers, Fain spoke to the Kentucky State AFL-CIO’s 35th biennial convention, held at a Lexington hotel about 15 minutes from the world’s largest Toyota manufacturing facility in Georgetown.

Fain told a packed banquet hall that after hearing United Mine Workers President Cecil Roberts’ afternoon speech, “I had to cut out of here because I drove up the road” to “visit with some of our workers at Toyota Kentucky. And, you know, they want their fair share.”?

The UAW under Fain is stepping up efforts to organize nearly 150,000 workers at the Japanese automaker and other nonunion? plants, especially in the South. A number of foreign car companies, including Toyota, raised pay for their U.S. workers after the UAW contract was announced. The UAW deal included wage increases of at least 25%, the return of cost-of-living adjustments, an end to tiered salaries, annual bonuses for retirees and a role for the union in the rollout of electric vehicle manufacturing.

Fain said he told the workers in Georgetown that Toyota has raised its CEO’s pay by 125% in two years and made $90 billion in profits the last three years “on the backs of the workers.”

“That UAW bump you just received, they can take it away tomorrow” without a union contract, Fain said he told them.

Fain, who narrowly unseated the incumbent UAW president in March in the first election in which members directly chose their leader, spoke to the Kentucky audience in personal and historic terms.?

He said his? grandparents moved from a farm near Nicholasville in 1937 during the Great Depression to seek automaking jobs in Indiana, where they joined the UAW. His great grandfather was a coal miner in East Tennessee, who was blackballed from work for supporting the union, Fain said.?

“I always feel at home in Kentucky.”?

Fain called on the Democratic Party to “get focused on issues that matter to working class people,” including health care and retirement insecurity, especially among workers whose retirement depends on investing in 401(k) plans.

He said the UAW initially withheld its endorsement of Democratic President Joe Biden, who ended up supporting striking autoworkers. Fain drew laughter when he said that while Biden “was out there on our picket line supporting UAW members, the other guy was in a nonunion plant having a union rally,” a reference to former president Donald Trump, the Republican frontrunner for president next year.

“It’s not a coincidence, you know, in the ’30s, ’40s and ’50s as labor unions increased, that gap stayed small between the rich and poor. Since that time, as union numbers have dwindled, we’ve seen that gap grow massively. And that’s not a coincidence to me. It is done by design. I mean, the wealthy people know what they’re doing … and they divide the hell out of us on every issue they can, and they walk away with the loot while we’re fighting over guns or whatever the hell other issue we got to fight about.”

Fain ended by quoting scripture from the book of Ecclesiastes about the power of solidarity.

Sara Nelson, international president of the Association of Flight Attendants, also spoke, saying her union is in the process of organizing 50,000 Delta Airlines workers.

On Tuesday afternoon, the Kentucky AFL-CIO is expected to elect Dustin T. Reinstedler its president, succeeding longtime labor leader Bill Londrigan, who announced in September that he would not seek reelection. Reinstedler is an officer and field representative of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers Local 4 in Kentucky and Indiana.?

The AFL-CIO is a federation of 60 national and international labor unions. ?

Ford F-150 Lightning underbodies at Fords Rouge Electric Vehicle Center are inspected in Dearborn, Michigan. Black city officials across the country want to see recent union gains extend to electric vehicle plants, and are calling on President Joe Biden to help. (Photo by Sarah Rice/Getty Images)

Local Black elected leaders aligned with racial and economic justice groups want to build on the labor gains made through the United Auto Workers’ six-week strike. The union’s tentative deals with the big three automakers include major wins such as a 25% rise in pay and getting rid of the two-tier worker system.

More than 60 Black political leaders, many of them city council members and mayors and school board members in Washington D.C. and 20 states, including North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia and Michigan, wrote President Joe Biden this week asking him to use his political power to push for higher standards in the rapidly growing electric vehicle industry. A few weeks ago, GM also agreed to cover electric vehicle battery manufacturing under the contract.

Biden, who spoke in support of the auto workers’ demands and marched in a UAW picket line during the strike, should continue to support changes in the industry, the letter says, by mediating conversations between workers, unions and automakers.

The elected officials say standards of compensation, safety and health for workers should be a priority for those talks. The Biden administration has made investments in electric vehicles a big priority in its economic agenda and has stated that the federal dollars spent on these investments will benefit workers and “expand high-paying manufacturing jobs” and help them “capture the economic benefits of the clean energy transition.” Nearly $1.7 billion in funding from Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will be spent on electric buses, and organizers of the letter say they don’t want to see the money spent on plants that don’t provide good jobs for workers.

Advocates say these efforts are needed to protect Black auto workers in the South, where pay is often lower and unions are not as strong. All three major automakers have established or are building electric vehicle manufacturing plants and battery plants in Southern states, with many of the facilities being placed in rural, Black communities.

Erica Smiley, executive director of Jobs With Justice, said the Biden administration has acknowledged that it received the letter but Smiley and others are still waiting on next steps.

“I do think that there is some urgency in this moment for the administration to act, given the upcoming election and not just the presidential election itself but all the congressional elections and down-ballot elections that the Democrats would need to secure the House or even to make a dent,” Smiley said. “Certainly, Black mayors and local elected leaders and school board leaders signing a letter saying, ‘We don’t want to use federal dollars to exploit Southern workers, particularly Southern Black workers, is a powerful message to do that.’”

The majority of Black people live in the Southern U.S., at 56%, according to 2021 American Community Survey data. Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows that in 2022, 17.7% of workers in motor vehicles and motor vehicle equipment manufacturing were Black, and Black workers make up 19% of the Southern automaking region, an Economic Policy Institute’s analysis of 2016-2020 BLS data showed. The letter also stresses the importance of including Black workers in labor gains given the history of their exclusion from many of those gains.

“Moving jobs to the US South to exploit low labor costs built on a history of white supremacy is a pattern we have seen again and again,” the letter read.

Smiley said Democrats should be interested in ensuring that Black voters have enthusiasm to go to the polls and vote in the 2024 election.

“You applaud the victory in Detroit and assume that everything’s all said and done, but meanwhile, (if) they’re choosing between $17 an hour at McDonald’s and $16.50 at a local EV manufacturing place, they’re not going to feel really excited about that. They aren’t going to feel like you did a lot for them,” she said.

Yterenickia “YT” Bell, a member of the city council in Clarkston, Georgia, said she signed the letter because it’s a good opportunity to center the majority of her community, which is 64% Black. She added that Biden’s support can bolster unionization in a region of the country where it is often challenging to unionize.

“Regarding the EV supply chain plans, they don’t automatically unionize all of the plants, so there’s still a process with that and that’s a big fight. He showed up in the picket lines before and he needs to show them that he’s in this with them to get their wages and to have a voice,” Bell said.

Black people also bear the brunt of many of the effects of climate change, advocates say. One 2019 paper found that Black people breathe in 56% more particulate matter, or air pollution, than they are responsible for with personal consumption.

“[Biden] needs to be mindful that a lot of [Black people] in their communities have been disproportionately impacted by climate change and they’re not able to transition from one place to another. We need to be very mindful about how this industry comes into play when we talk about sustainable energy and that he needs to ensure that standards of the current agreement are the norm and not just an exception,” she said.

Curt Cranford and Carolyn Nippa on the picket line outside General Motors’ Willow Run Redistribution Center in Belleville, Michigan. (Kyle Davidson)

The United Auto Workers on Monday reached a tentative contract agreement with General Motors on day 46 of the strike.

The announcement follows previous UAW tentative pacts with the other Detroit Three automakers, Ford Motor Co. and Stellantis, which were announced on Wednesday and Saturday, respectively. The union went on strike on Sept.15.

“Once again, we have won several astonishing victories…,” UAW President Shawn Fain said on Monday evening. “We were relentless in our fight to win a record contract, and that is exactly what we accomplished.”

“GM is pleased to have reached a tentative agreement with the UAW that reflects the contributions of the team while enabling us to continue to invest in our future and provide good jobs in the U.S.,” Barra said. “We are looking forward to having everyone back to work across all of our operations, delivering great products for our customers, and winning as one team.”

It looked as though the UAW and GM were close to a deal amid negotiations late last week, with the company matching the 25% raise included in Ford’s tentative agreement that would expire in April 2028. But the two sides did not clinch an agreement, so on Saturday, the UAW called up GM Spring Hill Manufacturing, which is south of Nashville, Tenn., to join the strike.

The tentative agreement with GM includes 25% in base wage increases through April 2028, and will cumulatively raise the top wage by 33% compounded with estimated cost of living adjustment to over $42 an hour. The starting wage will increase by 70% compounded with estimated COLA, to over $30 an hour, according to a UAW press release.

“Like the agreements with Ford and Stellantis, the GM agreement has turned record profits into a record contract,” the UAW said in a statement. “The deal includes gains valued at more than four times the gains from the union’s 2019 contract. It provides more in base wage increases than GM workers have received in the past 22 years.”

Curt Cranford, 66, of Northville, is 38-year GM employee who works at Willow Run Redistribution in Belleville.

“I like the way Shawn Fain did this one. I mean, we were the sole company picked in 2019,” Cranford said on Monday afternoon.

The UAW carried out a 40-day strike against GM in 2019. But this time, the union launched a strike against all three U.S. automakers.

“You know, there’s too many times I think the union and the company are too close together. … We gave up things years ago and it’s time to get some back,” Cranford added. “I’m gonna retire this year. So some of that stuff isn’t gonna affect me. I mean, the immediate raise that’d be good for me and all that. … I’m just glad for the people behind me.”

GM workers will return to work while the agreement goes through the ratification process, with the UAW National GM Council convening in Detroit to review the agreement, according to the UAW statement.

The strike against the Detroit Three included about 46,000 workers and 40 plants and part centers across the nation. As part of the UAW’s “Stand Up Strike” strategy, not all plants went on strike, with leadership periodically calling up more workers to join the picket line at pivotal points in negotiations.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer praised the pact.

“This agreement supports the hardworking men and women of the UAW and ensures that GM can continue to grow and expand right here in Michigan, where they were established over a century ago,” Whitmer said. “I urge swift ratification of this deal so we can keep competing with other states and nations to lead the future of mobility.

U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Flint) toasted the GM agreement Monday afternoon before the deal was announced publicly. He highlighted the history of Flint’s 1936 to 1937 “The Sit Down Strikes” against GM, which led to the first collective bargaining agreement between workers and the automotive companies.

“When workers stand together, they can achieve great things. UAW members want what every American wants — to put in an honest days’ work for a good-paying job, a job that can support a family and allow workers to retire with dignity,” Kildee said. “In Congress, I will continue to be a champion for working people and unions so we can grow the middle class.”

President Joe Biden talked with Fain on Monday. Last month, the president joined Fain on the picket line at Willow Run Redistribution Center, which was a historic move for a sitting president.

“This historic contract is a testament to the power of unions and collective bargaining to build strong middle-class jobs while helping our most iconic American companies thrive,” Biden added. “The final word on these tentative agreements will ultimately come from UAW members themselves in the days and weeks to come.”

Carolyn Nippa, 51 of Canton, has worked at GM for 26 years and has been through three union strikes during her lifetime. On Monday afternoon, Nippa was on the same picket line that Biden had joined.

“We gave up concessions back in 2007 to 2008 and, you know, it’s time to get them back,” Nippa said. “We were falling behind. We were definitely falling behind.”

Nippa praised the union’s strategy of launching “a different kind of strike” against all the automakers at once instead of picking one company as a strike target, like in the past.

“It was very effective and I’d like to see the same formula going forward,” Nippa said.

UAW President Shawn Fain on Sunday outlined his union’s tentative contract settlement with Ford Motor Co. during a 25-minute Facebook live address. He was joined by Chuck Browning, the union’s vice president who headed negotiations with Ford.

“There was a time when it was hard to wear this wheel,” said Fain as he pointed to the UAW logo on his shirt and referring to past corruption that tarnished the 88-year-old organization. “And like many of you, I walked a lonely path. What we have accomplished has turned this wheel around. When I see that wheel, I no longer see a union on defense, in decline or under threat. When I see that wheel, I see power.”

The union on Sept. 15 launched a strike against the Detroit Three automakers, Ford, GM and Stellantis.

The Ford tentative agreement, which was announced on Wednesday, includes a 25% wage increase over 4.5 years, starting with an initial pay hike of 11%.

UAW leadership is recommending members approve the deal.

The tentative deal, which must be ratified by members, includes $8.1 billion in manufacturing investments and could give workers up to $70,000 in extra pay over the 4.5 years life of the proposed contract. It also eliminates all lower wage tier plants. Moreover, temporary workers will more than double their pay. Permanent workers could see top wage rates rise by more than 30% to $42.60 per hour by 2028, including estimated cost of living allowances.

The company will have the opportunity to offer an unlimited number of $50,000 buyouts to older workers earning the top rate. As it stands today, Ford can replace them with younger hires who will earn less than the top wage for three years.

More details are posted online.?

Fain also indicated that the Detroit Three strike is the beginning of a new UAW push to organize other automakers.

“One of our biggest goals coming out of this historic contract victory is to organize like we’ve never organized before,” Fain said. “When we return to the bargaining table in 2028, it won’t just be with the Big Three. It will be the Big Five or Big Six.”

On Saturday, the UAW announced that it also has reached a tentative agreement to end the 44-day strike against Stellantis.

The union has not reached a deal with General Motors, the third automaker of the Detroit Three. GM made new offers late this week that match a 25% raise included in Ford’s tentative agreement that would expire in April 2028.

On Saturday, the UAW called up GM Spring Hill Manufacturing, which is south of Nashville, to join the strike.

This story is republished from Michigan Advance,?a sister publication of Kentucky Lantern and part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.?

Workers stand in a line on strike outside the Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville, Oct. 18, 2023. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Liam Niemeyer)

The United Auto Workers (UAW) said on Wednesday night that the union has a potential deal with Ford Motor Co. to end the strike against the automaker after 41 days on strike against the Detroit Three — which also includes General Motors and Stellantis.

The agreement includes a 25% wage increase over 4.5 years, starting with an initial pay hike of 11%. UAW members will have to ratify the deal.

“The gains in the deal are valued at more than four times the gains from the 2019 contract,” the union said in a statement.

In a video address by UAW President Shawn Fain and UAW Vice President Chuck Browning, the union leaders gave some details of the agreement, while outlining next steps in the ratification process.

“For months we’ve said that record profits mean record contracts. And UAW family, our Stand Up Strike has delivered. What started at three plants at midnight on Sept. 15, has become a national movement,” said Fain. “We won things nobody thought possible. Since the strike began, Ford put 50% more on the table than when we walked out. This agreement sets us on a new path to make things right at Ford, at the Big Three, and across the auto industry. Together, we are turning the tide for the working class in this country.”=

Ford confirmed the deal in a news statement Wednesday night.

“We are pleased to have reached a tentative agreement on a new labor contract with the UAW covering our U.S. operations,” the company said.

“Ford is proud to assemble the most vehicles in America and employ the most hourly autoworkers. We are focused on restarting Kentucky Truck Plant, Michigan Assembly Plant and Chicago Assembly Plant, calling 20,000 Ford employees back to work and shipping our full lineup to our customers again,” the automaker said in a statement. “The agreement is subject to ratification by Ford’s UAW-represented employees. Consistent with the ratification process, the UAW will share details with its membership.”

UAW Vice President Chuck Browning said the tentative agreement with Ford has historic wins.

“Our union has united in a way we haven’t seen in years. From the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, our members came together to tell the Big Three with one voice that record profits mean a record contract,” said Browning. “Thanks to the power of our members on the picket line and the threat of more strikes to come, we have won the most lucrative agreement per member since Walter Reuther was president.”

During a Friday livestream, Fain had detailed the latest proposals at General Motors, Ford and Stellantis, highlighting the shortcomings of the latter’s current offer. The union represents about 150,000 members.

The latest picket site on Tuesday at GM’s Arlington Assembly plant in Texas brought the total number of UAW members on strike at the Big Three automakers to more than 45,000.

The UAW remains on strike against GM and Stellantis, but the Ford deal could become the blueprint to settle those contracts.

The strike began on Sept. 15 with a walkout against three assembly plants in Michigan, Missouri and Ohio. It has since grown to include eight assembly plants and 38 parts distribution centers in 22 states.

President Joe Biden in September made a historic visit to the picket line alongside Fain at the Willow Run Redistribution Center in Belleville. He said in a statement Wednesday night that he applauds the “UAW and Ford for coming together after a hard fought, good faith negotiation and reaching a historic tentative agreement tonight.

“This tentative agreement provides a record raise to auto workers who have sacrificed so much to ensure our iconic Big Three companies can still lead the world in quality and innovation. Ultimately, the final word on this contract will be from the UAW members themselves in the days and weeks to come. I’ve always believed the middle class built America and unions built the middle class. That is especially the case for UAW workers who built an iconic American industry,” Biden said.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer also congratulated the UAW and Ford for reaching an “historic deal that benefits our world-class auto workers and helps this world-class automaker succeed.”

“There is a lot riding on these negotiations,” Whitmer said through a statement. “We are in a fierce competition with the rest of the world for the future of manufacturing — and all eyes are on Michigan,” Whitmer said in a statement. “We can be the example to the rest of the nation on how to bring jobs back home from overseas and keep making stuff here in Michigan.

“I hope this momentum will help the UAW and the remaining companies reach an agreement so Michiganders can get back to doing what they do best. Michigan is home to phenomenal companies powered by the best auto workers in the world. Let’s keep it that way,” Whitmer added.

U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Birmingham) agreed with Whitmer.

“I’m pleased to see that the UAW and Ford have reached a tentative agreement that deals workers in,” Stevens said. “This tentative agreement, if approved by the UAW members, builds towards living wages and fair benefits while making sure we are building the future of mobility right here in America.”

Advance Editor Susan J. Demas contributed to this story.

This story is republished from Michigan Advance,?a sister publication of Kentucky Lantern and part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.?

Members of the UAW picket line in Delta Township, Michigan on Sept. 29, 2023. (Photo by Anna Liz Nichols)

As an escalating workers’ strike heads toward its sixth week, about 5,000 union members at General Motors’ Arlington Assembly in Texas on Tuesday joined the United Auto Workers (UAW) walkout against the Detroit Three.

The UAW described the action as an effort against “General Motors’ largest plant and biggest moneymaker.”

Workers there build the Chevrolet Tahoe and Cadillac Escalade SUVs, among other models. Texas is the second-largest state in America and isn’t considered one of America’s most union-friendly.

“Another record quarter; another record year. As we’ve said for months: record profits? equal record contracts.” said UAW President Shawn Fain. “It’s time GM workers, and the whole working class, get their fair share.”

The latest strike site comes after about 6,800 United Auto Workers (UAW) members at Stellantis’ Sterling Heights Assembly Plant took to the picket line on Monday.

Fain detailed during a Friday livestream the current proposals at General Motors, Ford and Stellantis, highlighting the shortcomings of the latter’s current offer. All three of the Detroit automakers have offered 23% wage increases and have agreed to eliminate wage tiers, Fain said in recent days.

General Motors said it was “disappointed by the escalation of this unnecessary and irresponsible strike.”

“Last week, we provided a comprehensive offer to the UAW that increased the already substantial and historic offers we have made by approximately 25% in total value. It is time for us to finish this process, get our team members back to work and get on with the business of making GM the company that will win and provide great jobs in the U.S. for our people for decades to come,” the company said in a statement.

The picket at Arlington Assembly brings the total number of UAW members on strike at the Big Three automakers to more than 45,000.

The strike began on Sept. 15 with a walkout against three assembly plants in Michigan, Missouri and Ohio. It has since grown to include eight assembly plants and 38 parts distribution centers in 22 states.

Workers stand in a line on strike outside the Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville, Oct. 12, 2023. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Liam Niemeyer)

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear brought a box of fresh sandwiches to striking UAW Local 862 members outside the Ford Truck Plant in Louisville on Wednesday, reports a posting on the Kentucky AFL-CIO website.

“Folks, I’m Andy Beshear and I’m the proud pro-union governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky,” he announced to cheers and applause from the strikers.

Tim Morris, executive director of the Greater Louisville Central Labor Council, didn’t know the governor was coming until his motorcade pulled up outside the truck plant union hall at 2702 Chamberlain Lane, according to the report.

Todd Dunn, Local 862 president, introduced Beshear to a small crowd including officials from Teamster Locals 89 and 783.

“The governor wanted to bring some sandwiches,” Dunn said. “This is not a campaign stop, no media got called. As a matter of fact, we went out of our way to keep it secret.”

Dunn said that outside the governor’s office the only people who knew about the visit were United Auto Workers President Sean Fain, Vice President Chuck Browning and a few other UAW officials “because we wanted to keep it about the people.”

Morris said Beshear “bought the sandwiches with his own money.”

The month-long strike against the Detroit Three automakers reached the Ford plant in Louisville, the company’s most profitable, on Oct. 11 when 8,700 workers walked off the job. The plant produces Super Duty trucks and SUVS.

The union is seeking wage increases, including compensation for concessions the union made in 2009 to help Ford survive without a government bailout. The union also is negotiating to ensure continued workforce protections as automakers transition to producing electric vehicles.

Beshear told the strikers “I am here for you, for your families” and that he knows they are “trying to help thousands upon thousands of Kentucky families have that better life.”

President Joe Biden tours the North American International Auto Show with GM CEO Mary Barra in Detroit on Sept. 14, 2022. (Andrew Roth | Michigan Advance)

The United Auto Workers union’s strike against the Detroit Three for higher wages, more paid time off, and the elimination of tiered workers, which is in its fourth week, has drawn attention to the vast differences in pay between autoworkers and executives at auto manufacturers.

The union has frequently spoken out about the gulf between CEO pay and worker pay to argue that the auto manufacturers can afford to increase wages for autoworkers.

“They’re absolutely rolling in the money. They’re competing for who gets the biggest executive compensation package,” said Shawn Fain, president of the UAW, in a YouTube video about CEO compensation uploaded last week.

In 2022, all three CEOs made above $20 million. General Motors CEO Mary Barra’s compensation is $29 million, the highest of the big three automakers, followed by Stellantis’ Carlo Tevares at $25 million and Ford’s Jim Farley at $21 million.

What’s behind UAW’s argument for higher pay

Fain has also pointed to the 6% pay increases autoworkers received since their 2019 contract compared to the 40% rise in automaker CEO pay to make his argument for the union’s pay demands.

Cindy Schipani, professor of business administration and professor of business law at the University of Michigan, told States Newsroom over email that this 40% rise in CEO pay in the auto sector in the last four years has set up an opportunity for the UAW to call out a lack of fairness as they negotiate.

“The union seems to be arguing an equity issue, especially in light of the sacrifices the workers needed to make in past negotiations,” she said. “Of course, the CEO’s job isn’t comparable to the job of the average worker, but I suspect the UAW may believe it has some leverage. If the company can afford to raise the salary of the top executive at roughly 40% over 4 years, why not also grant the rank and file similar increases.”

Autoworkers who are responsible for motor vehicles and parts manufacturing received an average hourly pay of $28 an hour in September, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But autoworker pay can vary a lot between different tiers of autoworkers. Some autoworkers are temporary or “supplemental” workers, even if they have worked at a plant for many years, and receive a lot less pay. The UAW wants to end the tiered system as part of its contract demands.

“The CEO to average worker pay ratio in the big 3 auto companies appears to be in line with the average ratio across the largest 500 public companies in the U.S., which averages just under 300%,” Schipiani said.

Although overall CEO compensation fell 14.8% in 2022 because of a stock market decline, CEO pay soared 1,209.2% from 1978 to 2022 versus typical workers’ pay, which rose 15.3% during the same period, according to an Economic Policy Institute analysis released in September. The progressive think tank makes the case that the increase in CEO pay is not harmless to the average worker and states that workers in the bottom 90% would have 25% higher wages today if not for the vast differences in wage increases from the 1970s to 2021.

Fain has also emphasized auto manufacturers’ profits as another reason the companies should be able to afford higher wages for UAW members. Although all of the big three automakers suffered losses in annual gross profit from 2019 to 2020, in the long run, the companies’ profits have shot up in the past decade while autoworkers’ wages have fallen. From 2013 to 2022, profit at Ford, Stellantis, and General Motors rose 92%, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank.

From 2008 to 2023, average hourly earnings for people working in auto manufacturing sank 19.3% and wages for workers responsible for both auto manufacturing and vehicle parts fell 10%, the EPI analysis showed.

The latest developments in the UAW strike

As the UAW continues to push for higher wages and other benefits, it has shifted its strategy. On Oct. 11, the UAW expanded its strike to Ford’s most profitable plant in Louisville, which employs nearly 9,000 autoworkers.

The union has already gone on strike in several big three auto company plants, including in Michigan, Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois. On the same day, Ford responded to the escalation in a statement in which it called the UAW action at the Kentucky plant “grossly irresponsible.” The auto manufacturers have responded to the demand for a 46% pay increase with offers ranging from a rise in pay of 21% to 23%.

Leading up to and during the course of the strike, UAW leadership has scheduled its major announcements on labor actions for Fridays. But last Friday, Fain did not announce any new strike actions. He said the strike will enter a new phase where the strike could be expanded at any time.

“Moving forward, we will be calling out plants when we need to with little notice. Stay ready, not just Fridays, not just Ford. Together, we’re making history and together, we’re going to stand up and win what we deserve,” he said.

In response, Ford put public pressure on the UAW to deescalate the labor fight. On Monday, Bill Ford, executive chairman of Ford, held a press conference in which he argued that the strike would only aid its competitors at Toyota, Tesla and Honda, and hurt the American automobile industry.

Ford said, “We can stop this now. I call on my great UAW colleagues, some of whom I have known for decades. … We need to come together to bring an end to this acrimonious round of talks.”

How individual workers are faring under the current pay system

While UAW and big three auto manufacturers decide how to move forward at the negotiating table, UAW members like Tenisha Hodges are hoping that they will eventually earn enough money to comfortably support their families.

Hodges, 45, a supplemental worker at the Stellantis’ Jefferson North Assembly Plant in Detroit, said she and her husband, a cook and a stockperson at a supermarket, struggle to support their household on the wages she makes at the plant. She said she started working at the Stellantis plant three years ago because her uncle, who worked for Ford and retired in the late ‘80s, made decent money and she thought that a job as an autoworker would offer her a similar path.

“I expected to have that same type of lifestyle, not to be rich but to be able to provide for just the simple things, and for the corporate company to tell me we don’t have any full-time positions open to roll you over, yet almost three years I have been working full-time hours. The math isn’t adding up,” she said.

Hodges said she has another job as a contractor for Amazon making deliveries so that she can provide for her family, which includes five children from age 16 to 26 who she said all live at home. She works 60 to 70 hours a week at the plant making $17.53 an hour but still works another five hours at Amazon a few days a week to help her household pay for rent and utilities, which she said are particularly large expenses for her family.

Despite the fact that auto-manufacturing work has resulted in carpal tunnel syndrome in both of her hands and achilles tendinitis, Hodges said she is reluctant to leave in case she becomes a full-time worker and receives more pay, and eventually, lighter work.

“I don’t want to leave, because I’ve already spent so much time that if I leave and turn around and we get turned to full-time then that would be even more upsetting,” Hodges said. “What I was working for finally happened and I’m not there to receive it. You’re in between a rock and a hard place.”

UAW President Shawn Fain talks with members of the UAW picket line in Delta Township, Michigan on September 29, 2023. (Photo by Anna Liz Nichols/Michigan Advance)

Four weeks into the United Auto Workers (UAW) strike against the Detroit Three automakers, union President Shawn Fain announced in a livestream that the union would no longer wait until Fridays to expand its strike to new plants.

“We’re entering a new phase of this fight, and it demands a new approach,” Fain said Friday.

While Fain did not call for additional strikes against General Motors, Ford or Stellantis during the livestream, he said the UAW was prepared to call only more local unions to walk out at any time.

“When I tell all you members to be ready to stand up, I mean it. We’re not waiting until Fridays anymore,” Fain said.

About 8,700 workers from Ford’s Kentucky Truck Plant were called to join the strike Wednesday night, with Fain saying Ford “hasn’t gotten the message” in contract negotiations.

During the stream, Fain said the company offered them the same deal the union had rejected two weeks ago, after telling the union there was more money that could be offered.

“At that point, I’d said, ‘That’s all you have for us? Our members’ lives and my handshake are worth more than that. You just cost yourself Kentucky truck plant.’…We didn’t wait ‘til Friday and we didn’t wait a minute,” Fain said.

Ford Vice President of Communications Mark Truby issued a statement calling the decision to call a strike at the company’s largest plant “grossly irresponsible but unsurprising.”

Fain criticized Ford’s statement during the stream.

“Ford made a lot of noise after we took out Kentucky truck plant. As the saying goes, a hit dog will holler,” Fain said.

“They admitted that Kentucky Truck generates $25 billion in revenue a year, that’s $48,000 a minute. Our labor at Kentucky truck generates more revenue each minute than thousands of our members make in a year,” Fain said.

Fain also accused Ford of waiting until Fridays to make progress on bargaining.

Ford thought they could sit back and not make further progress in bargaining because they thought they had the best deal on the table. Ford thought they could wait until Friday morning and then just make a better offer,” Fain said.

“They stopped being interested in reaching a fair deal now and only became interested in gaming our system of announcing strike expansions on Friday. They thought they figured out the so-called rules of the game, so we changed the rules. And now there’s only one rule: Pony up,” Fain said.

Fain said the UAW is continuing to look for a deal.

“I wish I had more updates or good news for all of you out of GM or Stellantis, but the fact is, we’re still bargaining hard with both of those companies. And they’re now on notice that we’re entering a new phase in this fight,” Fain said.

Fain also addressed criticism that he was setting UAW members too high.

“I want to be clear on this point. I didn’t raise members’ expectations. Our broken economy is what’s raising our members’ expectations. And our members are right to be angry. … Income inequality in the United States has now risen to heights not seen since the Great Depression. So I’m not the cause of raised expectations. The cause is overflowing corporate bank accounts,” Fain said.

Unless employers come to their senses and begin offering contracts that match gains on Wall Street, there will be more strikes on the horizon, Fain predicted.

There’s been a flurry of labor actions this fall.

More than 1,000 UAW Local 2500 members who work at Blue Cross Blue Shield went on strike last month. The union represents the company’s customer service call center department and other workers.

Nearly 4,000 workers in the Detroit Casino Council are preparing for a strike, almost 1,000 of whom are UAW members, Fain said.

Another 1,100 UAW members working at General Dynamics in Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania, voted 97% in favor of authorizing a strike. Their contract expires on Oct. 22.

Additionally, Mack Truck workers voted down a tentative agreement, seeking better wages, job security and reinstatement of cost of living increases. The strike involves 4,000 UAW workers across three states.

“Our union is done playing defense. We’re going on offense. We’re done aiming low and settling lower. It’s time we started aiming high and seeing how close we can get to total economic and social justice,” Fain said.

“What we win isn’t up to me. It isn’t up to your executive board. It isn’t up to your local president or the president of the United States. What we win, it’s up to us — all of us,” Fain said.

This story is republished from Michigan Advance,?a sister publication of Kentucky Lantern and part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.?

Workers stand in a line on strike outside the Kentucky Truck Plant. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Liam Niemeyer)

LOUISVILLE — Tim Heil never expected Ford’s most profitable plant to go on strike, yet on Thursday morning he and dozens of others were on the picket line in front of the sprawling Kentucky Truck Plant.

The walkout of about 8,700 workers in Kentucky came as a surprise Wednesday night after United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain said that Ford hadn’t “gotten the message” in ongoing contract negotiations.

Ford considers the Louisville plant, which produces Super Duty trucks and SUVS, to be one of the most important in the world. Kentucky Truck Plant brings in revenue of about $25 billion annually, according to Ford, equivalent to the annual revenue of Southwest Airlines, which is why Heil thought the company would agree to what he considers reasonable union demands to avoid a strike in Louisville.

On Thursday afternoon, the CEO of Ford Blue, the company’s gas-powered vehicle division, told media that pensions and battery plants were on the table when Fain halted talks and called on the thousands of unionized workers at the Kentucky Truck Plant to walk off the job, the latest in a month-long strike as the UAW has selectively called on some plants and facilities to strike while others remain operating. The Kentucky action brings the number of striking UAW members to 33,700.

As automakers begin to transition production to electric vehicles, the UAW wants to ensure the transition is fair to workers. Fain announced last week that automaker GM had added its battery plants to the UAW’s national contract, ensuring that the plants would be unionized. The UAW is pushing Ford to do the same. ?

Ford and the South Korean company SK On are jointly building battery plants in Kentucky and Tennessee. The companies on Wednesday upped the wages being offered at those plants above what had previously been announced.?

Kumar Galhotra, the CEO of Ford Blue, said negotiations on the battery plants in particular were “not a straightforward proposition.”?

“The plants aren’t even built yet. And we haven’t hired the workforce yet. The workforce isn’t unionized yet,” Galhotra said. “We are very open to working with them on their way forward on the battery plants.”

When asked what constraints would prevent Ford from adding battery plants to the UAW national contract, Galhotra said there were “multiple differences” between GM and Ford but he didn’t know the details of the UAW’s deal with GM on the battery plants.?

Heil, 59, one of the picketing Kentucky Truck Plant workers, said he is also thinking about the future of his fellow auto workers. He’s sacrificed his body over 28 years, the manual labor keeping him on his feet and wearing out his joints; he’s had surgery on his neck and knee over the decades. Ultimately, he’s thinking about retirement in a couple of years.?

He said he’s really striking for the new workers, including those with young families, starting their careers at the plant. The UAW made concessions to Ford during the Great Recession to keep the company afloat while other automakers took government bailouts. Aspects of their contract then such as a cost of living adjustments to keep up with inflation haven’t been reinstated.?

“I thought the cost of living (increase) was something that was going to be there throughout my whole career. But it wasn’t,” Heil said.?

The Kentucky Truck Plant’s closure could have a ripple effect across its more than 600 parts suppliers, according to Ford executives. Thirteen other plants, including the nearby Louisville Assembly Plant, are connected in the supply chain.

Cindy Pence, 28, who was with another group of striking workers on the picket line Thursday morning, said rural counties surrounding Louisville also feel the ripples because they rely on the production and jobs created by Kentucky Truck Plant.?

She said her grandfather worked at the plant when it first opened in 1969, but the job no longer has the same pay and prestige.?

“It used to be a job, especially in small communities where I’m from, they’re like, ‘Wow, you got that job. Like, that’s a good job.’ And now it’s almost embarrassing,” she said.??

UAW President Shawn Fain talks to picketing workers at Ford-owned Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, Michigan the night of September 14, 2023. (photo: Anna Liz Nichols)

Members of United Auto Workers walked off the job Monday morning at Mack Truck facilities in three states, after rejecting a tentative contract agreement with the company.

According to a statement from UAW, 73% of the 4,000 workers voted to reject the tentative agreement with Greensboro, N.C.-based Mack, which was reached shortly ahead of an Oct. 1 deadline. The Associated Press reported the contract would have included a 19% pay raise.

“I’m inspired to see UAW members at Mack Trucks holding out for a better deal, and ready to stand up and walk off the job to win it,” UAW president Shawn Fain said in a statement Monday. “The members have the final say, and it’s their solidarity and organization that will win a fair contract at Mack.”

Fain said in a letter to Mack company officials that there were several topics that remained at issue, including wage increases, cost of living allowances, job security, work schedules, health and safety, pensions, and overtime.

UAW Locals 171, 677, 1247, 2301, and 2420 in UAW Region 8 and Region 9 represent workers at Mack Trucks locations in Macungie and Middletown, Pennsylvania; Hagerstown and Baltimore, Maryland; and Jacksonville, Florida, the union said.

UAW President Shawn Fain announcing an update to his members via social media on Oct. 6, 2023. (Screenshot)

Three weeks into the United Auto Workers (UAW) strike, UAW President Shawn Fain announced a “transformative win,” on a Friday livestream, with General Motors agreeing to place its battery manufacturers under its master agreement with the union.

Before going on the livestream on social media — which was scheduled to begin at 2 p.m., but was slightly delayed — Fain had planned to call the General Motors Sport Utility Vehicle plant in Arlington, Texas, to join the strike, calling the facility its “biggest moneymaker.” However, GM’s agreement averted an expansion of the strike.

“We’ve been told the [electric vehicle] future must be a race to the bottom, and now we’ve called their bluff,” Fain said, donning an “Eat the Rich” shirt.

“The plan was to draw down engine and transmission plants and permanently replace them with low-wage battery jobs. We had a different plan and our plan is winning at GM and we expect it to win at Ford and Stellantis, as well,” Fain said.

GM has not released a comment. The company said this week that it had lost $200 million in the first two weeks of the strike that began on Sept. 15, the New York Times reported.

Earlier this week, Ford CEO Jim Farley accused the union of “holding [a] deal hostage over battery plants,” Reuters reported.

The UAW has called on 43 plants across 21 states to join its “Stand Up Strike,” with about 25,000 members picketing against all three Detroit automakers: Ford, General Motors and Stellantis.Alongside the agreement with GM, Fain outlined progress in bargaining with the other automakers since the beginning of the strike.

“I wish I were here to announce a tentative agreement at one or more of these companies. But I do want to be really clear. We are making significant progress,” Fain said.

The union is negotiating for higher wages, a 32-hour work week, better pension benefits alongside other concerns like an elimination of worker tiers and a return to cost-of-living adjustments to wages to protect from inflation.

Since the first proposal of a 9% wage increase from Ford, the company has since made the highest offer among the Big Three, offering a 23% wage increase, with GM and Stellantis offering a 20% wage increase, Fain said.

Ahead of the Friday announcement, Fain told a gathering at the Economic Analysis and Research Network (EARN) conference in Detroit that many UAW members were struggling to make ends meet.

“We’ve been dealing with trickle-down economics since the [President Ronald] Reagan days in the ‘80s and it still is the battle cry of the right. Inequality has been on the rise for decades. It’s now at its greatest level since the Great Depression,” Fain said.

Alongside continued negotiations for wages increases, Ford and Stellantis have agreed to reinstate cost-of-living adjustments for workers.

The union has also negotiated raises for temporary workers to $20 hourly at GM and Stellantis and $21 hourly at Ford.

Despite progress in negotiations, there is still more work to be done, Fain said.

The union will continue to push for retirement security for pre-and-post 2007 hires, Fain said.

“For those members who never got a pension or post retirement health care, we’re fighting like hell for real retirement security. But the companies are fighting like hell to keep our retirement uncertain and insecure,”? Fain said. “As people who give their lives to these companies, we never should have lost those rights. This strike is about righting the wrongs of the past and winning justice for all of our members,” he said.

Fain attributed advancements in the bargaining progress to the power of working class people.

“The billionaires and company executives think us auto workers are just dumb. …They look at me, they see some redneck from Indiana. They look at you and see somebody they would never have over for dinner or let ride on their yacht or fly on their private jet,” Fain said.

“We may be foul-mouthed, but we’re strategic. We may get fired up, but we’re disciplined. And we may get rowdy, but we’re organized,” Fain said.

The union has been very careful about escalating the strike, designing its strategy not to hurt companies for its own sake, but to push them to say yes when they want to say no, Fain said.

“This week, GM did something that was unthinkable until just today. They agreed to put the future of this industry under our national agreement.This victory is a direct result of the power of our membership,” Fain said.

The UAW will rally in Chicago at 2 p.m. Saturday at the UAW Local 551 Union Hall where Fain will join other union leaders and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson.

This story is republished from Michigan Advance,?a sister publication of Kentucky Lantern and part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.?

Shona Lamond, executive director of the Downtown Children’s Center in St. Louis, Missouri, says she applied for every grant she could find to keep her center open and teachers paid during the pandemic. (Photo by Rebecca Rivas/Missouri Independent)

A huge chunk of pandemic relief funding that kept child care programs afloat for the past few years is set to run out Saturday, and policy advocates say the economic impact will be profound, with the ripple effect hurting labor force participation and consumer spending at a time when the country is still trying to avoid a recession.

Parents struggled to pay for child care and child care centers strained to retain workers well before 2020, but the pandemic accelerated many of the industry’s struggles and without the federal money many would have shut their doors.

Now some of that money is going away. American Rescue Plan Act stabilization funds — $24 billion distributed by states that allowed child care to continue for 9.6 million children — will run out Sept. 30. According to The Century Foundation’s analysis of the impact of the loss of these funds, Arkansas, Montana, Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia can expect the supply of child care programs to be cut by half or more as a result. The end of this funding will cost states $10.6 billion in economic activity according to the TCF report because of the loss in tax and business revenue that results from reduced productivity and staff turnover.

States will have to liquidate another $13.5 billion — provided by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act and Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act that funded child care and development block grants?— by the same date. Meanwhile, $15 billion in increased funding for the Child Care Development Block Grant expires in September 2024.

The House passed a legislative package in 2021 which would have expanded the Child Care Development Block Grant to apply to far more families, ensuring they had universal pre-K and reliable child care, as Congress approved relief funds to deal with the immediate problems of families and child care providers. But $400 billion to address longer-term problems in child care did not make it through the Senate.

“We have this temporary funding in this context where we thought when we were at the end of the temporary funding, we’d actually have a system we’d be building. We still need that system. Just because it didn’t happen doesn’t mean it’s not necessary. It just means that politics got in the way,” said Julie Kashen, senior fellow and director for women’s economic justice at The Century Foundation.

Karen Schulman, director of state child care policy at the National Women’s Law Center, said the relief funds that will expire in 2024 also served many purposes to keep child care centers afloat. The American Rescue Plan Act Child Care and Development Block Grant supplemental funds were used for many different purposes.

“They also use a portion of those funds to improve quality, which can be a range of activities, whether professional development or wage supplements for child care providers or training or licensing and health and safety — just a variety of initiatives to help providers,” she said. “That money supplemented the existing child care and development block grant program, which is very important for families, but has always been vastly underfunded.”

Demand for child care, competition for workers

Shona Lamond, executive director of the Downtown Children’s Center in St. Louis, Missouri, said she took advantage of every grant she could find to keep her center open. “The federal [Paycheck Protection Program], the American Rescue Plan Act [funds] … Anything that we qualified for, I applied for, and for the most part we received the grants that I applied for to help us,” she said.

Lamond said the nonprofit has used most of the ARPA money on the center’s biggest expense — teachers’ salaries. It has increased salaries in the past few years to try to keep up with inflation and stay competitive, which has involved an 8% increase over the past three years.

“I think it’s really tough to compete with these other places, these major corporations that have that ability to start paying $17 or $18 an hour …” Lamond said. “I don’t fault people for people who get out of education. We do a really difficult job … It’s stressful. It comes with a lot of responsibility and if you don’t do it right, you could lose your license and your livelihood and they’re getting paid rock bottom wages.”

Lamond said the center is still short-staffed and that two classrooms have been closed for more than a year.

“We’ve been low enrollment pretty much since COVID hit. We’ve never returned to our regular capacity,” she said.

Charles Gascon, senior economist at Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, said that because workers at child care centers were also more exposed to COVID-19 and it took time for child care centers to figure out how to adhere to different social distancing requirements and maintain capacity, a lot of workers left.

“The policy standpoint played a role but then the fact that these were not very desirable jobs to have in the middle of a pandemic and the wages really didn’t compensate workers for the added risk they were taking on,” he said.

Gascon said a lot of today’s challenges in child care were the same issues it had in 2019.

“In some cases, it may be a little more exacerbated as older people left the workforce so there are shortages in the sector just like other sectors. The labor market has recovered really quickly so the demand for care is there,” he said. “… Now we can add to that a couple compounding factors: one, the population demographic that is having kids now is larger than the demographic from about 10 years ago, so that means there is likely going to be more people that are demanding these kinds of services. We’ve also seen a shift in where the jobs are at so we see women’s labor force participation rates are higher.”

The lack of affordable child care options is pushing more families to consider informal child care that doesn’t necessarily have an educational component, Lamond said. Other than families reaching out to grandparents and the nextdoor neighbor as well as watching kids as they work remotely, she said she’s seeing people connect through local Facebook groups to find parents who come with good references to watch their kids.

“As long as your kid is safe and being really well cared for and loved, sometimes that’s the best you might be able to do so that you can get to work,” Lamond said.

She said she regularly works with families who have to make hard decisions about whether they take a new job or stay home because they struggle to afford child care.

Katherine Gallagher Robbins, senior fellow at the Partnership for Women and Families, said that the end of the funding is bad news for women’s labor force participation, consumer spending, and for the economy in general. Women ages 25 to 54 have played the biggest role in boosting overall labor force participation in the economic recovery, according to Brookings’ August analysis. But Gallagher Robbins said that it’s still much lower than countries with better caretaking support.

“… It’s very clear that women’s labor force participation will take a hit,” she said.

And, in turn, consumer spending will be affected, she said.

“As the supply of child care decreases, you’ll very likely see an increase in cost that will be borne by families,” Gallagher Robbins said. “This will lead to less disposable income to spend on other essential items. And for some families the balance will tip and a parent may have to leave the labor force altogether which will decrease income in both the short- and long-term. I suspect these effects will be largest for Black and Latinx families with low-incomes for whom child care is already the least affordable.”

She also argues that by expanding the labor supply by offering policies that are more supportive of caregiving, the government could reduce inflation without trying to cool the labor market.

Advocates in Congress, state leaders push for better funding

Legislation introduced in the U.S. Senate this year to address these issues did not pass, but some senators have continued to call for more funding of child care. U.S. Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Patty Murray (D-WA) released a report in May to draw attention to the child care funding cliff. Murray reintroduced comprehensive child care legislation in April.

Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minnesota, and co-sponsor of the Expanding Childcare in Rural America Act of 2023, told States Newsroom this summer, “The whole business model for childcare in this country is not working — not for families, not for businesses, and not for providers themselves. Addressing our country’s looming childcare cliff will require significant, federal investments in childcare so that our kids, their parents, and our economy can reach their full potential.”

The Biden administration has also taken steps this year to improve access to child care and stabilize the industry. A Health and Human Services Department proposed rule, announced on July 11, would cap co-payments for child care to 7% of a family’s income, encourage states to take online applications for families trying to access the Child Care Development Block Grant, and pay child care providers participating in those block grants in a timely manner to stabilize child care operations. The rule would also make it clear to states that they should consider siblings of children who already receive subsidies to be eligible for the Child Care Development Block Grant.

On July 19, White House officials met with more than 90 state legislative leaders and child care advocates to discuss how to address the funding needs, according to the White House.

Kashen said New Mexico and Maine are some of the states taking the most advantage of these funds but states need federal help. Maine has provided 7,000 child care workers with $200 stipends but is using state funding to make the stipends permanent. New Mexico allocated $77 million for a program to fund raises for about 16,000 child care workers.

“There are states that are really taking leadership here,” Kashen said. “That said, when you talk to advocates in those states, they will tell you it’s not enough money … This is an emergency and Congress needs to do something and put money in quickly because I think we’re going to keep losing the workforce.”

Employees join the picket line at General Motor’s Lansing Redistribution Center as the location was called to strike on September 22, 2023. (Photo: Anna Liz Nichols)

Two more plants, employing 7,000 workers, are joining the United Auto Workers (UAW) strike at noon Friday, UAW President Shawn Fain announced Friday morning on Facebook Live. This brings the total number of workers who will have walked off the job to 25,000.

The strike against Detroit Three auto manufacturers Ford, General Motors and Stellantis started two weeks ago after contract negotiations failed.

Fain said as he was gearing up for the planned livestream, Stellantis showed progress in negotiating with the union for a better contract, so the union did not target additional plants at the company.

Fain did call on Ford’s Chicago Assembly Plant, as well as GM’s Lansing Delta Township facility to stand up and go out on strike at noon Friday. Fain offered those who have already been called to strike a message of encouragement.

“Keep showing the company’s that you’re ready to stand up when you’re called. When we win this fight, when we right the wrongs of the past 15 years and longer. And when we set a new course for future generations, it won’t be because of any president, not the UAW president, not the president of the United States. It will be because ordinary people did extraordinary things,” Fain said.

At Fain’s invitation, President Joe Biden on Tuesday visited a UAW picket line in Belleville, Michigan, telling workers, “Wall Street didn’t build the country; the middle class built the country. … And unions built the middle class.”

Although Biden said he marched in UAW picket lines when he was a U.S. senator, he’s noted taking pride in doing it as president. It is believed that this is the first time in modern history that a sitting president has visited an active strike site.

Fain did not note former President Donald Trump’s Wednesday speech at a non-union Macomb County plant. The union president declined to meet with Trump, saying he was part of the problem of the “billionaire class.”

“They [the UAW] have to endorse Trump [in 2024], because if they don’t, all they’re doing is committing suicide,” Trump said at the event at Drake Enterprises in Clinton Township.

The UAW has not endorsed in the 2024 election. Michigan is again considered a pivotal swing state.

Even with Biden’s support for the striking workers, Fain noted UAW members are still facing obstacles, noting a hit-and-run incident Tuesday afternoon on the picket line at General Motors’ Flint Processing Center. The incident, where it’s reported a driver leaving the facility hit five members of the picket line, wasn’t the only violence Fain said has occurred.

“We’ve had guns pulled on us. Trucks and cars ran through us and violent threats hurled at us. And I want to be absolutely clear. We will not be intimidated into backing down by the companies or their scabs,” Fain said. “Our solidarity is our strength and right now, our strength is the hope of working class people everywhere. Let’s stand up and win this thing for ourselves, for our families, for our communities, for our country, and for our future.”

The UAW is using a staggered approach to its strike, called a “Stand Up Strike” plan, where instead of all the plants striking together, select plants are periodically informed to “stand up and walk out.”

Prior to Friday, a total of 41 locations were called to strike across 21 states, with 14 of the locations being in Michigan.

This is bigger than even the Detroit Three, Fain said, noting several other labor actions that have occurred since the UAW went on strike against the automakers. Notably, the Detroit Casino Council (DCC) UNITE HERE workers at Detroit’s three casinos — MGM Grand Detroit, Motor City Casino and Hollywood at Greektown — will vote Friday on whether to authorize their own strike.

This story is republished from Michigan Advance,?a sister publication of Kentucky Lantern and part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.?

Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks speaks at a campaign rally at Drake Enterprises, a non-union automotive parts manufacturer, on September 27, 2023 in Clinton Township, Michigan. President Joe Biden met with striking UAW workers the day before at a General Motors parts facility. |(Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Former President Donald Trump told United Auto Workers (UAW) leaders Wednesday that they would not have a union if they fail to endorse him in the 2024 presidential election.

“They have to endorse Trump, because if they don’t, all they’re doing is committing suicide,” Trump said.

UAW President Shawn Fain criticized Trump’s Wednesday night visit to Drake Enterprises, a non-union automotive parts manufacturer in Clinton Township, Michigan, which the former president scheduled to counterprogram the second 2024 Republican presidential debate.

Trump, who is facing 91 state and federal felony charges in four jurisdictions, ?repeatedly attacked Fain throughout his remarks, even as he also claimed to support the striking UAW members. It was unclear how many striking workers were at the event.

“Shawn, endorse Trump and you can take a nice two month vacation, come back, and you guys are going to be better than you ever were,” Trump said. “The other way, you won’t have a vacation, Shawn. And in a short period of time, you’re not going to have a union. You’re not going to have jobs. You’re not going to have anything.”

The UAW has not endorsed in the 2024 presidential election. Michigan is, once again, expected to be a key swing state next year.

Fain did invite President Joe Biden, who defeated Trump in the 2020 election, to a picket line in Wayne County on Tuesday. Fain declined to meet with Trump.

“I don’t think the man [Trump] has any bit of care about what our workers stand for, what the working class stands for,” Fain said on CNN. “He serves the billionaire class and that’s what’s wrong with this country.”

The union has been on strike since Sept. 15 in the first time it has declared a strike against all three domestic automakers, with three sites targeted at first: Ford’s Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, GM’s Wentzville plant in Missouri and Stellantis’ Jeep plant in Toledo.

Last week, the union began striking an additional 38 GM and Stellantis sites in 20 states, sparing Ford from the new batch of strikes because there had been meaningful progress in negotiations.

Fain said Wednesday that he will make an announcement Friday about the status of the strike.

The union is fighting for increased wages, a 32-hour work week and better pension benefits, among other issues such as an end to tiered compensation between workers with different lengths of service.

Fain joined Biden on Tuesday as he made a brief visit to a picket line in Belleville in what is thought to be the first time in at least a century that a sitting president has visited an active strike site.

Asked by a reporter whether UAW members deserve the 40% raise they are negotiating for, Biden responded, “Yes! Yes, I think they should be able to bargain for that.”

Trump told the striking workers that “I support you and your goal of fair wages and greater stability, and I truly hope you get a fair deal for yourselves and your families” but argued that “it doesn’t make a damn bit of difference” what concessions the workers are able to win because he predicted that in two to three years “the entire car industry will be packed up and shipped to China” as electric vehicles become more widely adopted.

Trump called the transition to electric vehicles “a transition to hell” and argued that “American labor will be under siege.”

U.S. Sen. Gary Peters, a Democrat, previously said during a visit to a picket line with U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pennsylvania, that electric vehicle production needs to be a focus of negotiations.

“Certainly a big part of this negotiation is to make sure as we make the transition to EVs that we have union workers making those vehicles in the battery plants and throughout the supply chain. There’s no reason why they need to be separate,” Peters said. “You can build world class EVs as long as you have union workers building them. That’s how you get world class workers.”

Ford announced earlier this week that it was pausing construction of a $3.5 billion electric vehicle battery plant in Marshall that Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has touted as a key piece of her economic recovery agenda.

“Closing 65 plants over the last 20 years wasn’t enough for the Big Three, now they want to threaten us with closing plants that aren’t even open yet,” Fain said. “We are simply asking for a just transition to electric vehicles and Ford is instead doubling down on their race to the bottom.”

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks to guest gathered at Fountain Park during a campaign rally on March 19, 2016 in Fountain Hills, Arizona. (Photo by Ralph Freso/Getty Images)

A day after President Joe Biden joined striking United Auto Workers on the picket line in Michigan alongside UAW President Shawn Fain, the labor leader says he has no intention of meeting with former President Donald Trump when he speaks Wednesday at a non-union automotive parts manufacturer and supplier in Macomb County.

Fain, speaking Tuesday on CNN’s “The Situation Room” with Wolf Blitzer, said he saw no reason to meet the GOP former president who is running again in 2024.

“I don’t think the man has any bit of care about what our workers stand for, what the working class stands for,” he told Blitzer. “He serves the billionaire class and that’s what’s wrong with this country.”

When Blitzer suggested that Fain was effectively endorsing Biden, the UAW president said that was not the case.

“It’s not an endorsement for anyone,” he told Blitzer. “It’s just flat-out how I view the former president.”

The UAW has not made an endorsement in the 2024 presidential election.

Fain was by Biden’s side Tuesday when the president arrived at Detroit Metro Airport and addressed picketers from UAW Local 174 at the Willow Run Redistribution Center in metro Detroit, which has been reported that it was the first time in modern history that a sitting president has visited an active strike.

Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, the three manufacturers impacted by the strike of United Auto Workers (UAW) employees, failed to reach a contract agreement with the UAW by the original deadline on Sept. 15. Among other demands, UAW members are hoping to secure a new contract with double-digit pay raises and the elimination of worker tiers.

Workers at the Ford Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, the Stellantis Toledo Assembly Complex in Ohio, and General Motors’ Wentzville Assembly in Missouri were the first facilities called to strike, and have since been joined by 38 more Stellantis and GM auto parts plants that were called to strike after an agreement was not reached by Friday.

Autoworker in Louisville was ready to strike but Kentucky didn’t get the call

Meanwhile, Trump’s visit to Drake Enterprises in Clinton Township comes amid his continued claims that the auto industry’s transition to manufacturing electric vehicles will ultimately endanger the jobs of UAW members, a theme expanded on by Nathan Stemple, president of Drake Enterprises when he spoke to Fox News about Trump’s planned appearance.

Stemple said that “it was complete luck” that his company is hosting Trump Wednesday.

“Some of our colleagues that we worked with reached out to us and said that the [former] president was looking for a location to host this event,” he said. “And we were more than willing to do so.”

When asked by the Fox News host what the effect would be if EV manufacturing took over immediately, Stemple said, “It would affect us drastically. It’d put us out of business. If electric vehicles took over today and completely across the board, we’d pretty much be out of business. We supply passenger vehicles, mostly all driveline components, as well as heavy duty truck components. So if all the trucks and vehicles went electric, we would be scratching for something to do.”

However, Fain told Blitzer one of the major reasons for the strike is to ensure that didn’t happen.

“It doesn’t, if companies do the right thing and put this work under our agreements or to our standards,” he said. “And again, it’s the companies driving this race to the bottom and they’re using our tax dollars to finance it.”

Fain also blasted Trump’s choice of location for his visit, saying it should make clear he isn’t a friend of union labor.

“I find the pathetic irony that the former president is going to hold a rally for union members at a non-union business,” said Fain. “His track record speaks for itself. In 2008 during the Great Recession, he blamed UAW members. He blamed our contracts for everything that was wrong with these companies. That’s a complete lie.”

The Biden campaign has released a 30-second ad in Michigan hitting Trump on his record with autoworkers ahead of the Republican’s visit.

“He says he stands with autoworkers but as president, Donald Trump passed tax breaks for his rich friends while automakers shuttered their plants and Michigan lost manufacturing jobs,” the narrator says. “Manufacturing is coming back to Michigan because Joe Biden doesn’t just talk; he delivers.”

The Democratic National Committee also unveiled a billboard campaign across the Detroit metro area slamming Trump policies and positions that they say have failed the auto industry and its workers.

One reads: “What did Trump say should have happened to the car industry in 2008-2009?” and then paired it with a quote from the former President. “YOU COULD HAVE LET IT GO BANKRUPT.”

Another reads: “Who passed tax breaks that incentivized companies to ship American jobs overseas?” and then points to a picture of Trump with the words “THIS GUY.”

“We all remember what happened after Donald Trump came to Michigan to make promises to workers in 2016: factories shuttered, auto industry employment fell, and jobs were shipped overseas,” said DNC Chair Jaime Harrison. “Donald Trump will always put the ultra-wealthy and corporations ahead of working people, and Michiganders aren’t falling for his empty words again.”

Michigan Advance is a sister publication of Kentucky Lantern and part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.?

President Joe Biden, alongside UAW President Shawn Fain, speaks on the UAW picket line at Willow Run Redistribution Center in Belleville, Michigan, Sept. 26, 2023 (White House photo)

In the midst of ongoing negotiations between striking auto workers and Detroit’s Big Three manufacturers, President Joe Biden on Tuesday made an appearance on the picket line in Belleville.

Speaking to picketers from UAW Local 174 at Willow Run Redistribution Center in metro Detroit, Biden said that unions “saved the automobile industry” in times of recession and helped establish the American middle class.

“Wall Street didn’t build the country; the middle class built the country,” Biden said. “And unions built the middle class.”

Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, the three manufacturers impacted by the strike of United Auto Workers (UAW) employees, failed to reach a contract agreement with the UAW by the original deadline on Sept. 15. Among other demands, UAW members are hoping to secure a new contract with double-digit pay raises and the elimination of worker tiers.

Workers at the Ford Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, the Stellantis Toledo Assembly Complex in Ohio, and General Motors’ Wentzville Assembly in Missouri were the first facilities called to strike, and have since been joined by 38 more Stellantis and GM auto parts plants that were called to strike after an agreement was not reached by Friday.

Biden’s visit, thought to be the first time in modern history that a sitting president has visited an active strike, comes after he called upon both the union and the manufacturers to “forge a fair agreement” ahead of the first deadline.

“I marched in a lot of UAW picket lines when I was a senator — since 1973 — but, I tell you what, it’s the first time I’ve ever done it as president,” Biden told workers.

Biden was joined by UAW President Shawn Fain, who invited the Democratic president and addressed the crowd after Biden’s remarks.

“And so, today, I just want to take a moment to stand with all of you, with our president and say thank you to the president.? Thank you, Mr. President, for coming,” Fain said. “Thank you for coming to stand up with us in our generation’s defining moment.”

Fain announced last week that more UAW-staffed plants will continue to be called upon to join the strike if demands aren’t met. He said that automakers’ record profits call for a proportionate increase in pay and benefits for workers.

“The CEOs think the future belongs to them,” Fain said. “Today belongs to the auto workers in the working class.”

Biden agreed.

“You deserve what you’ve earned,” Biden said, “and you’ve earned a hell of a lot more than what you’re getting paid now.”

Other labor leaders spoke in support of Biden’s visit, including national AFL-CIO President Liz Schuler, who said in a statement that Biden is “the most pro-union president in history.”

“Working people know [Biden] has our backs every day and that he understands that UAW members’ fight for a fair contract is deeply connected to the struggle over the soul of our country,” Shuler said. “Together, we’re organized to fight back against the corporate CEOs who have rigged the system against working people for far too long.”

Schuler is set to visit a Michigan picket line on Wednesday.

Just hours before Biden touched down in Detroit, he received a key endorsement for his 2024 reelection campaign from the United Farm Workers (UFW), which praised his record on labor issues from COVID-19 relief for agricultural workers to beginning the process of improving working conditions for farm workers.

The campaign of 2024 Republican frontrunner and Biden’s presumptive opponent, former President Donald Trump, said in a statement that the visit to the picket line was “nothing more than a PR stunt” designed to distract Americans from “disastrous Bidenomics.”

“The fact is that President Trump will be the nominee and will beat Biden because he’s the only person who can supercharge the economy, secure our border, and safeguard our communities,” the statement read

Trump is slated to make his own Michigan visit Wednesday, skipping the second GOP presidential debate to rally at a non-union auto parts manufacturing plant in Macomb County. Both Biden’s campaign and Fain himself have spoken out against Trump’s appearance, after Trump criticized Fain for “not doing a good job” of representing UAW workers.

“Every fiber of our union is being poured into fighting the billionaire class and an economy that enriches people like Donald Trump at the expense of workers,” UAW President Shawn Fain said in an earlier statement.?

While the UAW has yet to endorse a 2024 presidential candidate, Michigan’s significance as both a battleground state and the heart of the auto industry make the strike of immense political importance to candidates on both sides of the aisle.

Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who was unable to join Biden, said in a statement that his visit was “historic” and represented a remarkable commitment to the American workforce.

“The president is committed to strengthening our workforce and economy by bringing jobs home from overseas, reversing trends of the previous administration that lost jobs,” Whitmer said. “Since taking office, we’ve announced 36,000 auto jobs with help from President Biden’s investments, proving it’s possible to support working men and women, while also securing record-breaking economic development deals that will guarantee jobs and investment for decades.”

Biden was joined on his trip to Michigan by acting Labor Secretary Julie Su and National Economic Council Director Lael Brainard and was greeted at Detroit Wayne Metropolitan Airport by Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist and U.S. Reps. Debbie Dingell (D-Ann Arbor), Rashida Tlaib (D-Detroit) and Shri Thanedar (D-Detroit).

Biden was asked by a reporter if UAW workers deserve the 40% raise they’ve demanded in negotiations, to which he responded, “Yes! Yes, I think they should be able to bargain for that.”

In his earlier remarks, Biden referenced when the domestic auto industry faltered during the early 2000s and that “the fact of the matter is that you guys, the UAW — you saved the automobile industry back in 2008 and before. You made a lot of sacrifices. You gave up a lot.

“And the companies were in trouble,” he said. “But now they’re doing incredibly well.? And guess what?? You should be doing incredibly well too.? It’s a simple proposition.”

Fain said he knew that Biden would “do right by the working class.”

“This industry is of our making,” Fain said. “When we withhold our labor, we can unmake it.”

Michigan Advance is a sister newsroom of Kentucky Lantern as part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.?

Autoworkers raise their fists as UAW Region 8 President Tim Smith speaks at a rally in Louisville, Sept. 21, 2023. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Liam Niemeyer)

LOUISVILLE — Richard Jones remembers when the United Auto Workers made concessions to Ford in 2008 as the automaker avoided a government bailout that General Motors and Chrysler, now Stellantis, took.

Ford workers did without raises and cost of living adjustments, he said, to keep Ford in business during the Great Recession.?

“All this time doing everything we can to keep Ford afloat, without Ford taking the buyout, without Ford taking the tax dollars,” Jones said. “That was promised back to us. And that was something that was never returned. They returned to profitability — record profitability — and we’re just left behind.”?

Jones has worked as one of nearly 9,000 employees at Louisville’s Kentucky Truck Plant since 1997. His salary has helped put four children through college and provided a modest living for his family. But those concessions given up 15 years ago have made it difficult to outpace the economic headwinds of inflation, housing prices and more.?

In what UAW leadership says is an effort to get back what was conceded during the Great Recession, the union has strategically called on specific manufacturing plants and auto suppliers to go on strike while union members at other plants keep working. The point of selective strikes is to try to keep auto manufacturers guessing where work stoppages might happen.?

Jones was ready to strike “at a moment’s notice” along with hundreds of other workers Thursday evening outside a local UAW union hall in Louisville at a rally with union leadership. Yet on Friday, the UAW didn’t call any of Kentucky’s three auto manufacturing plants owned by the Big Three manufacturers — Ford’s Kentucky Truck Plant and Louisville Assembly Plant and GM’s Bowling Green Assembly Plant — into the strike. Instead, 38 GM and Stellantis parts distribution centers spread across 20 states are walking off the job.?

UAW President Shawn Fain said Friday, that while the union has made progress with Ford on aspects of a new contract, which includes reimplementing cost of living adjustments that were suspended during the Great Recession, little progress has been made in negotiations with GM and Stellantis.?

The UAW has asked automakers for an approximate 40% wage increase for its workers in light of automaker executives’ rising pay, reinstating cost-of-living adjustments, ending a tiered wage system and providing job security for workers as manufacturing transitions to electric vehicles.

The CEO of GM said earlier this month the company put forth a “historic offer” to the union, and Ford’s CEO has said the union’s wage demands wouldn’t be sustainable for the company.

Kentucky has more than 550 automotive-related companies that employ more than 103,000 people, according to the state Cabinet for Economic Development,. Ford employs more than 12,000 workers at its two Louisville-based plants, while GM employs more than 800 at its Bowling Green plant where Corvettes are produced. Toyota also has a major manufacturing plant in Georgetown.?

Jones in a text message Friday said he was happy to see Ford “stepping up” and hopes that GM and Stellantis “take notice.”?

As for the automakers’ ongoing transition to EV production, Jones believes those new jobs should and can still be union jobs into the future. Jones said EVs still need chassis, battery motors and more.?

Ford is building a nearly $6 billion battery plant in Hardin County, BlueOval SK Battery Park, and started hiring this summer some of its roughly 5,000 workers. Toyota is also transitioning its Georgetown plant to building EVs.

“Your car still has to have steering,” Jones said Thursday evening. “Those battery plants — everything — they should make what we make. We should be union. We should all be standing together in solidarity and make a difference.”

On the picket line as the UAW strike began at Ford-owned Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, Michigan, the night of Sept. 14, 2023. (Photo by Anna Liz Nichols/Michigan Advance)

Workers at a total of 38 auto parts plants will join the United Auto Workers (UAW) strike against Detroit Three auto manufacturers: Ford, General Motors and Stellantis.

All the parts distribution facilities for General Motors and Stellantis across the country are called to the stand up and strike at noon Friday.

The UAW declared the strike one week ago after negotiations with all three companies failed. About 13,000 workers were called to strike last week at Ford’s Michigan Assembly plant, GM’s Wentzville plant in Missouri and Stellantis’ Jeep plant in Toledo, Ohio. Those workers will remain on the picket line.

UAW President Shawn Fain said on a social media livestream Friday morning that for two months, the union has informed auto companies of their demands. But the companies did not show interest in negotiating, he said.

However, Fain said over the last week, Ford, in particular, has made serious movement to meet the demands. Although the strikes will continue, Fain said Ford is showing it’s serious about reaching a deal.

And though Ford is not quite there yet, Fain said, efforts for today are focused on GM and Stellantis auto supplier plants across 20 states, including Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Florida, Nevada, North Carolina, Colorado, West Virginia, Tennessee and Minnesota.

None of the newly announced striking plants are in Kentucky.

“We’ve said for weeks. We’re not going to wait around forever for a fair contract at the Big Three. The companies know how to make this right. The public is on our side and the members of the UAW are ready to stand up,” Fain said. “And we will keep going, keep organizing and keep expanding the Stand Up Strike as necessary.”

The union is using a staggered strike strategy to “keep the companies guessing.” They’re calling it the “Stand Up Strike” plan, where the president of the union will periodically announce plants to go on strike that day, which the union says will leave room to escalate the strike.

The union represents about 150,000 auto workers across the country.

The strike marks a historic moment for the union as this is the first time in its 88-year history, it has declared a strike on all three Detroit automakers at the same time.

Striking workers on the picket line at the Ford Michigan Assembly Plant have told the Advance that after helping the billionaire leaders of Ford make millions, they are owed living wages and equitable benefits including appropriate work hours.

Among the demands from the union, the UAW is asking auto manufacturers for 32-hour work weeks, as well as an end to the tiered system of wages between employees as they seek better wages and benefits throughout the length of their service.

There are news reports that the UAW has scaled back its requests for 40% pay increases over the course of four years, but the UAW website seems to maintain the 40% figure. The union is also asking for updated and improved benefits like pensions and more paid time off.

Fain has invited President Joe Biden to join UAW workers at the picket line. Several leaders, including U.S. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, have joined union workers since the strike.

Former President Donald Trump announced he plans to forgo going to the second GOP presidential candidate debate Wednesday and instead come to Detroit to meet with striking autoworkers, to the disdain of Fain.

“Every fiber of our union is being poured into fighting the billionaire class and an economy that enriches people like Donald Trump at the expense of workers,” Fain said in a statement this week. “We can’t keep electing billionaires and millionaires that don’t have any understanding what it is like to live paycheck to paycheck and struggle to get by and expecting them to solve the problems of the working class.”

Details of the event have not been released.

This article is republished from Michigan Advance, part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Michigan Advance maintains editorial independence. Contact editor-in-chief Susan J. Demas at [email protected].

Bill Londrigan (Photo courtesy of Kentucky AFL-CIO)

A longtime leader of the Kentucky State AFL-CIO, a prominent union federation, is not seeking reelection as president after serving more than two decades in the position.?

Kentucky State AFL-CIO President Bill Londrigan — who also served in roles with the Greater Louisville Building and Construction Trades Council and the Greater Louisville Central Labor Council — in a blog post said he believed “Kentucky’s labor family will rise to the occasion” to choose a new union president at the union federation’s upcoming convention in December.

“I have always been aware of the long, storied and powerful history of Kentucky’s labor movement and have felt a deep respect and gratitude for the service and sacrifice of those who have toiled in the fields to build Kentucky’s labor movement which has bettered the lives of millions of workers and their families,” Londrigan said in the blog post.?

“While I will be leaving my position as President, I will never leave the labor movement which I have cherished being a part of for the past forty years,” he said.

In past years, Londrigan has been a prominent voice in opposition to state legislation and laws perceived to be anti-union including Kentucky’s “right-to-work” law. The Kentucky State AFL-CIO and other unions unsuccessfully challenged the before the state Supreme Court in 2018.?

While Kentucky saw a decline in statewide union membership following the passage of that law, Londrigan recently said he believed union organizing driven by younger workers could lead to more workers joining unions in Kentucky in the future.

Former President Donald Trump’s plans to skip the second GOP presidential candidate debate and head to Michigan to meet with striking autoworkers isn’t going over well with the United Auto Workers (UAW) top official.?

“Every fiber of our union is being poured into fighting the billionaire class and an economy that enriches people like Donald Trump at the expense of workers,” UAW President Shawn Fain said. “We can’t keep electing billionaires and millionaires that don’t have any understanding what it is like to live paycheck to paycheck and struggle to get by and expecting them to solve the problems of the working class.”

The UAW has not endorsed in the 2024 presidential election.?

Currently, the UAW represents about 150,000 members across the country. For the first time in the union’s 88-year history, all three Detroit automakers — Stellantis, Ford and General Motors — are strike targets.

The union is striking at three initial plants: Ford’s Michigan Assembly Plant, GM’s Wentzville plant in Missouri and Stellantis’ Jeep plant in Toledo, Ohio.

The GOP debate is scheduled for Sept. 27 in California at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum. Trump plans to travel to Detroit “according to two Trump advisers with knowledge of the plans, injecting himself into the labor dispute between striking autoworkers and the nation’s leading auto manufacturers,” according to New York Times reporting.?

“The all Electric Car is a disaster for both the United Auto Workers and the American Consumer. They will all be built in China and, they are too expensive, don’t go far enough, take too long to charge, and pose various dangers under certain atmospheric conditions. If this happens, the United Auto workers will be wiped out, along with all other auto workers in the United States. The all Electric Car policy is about as dumb as Open Borders and No Voter I.D. IT IS A COMPLETE AND TOTAL DISASTER!” Trump posted on social media last week.

The former president, who is facing 91 charges from his four indictments, has been critical of Fain.

“I think he’s not doing a good job in representing his union because he’s not going to have a union in three years from now,” Trump said of Fain. “Those jobs are all going to be gone because all of those electric cars are going to be made in China.”

Trump’s campaign also is set to run a radio ad against Biden in Toledo, Politico reports.

“He’s [Biden] turned his back on the autoworkers by cutting a deal that uses American tax dollars to help fund China’s electric car business. That’s a stake in the heart for American autoworkers, and they can count on President Trump to change that,” the ad says.

While serving as president, Trump essentially took a neutral stance during the UAW’s last strike against one of the Detroit Three — its? 2019 action against General Motors that lasted 40 days. The Republican did not go to the picket line.

“Here we go again with General Motors and the United Auto Workers. Get together and make a deal!” he tweeted on Sept. 15, 2019.?

The previous year, in May 2018, Trump issued Executive Order No. 13837 that hurt a union’s ability to represent workers by preventing union stewards from using official time to aid employees in preparing or pursuing grievances.??

This time, the UAW is fighting for increased wages, a 32-hour work week and better pension benefits, among other issues such as an end to tiered compensation between workers with different lengths of service.

Biden, Dems and unions slam Trump

President Joe Biden, a Democrat who defeated Trump in the 2020 election, blasted his former opponent.?

“Donald Trump is going to Michigan next week to lie to Michigan workers and pretend he didn’t spend his entire failed presidency selling them out at every turn,” Ammar Moussa, spokesperson for Biden-Harris 2024, said. “Instead of standing with workers, Trump cut taxes for the super-wealthy while auto companies shuttered their doors and shipped American jobs overseas.?

“He’s said he would’ve let auto companies go bankrupt, devastating the industry and upending millions of lives. That’s why Trump lost Michigan in 2020 and his MAGA [Make America Great Again] friends further decimated the Michigan Republican Party and cost them 2022. No self-serving photo op can erase Trump’s four years of abandoning union workers and standing with his ultra-rich friends.”

Biden has not announced plans to visit with striking workers, although several of his allies, like U.S. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, have done so.

On Tuesday, U.S. Reps. Debbie Dingell (D-Ann Arbor) and Haley Stevens (D-Waterford) joined Michigan Democrats for a press call slamming GOP former president Donald Trump’s “anti-worker record following reporting” of his planned visit to Michigan next week.?

Both speakers highlighted how Trump’s “MAGAnomics” [Make America Great Agenda] agenda “hurt autoworkers, incentivized companies to ship jobs overseas, and lined the pockets of billionaires and big corporations at the expense of Michigan’s middle class.”

The call also spotlighted the “stark contrast” between Trump and President Joe Biden —”who has a proven record of being the most pro-union president in history and a demonstrated history of standing up for workers,” according to a press release issued by the Michigan Democratic Party.?

“Trump was one of the most anti-worker presidents this country ever had. He showed us what he really stands for when he said he would have let the auto companies go bankrupt in 2008,” said Dingell. “The last thing Michigan’s autoworkers need right now is more empty promises or kerosene on a fire. So while President Trump’s gonna try to come in and erase his history … I think that Michiganders are going to know what the record was and will reject his anti-worker agenda.”

Stevens argued that Trump did little to address negotiations between the United Auto Workers (UAW) and the Detroit Three.

“He signed into place a tax law that gave billions of dollars in tax cuts to the wealthiest and did hardly anything, if close to nothing, for the middle class,” Stevens said. “I find this disrespectful to the men and women of the UAW on the picket line right now. Donald Trump can take his politics elsewhere.”

United Association of Union Plumbers and Pipefitters General President Mark McManus also threw shade on a Trump strike visit.??

“When Donald Trump was first elected president, he invited me into the White House during the first days of his administration and promised that he would pass the largest infrastructure bill in generations. He claimed to be a builder, just like us. But after four years, one thing was clear: when it comes to the bread and butter issues our members care about – fair wages, safe job sites, and the ability to retire with the dignity we earned – Donald Trump is just another fraud.”

Other GOP candidates

Several other 2024 GOP presidential hopefuls have taken anti-union stances.?

“I was a union buster. I didn’t want to bring in companies that were unionized simply because I didn’t want to have that change the environment in our state. We very much watched out for workers. … We didn’t encourage middlemen between companies and their workers. We encouraged workers to have that direct communication with them,” Nikki Haley, former South Carolina governor and ambassador to the United Nations under Trump, told Fox News in an interview on Saturday.

Haley also said on Fox News Tuesday that Biden’s pro-union stance was to blame for the strike.

“When you have a president that’s constantly saying go union, go union, this is what you get. The unions get emboldened, and then they start asking for things that companies have a tough time doing,” Haley said.

Mike Pence, former vice president under Trump, was asked by CNN on Sunday about the “general fairness” of higher CEO pay compared to their workers’ salaries.

“That ought to be left to the shareholders of that company. I’m somebody that believes in free enterprise,” Pence said. “I think those are decisions that can be made by shareholders and creating pressure. And I will fully support how these publicly traded companies operate. I’m not interested in government mandates or government bullying when it comes to those kind of issues.”

U.S. Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) at a South Carolina event Friday appeared to criticize the UAW’s demand for a 32-hour work week.

“We’re watching today, on every screen around the country, we’re seeing the UAW fight for more benefits and less hours working. More pay and fewer days on the job. It’s a disconnect from work,” Scott said.

At an Iowa event on Monday, Scott was asked by a voter if he would insert himself into labor disputes as president. The Republican said he supported firing striking workers.

“Let me answer the first question. I think Ronald Reagan gave us a great example when federal employees decided they were going to strike,” Scott said. “He said, you strike, you’re fired. Simple concept to me. To the extent that we can use that once again, absolutely.”

This article is republished from Michigan Advance, part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Michigan Advance maintains editorial independence. Contact editor-in-chief Susan J. Demas at [email protected].

UAW President Shawn Fain. (Photo by Ken Coleman)

Shawn Fain, president of the United Auto Workers union (UAW), on Monday night announced that more locations may be called to join the union’s strike on Friday.

The UAW declared a historic strike against all three members of the Big Three automakers at midnight Thursday, after contracts expired with Ford, General Motors and Stellantis.

“I have been clear with the Big Three every step of the way, and I’m going to be crystal clear again right now. If we don’t make serious progress by noon on Friday, Sept. 22, more locals will be called on to stand up and join the strike,” Fain said in a video posted to social media.

Instead of striking all plants at once, the union is holding a “Stand Up Strike,” where select facilities will be called on to walk out on strike. Workers who are not called to strike will continue working under the agreement.

Workers at the Ford Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, the Stellantis Toledo Assembly Complex in Ohio, and General Motors’ Wentzville Assembly in Missouri were the first facilities called to strike last week.

The potential announcement of additional strikes will mark more than a week since members first walked out, and a week of the Detroit Three “failing to make progress in negotiations,” Fain said.

“Noon on Friday, Sept. 22 is a new deadline. Either the Big Three get down to business and work with us to make progress in negotiations, or more locals will be called to stand up and go out on strike,” Fain said.

State and national politicians have come out to support union workers, including U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders?(I-Vt.), Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, U.S Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Ann Arbor), U.S. Sen. Gary Peters (D-Bloomfield Twp.) and U.S. Sen.?John Fetterman?(D-Pa.).

U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, a Pennsylvania Democrat, joins striking UAW workers outside the Ford Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, Michigan. on Sept. 16, 2023. (Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance)

U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pennsylvania, on Saturday joined striking autoworkers outside the Ford Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, Michigan. Fetterman said he drove about five hours from Braddock, Pennsylvania, in his UAW-made Ford Bronco to get to the plant.

“I always stand for the union way of life,” Fetterman said. “Whatever the unions say is in their best interest, that’s what I’m going to stand for.”

For the first time in history, the UAW has declared a strike against all three domestic automakers: Ford, General Motors and Stellantis. The union has three initial strike targets: Ford’s Michigan Assembly Plant, GM’s Wentzville plant in Missouri and Stellantis’ Jeep plant in Toledo, Ohio.

The union is fighting for increased wages, a 32-hour work week and better pension benefits, among other issues such as an end to tiered compensation between workers with different lengths of service.

Fetterman called President Joe Biden the “best labor president in recent time.” He spent about 15 minutes talking to workers, although not all were supportive.

One worker, wearing an “Impeach Biden” shirt, shouted to “get the dude who’s trying to say he’s John Fetterman out of here,” citing baseless conspiracy theories that Fetterman has a body double and never recovered from his stroke.

“I’m totally taking a picture with John Fetterman. This is my man right here. You don’t know nothing about labor if you don’t know about John Fetterman,” another worker said over the yelling.

U.S. Sen. Gary Peters, a Michigan Democrat, said that while he and Fetterman hope the UAW can reach a deal with the auto companies quickly, it’s important to focus on the big picture even if the strikes drag on.

“When workers get fair wages and see an increase in wages, that’s great for the economy,” Peters said. “The more money you put in the pockets of middle class workers in this country, the stronger our economy is.”

Fetterman offered a contrast between the demands of workers and the combined $74 million earned by the CEOs of the Detroit Three auto companies.

“It’s $74 million, you know, collectively earning that. How many yachts can they need to water ski behind? It’s just crazy. Do what’s right for the unions in this nation and in Michigan.”

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, Independent of Vermont, on Friday led a UAW rally in Detroit where he also decried corporate greed. A slew of Democratic politicians were at the event, including Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist, U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell.

A Jeep Grand Cherokee comes off the line at the Stellantis Detroit Assembly Complex-Mack on June 10, 2021 in Detroit, Michigan. (Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)

Economic experts and researchers say that the auto workers strike could have far-reaching economic consequences for businesses and consumers, depending on its duration. In addition to workers’ job losses, consumers could see higher prices for cars and depleted inventory.

The United Auto Workers union, representing about 150,000 auto workers, walked off the job at midnight Thursday after failing to reach a contract deal with the “Big Three” auto manufacturers, Ford, Stellantis, and General Motors. It is the first time in union history that a strike has affected all three automakers, the?Michigan Advance reported.

The union is seeking 32-hour work weeks, a 46% pay increase over four years and improved benefits, including pensions and paid time off, the?Michigan Advance?has reported. Union members also are demanding the right to strike over the closure of plants and the elimination of tiered workers. Tier 2 workers, who are newer, receive less pay and benefits than Tier 1 workers and also work more on electric vehicles that may not be covered by union contracts,?according to?MarketWatch, which some members argue hurts the effectiveness of the union.

The union also wants more security for its members as the auto industry continues to produce more electric vehicles.

“Given the EV transformations currently underway in the auto sector, the UAW will be looking to establish as much security as possible for its members. Top concerns include what labor demand will look like in the new EV landscape and how to ensure that wage gains keep pace with high inflation and record automaker profits,’’ according to a University of Michigan analysis.

Experts say the weight of any work stoppage is dependent upon the numbers of workers who walk off the job, their location and its duration. Meanwhile consumers could see higher prices for materials including steel and auto parts reflected in their car purchases and repairs.

UAW president Shawn Fain has?said?the union and companies are far apart on priorities such as pay increases, with the companies offering half or less than half than of what the union has proposed.

In a statement, Ford said the company “has bargained in good faith in an effort to avoid a strike, which could have wide-ranging consequences for our business and the economy. It also impacts the very 57,000 UAW-Ford workers we are trying to reward with this contract.”

The last auto workers strike was in 2019, when?50,000 GM workers walked off the job?for six weeks. General Motors lost $3.6 billion,?Reuters reported.

The Anderson Economic Group, an economic research and market analysis group, has?estimated?that a 10-day strike by all of the 150,000 union members would total $5 billion in economic losses. If the strike affected only one automaker, the company would lose $325 million and the loss of direct wages would total $341 million. For every 2,000 employees on strike at one location, there could be up to $10 million in lost wages, which would be felt locally, said Tyler Marie Theile, director of public policy and economic analysis at the Anderson Economic Group. The estimate does not factor in strike pay, unemployment benefits, or reputational damage to companies or the union in its assessment of the economic impact of a strike. Auto workers on strike can receive?$500?in union benefits.

The Advance reported picket lines at Ford’s Michigan Assembly, GM’s Wentzville plant in Missouri and Stellantis’ Jeep plant in Toledo, Ohio.

Michigan faces the greatest economic impact. A one or two week strike at Ford could result in the loss of 28,000 jobs,?according to?a University of Michigan estimate. Outside of Michigan, Kentucky, Ohio, Illinois, and Missouri would be affected by a Ford strike. Ohio and Indiana face a potential?Stellantis strike?and Indiana, Missouri, Ohio, New York, Texas, Tennessee, Kansas, and Kentucky, a?General Motors strike.

Theile said Southern plants may see more of an impact than they did in 2019 because of the growth of auto manufacturing and assembly and battery manufacturing in the region if the walkout is lengthy.

“The most important driving factor there is going to be is the number of UAW workers striking. Since in the South, UAW participation and representation is not as dense as it is up in the Midwest, we likely wouldn’t see quite a strong impact, at least early on,” Theile said. “If a strike were to become quite lengthy, many manufacturing and assembly facilities are shut down and 1st and 2nd tier suppliers are shut down, that’s going to start to have a rippling effect through the automotive industry. And facilities that are not on strike and not represented by the UAW will not be fully insulated from the economic impact.”

Ali Bustamante, deputy director of the worker power and economic security program at the Roosevelt Institute, a progressive think tank, said the expansion into Southern states has somewhat “hedged the impact of a strike” because there are both unionized and non-unionized shops.

“By and large, the reason why so much of car manufacturing has moved to the South is because of historically low levels of union density,” Bustamante said. “The political and social conditions make it really difficult to get unions off the ground there as well.”

It’s also challenging to predict how a targeted strike would affect the economy overall when it’s unknown how halted production at some plants would affect work at other plants where workers are not on strike. Fain?said?the union’s targeted approach is meant to “create confusion.”

“It’s a little unclear to me how many locations would potentially operate as normal or as close to normal when other locations, that they may depend on, are shut down and striking. I do think that those targeted strikes are still going to have a really significant impact on the economy,” Theile said.

Bustamante added that the strike would also impact the steel industry and would add to pressures on car prices.

Theile agreed that consumers would feel the effects.

“We have about 20% of the inventory that was on hand in 2019. The current conditions would affect dealers and consumers, possibly much stronger and much sooner,” Theile said.

But Bustamante said the Federal Reserve’s?raising of interest rates?is a far bigger contributor to the problem of car affordability, since rates for car loans have risen in the past year.

Some economists have also argued that the UAW strike is a sign of a strong economy and say that long-term gains in labor organizing will lift up more workers.

“Strong labor markets, fueled by large-scale public investments in the workers who keep our economy going, offer workers agency to stand up for better wages and working conditions and walk off the job when basic labor standards aren’t met,” stated Rakeen Mabud, chief economist at Groundwork Collaborative, a progressive economic advocacy nonprofit.

“ … A workforce that enjoys better working conditions, better pay, and increased worker agency adds up to a stronger economy for all of us.”

Bustamante said that if the UAW wins many of its demands, it will encourage more workers to organize.

“As long as economic conditions hold steady, the [UAW] does have disproportional leverage and again, more leverage than they’ve had in the past 50 years or so,” he said. “It would certainly boost the [labor organizing] waves that we’re already seeing.”

Kentucky Education Association Executive Director Mary Ruble testified at a May 1 hearing in Franklin Circuit Court.(Kentucky Lantern photo by Liam Niemeyer)

A Kentucky judge has struck down a new state law that prevents some public-sector unions from collecting dues through payroll deductions.

Franklin Circuit Judge Thomas Wingate in an order on Aug. 30 stated that Senate Bill 7 creates “favoritism” for some public sector labor unions exempted from the law — specifically unions representing jail and prison staff, police and firefighters — and violates the Kentucky Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection under the law.?

“The Court wholly accepts that the Commonwealth has a compelling interest in avoiding the appearance that public resources are being used to support partisan political activity, but SB 7 does not fit this goal as it has instead allowed the General Assembly to arbitrarily select which labor organizations get to participate in the ‘optic’ of using public resources to support partisan political activity,” Wingate said in his order.?

SB 7, sponsored by Sen. Robby Mills, R-Henderson, bars public employers from assisting with “any labor organization, person, or other legal entity with the collection of dues, fees, assessments, or other charges” or the collection of personal information for labor unions.

The order came in a lawsuit brought by the Kentucky Education Association, the state’s largest union representing teachers. KEA Executive Director Mary Ruble had previously said the law prevented approximately 90% of the union’s thousands of members from paying union dues through payroll deductions.?

The KEA in a statement agreed with Wingate’s ruling and stated it would rely on it to reinstate payroll deductions, but that it hadn’t yet done so. The association stated it has successfully moved almost 80% of its membership to alternative payment methods.?

“Taking payroll deduction for labor organization dues might seem like a small thing, but when members of the largest educator organization in the state lose access to payroll deduction while other more favored public employees do not, it certainly makes clear that legislators don’t respect educators or the choices they make,” the KEA stated.

Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron is appealing the ruling. Cameron has backed SB 7 in the lawsuit, arguing the KEA can recover any lost dues through other payment means. Mills, the bill’s sponsor, is Cameron’s running mate in the race for governor.

The GOP-dominated Kentucky legislature passed SB 7 earlier this year over the veto of Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear. Republican lawmakers exempted unions for law enforcement, firefighters and jail and prison staff from the law arguing that the “hazardous nature” of their work precluded them from the law.?

A Jefferson County judge in July had temporarily blocked the law in a separate lawsuit brought by local unions in Louisville.?

The case was originally assigned to Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd but he recused himself at Cameron’s request, based on some contributors to Shepherd’s re-election campaign.

AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler met with young labor organizers in Louisville Thursday night. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Liam Niemeyer)

LOUISVILLE — It wasn’t until two weeks ago that Troy Plumer joined a union, a local chapter of the United Campus Workers, after working for about a decade as an IT professional at the University of Louisville.?

The union, which represents staff and faculty, recently held a rally on campus to protest a new compensation plan offered by the university — something the higher education institution calls “significant investments” in staff — that union members believe does not come close to making up for years of wage stagnation.?

But it was the response he received from college students passing by the rally, asking about the signs and the compensation plan, that stood out to him.?

“I’ve worked at the University for 10 years, and I’ve seen one 2% cost of living increase in that time. And as soon as you tell a 20-something that, expletives fly out of their mouths,” Plumer, 58, said. “They’ll have no part of it.”?

Ahead of Labor Day, Plumer was one of several union members who shared stories of rallying and organizing their workplaces — led in particular by a younger generation — during a Thursday visit from AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler at an IBEW union hall in Louisville.?

The support of young people, Shuler and union members in Louisville say, is driving burgeoning support for organizing workplaces. A survey from the Democratic polling firm GBAO Strategies finds that a large majority of registered voters support unions at 71% with the support of people under 30 even stronger at 88% percent.

Plumer believes the support comes from what younger people see in the increasing unaffordability of housing, not to mention the challenges of paying off student loans.?

“Several of them that I spoke to said, ‘You know, we don’t have any hope. Like, look at the debt we’re under and look at what housing costs and how long it’s going to take us to pay that off — and what’s the notion of a retirement?’” Plumer said.?

Kentucky, like the rest of the nation, has seen a decline in union membership over past decades: 14.9% of wage and salaried workers in Kentucky were union members in 1989, down by almost half at 7.9% in 2022, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.?

Yet in recent years, interest in organizing unions has surged across the country driven in large part by working conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic, something that Shuler believes “shined a bright light” on working conditions for many employees.

“Young people have seen what their parents had and generations before them, and now they’re getting the short end of the stick,” Shuler said Thursday evening. “Workers were making sacrifices and told to kind of get through it, and it’ll pay off — and it absolutely has done the opposite.”?

Kentucky has also seen its share of new union activity as about a couple dozen workplaces this year have filed for elections to organize a union. Those workplaces include two Starbucks stores in Elizabethtown, line technicians and other staff at an electric cooperative in Somerset and the staff of the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky.?

Established unions in Kentucky have also received attention, with Teamsters representing thousands of workers at the United Parcel Service’s Worldport Hub in Louisville holding rallies and practicing picketing earlier this summer ahead of a strike that was ultimately averted. The deal between union and company brought starting wages for part-time UPS workers to $21 an hour and full-time workers up to an average top wage of $49 an hour. The union also secured workplace safety protections such as air conditioning in new vehicles starting in 2024.?

The United Auto Workers local representing Ford workers in Louisville is also threatening to strike, asking automakers for wage increases, cost-of-living adjustments, pensions for all employees, medial benefits for retirees and more.

Addi Atkins, 24, a steward for the union representing Heine Brothers Coffee stores across the Louisville metro area, said their union ratified a contract in March after voting to unionize the stores months prior.?

Finding the courage to share experiences and issues about one’s workplace whether that’s wages or other benefits, Atkins said, is one of the hardest parts about organizing a union.?

“I think that it can feel very isolating when you are experiencing issues in the workplace,” they said. “I think it just takes that one person, that one movement to kind of nudge people out of their shells.”?

Atkins and other union members strongly believe Louisville is a robust “union town,” but union leaders acknowledged workplaces in Kentucky’s more rural areas can be harder to organize.?

Rural communities across Kentucky have handily delivered victories to Republicans in the past decade with the GOP recently achieving a plurality of registered voters in the state. The GBAO Strategies survey found the strongest opposition against unions and strikes came from Republicans, with only 52% of Republicans — still a majority — supporting unions.?

Kentucky State AFL-CIO President Bill Londrigan said some communities “have been propagandized by the right wing” against union membership that makes it more difficult to organize. But at the same time, he said, unions aren’t explicitly partisan.?

In recent years, Kentucky unions have pushed back against GOP-supported legislation, particularly a so-called “right-to-work” law passed in 2017 that made it illegal to require employees to join a union or collect fees from employees who don’t want to be in a union. Unions are also challenging a new GOP-sponsored state law this year that prevents some public-sector unions from collecting union dues through payroll deductions, which a Jefferson County judge temporarily blocked.

“We’re interested in talking to them about their jobs and their livelihoods, their living standards and their wages, and that cuts across politics in many cases,” Londrigan said.?

The endorsements of unions have played a role in this year’s gubernatorial election, too. Even though Kentucky hasn’t had a unionized coal mine in years, the United Mine Workers of America endorsed incumbent Democrat Andy Beshear; Republican candidate Daniel Cameron received the endorsement of the Kentucky State Fraternal Order of Police.?

For Londrigan, increasing union membership to levels seen in past decades is a “long struggle” that younger generations will play a key role in.?

“We’ve been involved with this struggle for well over a century,” Londrigan said. “The only thing that we can do is keep on keeping on, and keep on fighting. And that’s what’s going to make a difference.”?

Keaira Mark, a former call center worker for Maximus, and current Maximus employees Katherine Charles Sasha Tyson, and Deondra Bridges in Washington, D.C., on Friday, Aug. 25, 2023. The women were in Washington to take part in the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington. (Photo by Casey Quinlan/States Newsroom)

Call center workers that help Americans navigate the ACA marketplace and Medicare used this year’s March on Washington to spotlight their demands for more paths to advancement, higher pay, and more breaks between calls.

They’re looking to bring government attention to their cause after previous efforts to get the attention of officials with the Department of Labor and Department of Health and Human Services have not yielded results.

They say that the issues they are facing are connected to racial and gender inequities at Maximus, a Virginia-based private company that contracts with U.S. Health and Human Services as well as other federal agencies. A 2023 report found only 2% of managers with frontline customer service experience were internally promoted.

Sixty-nine percent of frontline workers were Black, Latino or other people of color, while the same demographics composed only 21% of executives and senior managers, according to the report from NAACP, Communication Workers of America and Strategic Organizing Center.

For the 60th anniversary of the historic march for civil rights and economic opportunities for Black Americans, a group of organizations with a diverse set of focuses — racial justice, labor rights, student debt, LGBTQ equality, and voting rights, to name a few — gathered in Washington, D.C., on Saturday.

This march came on the heels of what has been called a “hot labor summer” after everyone from hotel workers to actors have gone on strike, and UPS drivers secured a generous new contract after threatening to strike.

Maximus employees are hoping to achieve their own gains. Katherine Charles, a call center worker from Tampa, Florida, who came to D.C. for the march, said she wants federal officials to investigate the company because of the way it treats workers.

Maximus has made multiple rounds of layoffs this year. In January, 143 workers in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and more than 100 workers in Bogalusa, Louisiana, were laid off and did not receive severance, according to the Louisiana Illuminator. In May, Maximus laid off more than 700 workers, who received severance packages.

The CWA filed an unfair labor practice complaint in May, accusing the company of using the layoffs and other union-busting tactics as retaliation for organizing. Call Center Workers United held demonstrations after the layoffs, including a May protest outside of the Department of Health and Human Services office in Washington D.C., and a June protest at a Maximus office building in Chester, Virginia.

Victoria Miller, an organizer at the CWA, said it’s been challenging to organize because of all the layoffs this year.

“I don’t believe it is fair for a place where the workforce is majority female, single mothers, to be laid off massively without any notice like they have done before …,” she said. “We have a federal contract, but we are not treated as federal employees.”

Keaira Mark, a former Maximus worker who was laid off in May and lives in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, came to D.C. to march to support the many people she knows who still work there. “Even though I don’t work there, I still have friends who work there. My mom still works there,” she said. “We’re looking to get more exposure and hopefully community support and government support, and put some pressure on Maximus to change.”

Maximus workers also told States Newsroom that they need more time off between calls, because some of the calls they receive can be abusive, and it’s challenging to go right from one like that to the next.

They argue that their employer has enough money to improve working conditions. The business expects to generate $4.875 billion to $4.975 billion in revenue this year, according to Maximus’ August investor presentation. Maximus employs more than 35,000 employees in the U.S. and internationally, and its workers handle 7 million contact center inquiries per month and 43 million calls annually about federal health insurance enrollment.

The NAACP, CWA, and SOC wrote to Department of Labor officials in March bringing attention to a lack of workers of color and women in leadership positions at the company, which brought in 48% of its revenue in fiscal year 2022 from U.S. federal services according to the August presentation. The groups said that Maximus should be investigated for what they say is a noncompliance with laws protecting against discrimination.

Maximus employees have engaged in multiple walkouts to bring attention to calls for improved working conditions. In November, call center workers held walkouts in Mississippi, Virginia, Kentucky, and Louisiana to fight for pay of $25 an hour and more breaks in between their calls. At the time, Maximus said workers received two 15-minute breaks and one half-hour lunch break.

In response to questions about whether Maximus plans to improve working conditions, a spokesperson for the company told States Newsroom in an email, “We are always focused on ways to strengthen benefits for our employees. For example, we improved pay and compensation above the minimum wage and reduced employees’ out-of-pocket health care expenses.”

Maximus said it increased pay and compensation before an executive order finalized the minimum wage increase for federal contractors and said it pays call center employees a starting wage of $16.20.

“In certain geographies, and depending on the time of year, Maximus exceeds that wage,” the spokesperson said.

Disclosure: Casey Quinlan was previously a member of the Washington-Baltimore NewsGuild as a reporter for the American Independent. The NewsGuild is a sector in the Communications Workers of America.

A pharmacy technician passes items to a nurse from within a sterile area at the James Graham Brown Cancer Center on April 2, 2021 in Louisville. (Photo by Jon Cherry/Getty Images)

Fewer students were studying to become nurses in Kentucky last year than in 2019, the last pre-pandemic year.?

Enrollment in educational programs that lead to a nursing license declined in 2021 and 2022. But a variety of statewide efforts could help push the numbers back up in the coming years.

Kentucky needs more nursing students in the pipeline to address staff shortages, especially as the state tries to bounce back from the worst of COVID-19. In 2021, nearly 5,000 nurses left their jobs, most of them to retire.?

And, a 2022 Kentucky Hospital Association’s workforce report showed more than 13,000 vacancies in the state’s hospitals.?

Experts attribute the enrollment drop to several pandemic-related factors. Those include the conflicting images of nursing that emerged and the learning loss experienced by high school students.?

During the emergency years of COVID-19, highly-trusted Kentucky nurses became more visible.?

This was a good thing, in part. The label of “Healthcare Heroes” presented nurses and other medical professionals as celebrities, making a career in those fields look exciting and rewarding.?

But nurses were also shown as worn down, exhausted, burnt out. The people who stood in for family at the end of patients’ lives. The ones who treated infectious patients early in the pandemic with insufficient personal protective equipment.?

College preparedness became more of a challenge during the emergency years of the pandemic as well.

In 2018, 8,253 nursing applicants met admission criteria. That jumped to 11,121 in 2019 and 11,676 in 2020, according to data obtained through an open records request.?

But in 2021, 8,925 students — a 24% decline from 2020 — met admission requirements, which bumped up to 10,199 in 2022.?

Mary DeLetter, interim dean of the University of Louisville School of Nursing, said many nursing applicants completed most or part of their high school education online.?

It’s an “unfortunate situation” and not everyone is college-ready at the same level, she said.?

The Kentucky Lantern previously reported that there was an increase during the pandemic of youth not proficient in reading and mathematics.?

“The rapid shift to online was difficult,” DeLetter said. “I think that’s one of our biggest challenges, is that variability of how students are coming to college right now, (and) whether they are college ready.”??

By the numbers?

Pre-licensure nursing programs in Kentucky have seen a decline in “traditional” students coming in – traditional meaning a person who has just left high school and is now going to college, Kentucky Board of Nursing Executive Director Kelly Jenkins told the Lantern.?

In 2020-21, there were 14,394 students enrolled in pre-licensure programs. That dropped by 971 to 13,423 students for 2021-22. (Graduate-level nursing programs do not submit their numbers to the Board of Nursing, so those numbers are not represented).

Spread across the commonwealth, in undergraduate and advanced nursing programs and across the two to four years it takes to earn an undergraduate nursing degree, Kentucky has 5,257 “empty seats” that could be filled with students who could eventually help ease the shortage.

None of the state’s 101 programs are at risk of being shut down and “most,” Jenkins said, are meeting the benchmarks required by the nursing board.?

Nursing schools also have lost faculty.

According to data obtained through an open records request, Kentucky’s pre-licensure nursing programs had 87 full time faculty vacancies last fall.?

No one program had more than six vacancies in the fall of 2022. The programs collectively had 38 part-time faculty vacancies last fall, for a total of 125 part- and full-time vacancies across 30 programs.?

That’s an increase from the four years prior, data from the nursing board show. In 2018, there were 50 part- and full-time vacancies.?

The total jumped to 79 in 2019 and dropped again to 73 in 2020. In 2021, there were 77 full and part time vacancies.?

The University of Kentucky School of Nursing did not make their dean available for this story. A spokesperson said there were no faculty shortages last year, which data confirms.?

Financial challenges – and COVID-19?

A bill that became law during the 2023 legislative session could help funnel more workers into health care fields.?

House Bill 200, which received bipartisan support from legislators, will create a health care workforce fund with private-public partnership administered by the Council on Postsecondary Education.?

DeLetter, of UofL, said that the bill should help programs around the state bounce back from any COVID-19 -induced delays.?

“Any time we can help students pay for part of their schooling, it is a huge benefit to the student,” she said. “They can focus and they can be more successful when they are less distracted by the need to to work, or to work extensive hours.”?

But, financial challenges continue – and HB200 doesn’t have state funding yet.?

DeLetter said in addition to how expensive higher education is, nursing programs have more expenses that other programs don’t: stethoscopes, uniforms, liability insurance.?

Those items may fall under “fees” and not “tuition,” meaning specifically-designated dollars don’t cover them.?

“So,” she said, “those become the burden of the student.”??

Training heroes?

The image of nurses as heroes during the emergency phase of the pandemic was both inspiring and daunting for students, DeLetter said.?

But being a hero can’t happen overnight, she said. You need to have both hard and soft skills necessary to save a life – and comfort the patient.?

“One can be a hero when one is prepared,” DeLetter said. “I can teach everyone physiology ’till the cows come home. But if they can’t interact with patients in a positive way, you know, they won’t be trusted.”?

In her more than 40-year career, DeLetter said, “I’ve worked in two states and several cities, and we’ve cycled through shortages.”

But: “Never have I seen anything like COVID in my lifetime.”?

And: “I never have worked as hard as I worked during COVID.”?

Every day was a new challenge. The federal and state governments changed guidelines back-to-back as infectious disease experts learned more about the virus.?

Shifting alongside those institutions, hospitals and other clinical settings had to adjust how they let students come in and train. The pipeline could not halt.?

“I think what made it daunting for people was to see how incredibly hard nurses were working,” she said. “And some people did not want that for a lifestyle. And, you know, who’s to blame them? I mean, it was hard.”?

Her job, then, was to show students the reality of the world, prepare them for it as best she could, and get them out the door and into the workforce as fast as possible.

COVID-19 caused temporary restrictions on clinical availability, causing programs to give their students that experience in creative ways.

“We were able to manage all of our clinical with simulation options,” DeLetter said. “It was very hectic and it was a great deal of work on our part. But we were very committed to graduating those students and giving them the best possible experiences that we could given the worldwide situation.”?

“We did not want to send people out into the workforce who were woefully underprepared and thought they were going to be a hero only to be daunted by the reality of the world,” she said. “So we worked really hard to make them ready for what was out there.”?

‘A rewarding career.’?

The Board of Nursing is focused on the nursing education pipeline, Jenkins said. It’s working with partners who can talk to students early about why they should go into nursing.?

The board is partnering with organizations like the Kentucky Hospital Association and long term care organizations to help address shortages.

“We understand … that they’re suffering from shortages and so we’re trying to work with them on creating new avenues” to address those, Jenkins said.??

The Chamber of Commerce Foundation and the hospital association, Jenkins said, plan to get “talent pipeline managers” spread out across the state.?

These people will go into high schools; they’ll meet with students and other folks and talk to them about the benefits of pursuing a health care career.?

Despite the pandemic and its challenges, nursing faculty say the career is a rewarding one.

Vanessa Lyons, the LPN to RN Bridge Coordinator at West Kentucky Community and Technical College in Paducah, said now is a great time to go into nursing.?

That’s because COVID-19 helped create newfound appreciation for nurses, Lyons said. It also bolstered benefits, working conditions, helped improve patient ratios, flexibility and more.?

And, nurses are in high demand, so “it’s very easy to find your perfect job,” she said.?

The best nurses are people who have resilience, flexibility and a caring attitude, she said. Patients remember the tenderness a nurse provides during a hospital stay.?

Those qualities help make them the most trusted professionals in the country.?

“We can teach the academics, we can teach the skills and we can provide the knowledge. But those innate abilities like … resilience and caring, we can’t teach those,” Lyons said. “And so it helps if people come in with those characteristics already.”?

When Jenkins goes home to Union County, people still remember the care she gave their loved ones as a working nurse.?

“I always run into somebody who says, ‘I remember when you took care of my grandma.’ Or: ‘I remember when you took care of my husband,’” she said. “It’s a very rewarding career.”?

The University of Louisville plans to use the grant to “attract and train medical students with an interest in practicing primary care in medically underserved communities. (Getty Images)

Three Kentucky hospitals are among the recipients of $2 million in new statewide workforce training incentives, Gov. Andy Beshear announced Thursday.?

Under the Bluegrass State Skills Corporation in the state’s Cabinet for Economic Development, the Grant-in-Aid program gives businesses cash incentives to provide employees with advanced training.?

Businesses can also get tax credits through the Skills Training Investment Credit. Types of businesses can include agribusiness, hospitals, manufacturing and more.?

This round of incentives will provide training to:?

• 1,000 trainees at Bowling Green Metalforming LLC
• 820 trainees for Louisville Seating in Shepherdsville
• 620 trainees at Lake Cumberland Regional Hospital in Somerset
• 450 trainees at Clark Regional Medical Center in Winchester
• 130 trainees at Bourbon Community Hospital in Paris
• 250 trainees at James Marine Inc. in Paducah
• 200 trainees at Dr. Schneider Automotive Systems Inc. in Russell Springs
• 200 trainees at Waystar Inc. in Louisville

“Staying competitive and building on our historic economic momentum takes investment…and workforce training,” Beshear said. “And that’s exactly what this program does.”?

For more information on these incentives, visit https://ced.ky.gov/workforce/BSSC.?

A UPS worker on his daily rounds on July 24, 2023, in New York City. UPS workers had threatened to walk off the job on Aug. 1, if UPS didn’t agree to higher wages and better working conditions. The Teamsters union, representing some 340,000 UPS workers, reached a tentative agreement with the nation’s largest package carrier on Tuesday. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

UPS and its workers, represented by the Teamsters, reached a tentative deal on Tuesday to prevent an Aug. 1 strike of 340,000 union members at the package carrier. A work stoppage could have cost the U.S. economy billions by disrupting supply chains and upending distribution to both large and small businesses, hospitals and homes.

Representatives of the UPS Teamsters locals will meet to review the deal on July 31 and members will vote on it between Aug. 3 and Aug. 22.

The five-year contract includes a wage increase to bring part-time workers’ pay to at least $21 an hour immediately and full-time workers to an average top rate of $49 an hour. UPS also agreed to workplace safety protections such as air conditioning in vehicles purchased after January 2024, and to stop the practice of requiring overtime on days off. UPS drivers have been demanding better protections for working in the heat after instances where workers have been hospitalized, and in some cases died, on the job.

Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien said in a statement, “UPS has put $30 billion in new money on the table as a direct result of these negotiations. We’ve changed the game, battling it out day and night to make sure our members won an agreement that pays strong wages, rewards their labor, and doesn’t require a single concession. This contract sets a new standard in the labor movement and raises the bar for all workers.”

Carol Tomé, CEO of UPS, called the deal a “win-win-win agreement.”

President Joe Biden congratulated UPS and the Teamsters on the tentative deal and stated, “While this agreement still awaits final ratification by Teamsters members, today’s announcement moves us closer to a better deal for workers that will also add to our economic momentum.”

A strike could have cost the economy $7 billion, according to an analysis from Anderson Economic Group. A 10-day strike would have cost consumers $4 billion and UPS workers $1.1 billion in lost wages, according to the analysis. In 2021, UPS made up 37% of parcel market share in the United States. UPS announced in April that its first quarter revenue was $22.9 billion and its operating profit was $2.5 billion.

“Workers are all powerful right now, particularly in this sector where it takes roughly twice as many workers to process the same volume of product that goes out in e-commerce as opposed to brick and mortar retail,” said Thomas Goldsby, Haslam chair in logistics at the University of Tennessee.

Goldsby said that he doesn’t see demand for e-commerce going away as so many consumers have become accustomed to receiving their items quickly and efficiently, which requires a lot of labor.

“You think about a big store that would receive a full pallet of product and it might have hundreds or thousands of items on that pallet. Well, e-commerce takes it upstream and says we’re breaking down the pallets in a regional distribution center and it’s going to be a worker in a warehouse that unpacks the box that grabs the items, that repackages, that labels, and ships,” he said. “Then ultimately, it takes people to deliver the item. So it’s much more labor intensive and I just don’t see us moving away from e-commerce, even if growth kind of tempers and tapers off a bit.”

Goldsby, who has closely followed the developments in the UPS-Teamsters negotiations, said he believes it’s likely membership will vote to accept the deal because of the broad gains workers made in the agreement.

“In so many categories — economic, non-economic, wages, benefits, holidays, work conditions, there were gains virtually across the board,” he said.

Attendees at a Teamsters rally in Louisville listen to speakers. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Liam Niemeyer)

LOUISVILLE — It’s been more than 25 years since Gilbert Pendleton, 62, was on the picket line with his local Teamsters union in Louisville, a time before online commerce and deliveries had changed the world.?

In 1997, when some 185,000 Teamsters went on strike in a fight to make more full-time jobs available and keep existing pension plans at United Parcel Service, Pendleton said there were “a lot fewer employees, a lot less volume” of packages.?

“Then to now, it’s a whole different beast,” Pendleton said, wearing a brown shirt featuring the phrase “pay UP” that incorporates an altered UPS logo.?

United Parcel Service, more commonly known as UPS, started operating in Louisville with a small facility that handled 2,000 air packages a day in the 1980s. Over the decades, the company has transformed the site into its Worldport hub that processes more than 2 million packages a day.?

Pendleton is now facing the prospect of another strike as more than 340,000 unionized truck drivers and package handlers at UPS are about two weeks away from the end of a contract that expires on July 31.

Teamsters leadership told rallying union members outside the Worldport hub on Tuesday that a tentative new contract is about “90% done.”?

UPS and the Teamsters have come to major agreements on ending a dual wage system for delivery drivers and equipping newly purchased small package delivery vehicles with air conditioning to protect drivers from summer heat.

A remaining sticking point is the union’s push to raise wages for part-time workers, including those in Louisville who worry about getting enough hours to support themselves and their families.?

Pendleton, who has worked for UPS for 29 years, said he was offered full-time work only after about 18 years with the company. He declined to take it because he was offered the full-time shifts only during the night, interfering with other family obligations.?

“It hasn’t been a job that you just work this job, and that’s what you do. You’ve always had to supplement one way or another,” Pendleton said. “It would be so nice if we could get it to a point to where we could survive just on this job.”

Teamsters point to profits the company has made since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, saying there’s plenty of money to share. According to the shipping firm Pitney Bowes, UPS in 2022 saw a 5.5% increase in revenue year over year reaching about $73 billion.

Teamsters’ official predicts UPS will resume talks next week

Pendleton joined about 100 people Tuesday morning just outside the Worldport hub for a rally. UPS truck drivers honked their horns as they drove by the crowd while UPS planes took off and landed nearby. Union members blew whistles and waved signs that said they were “united for a strong contract.”

Fred Zuckerman, the general secretary-treasurer of the national Teamsters union, grabbed a megaphone to update local union members.?“With the record profits they got, and they don’t have any more money to take care of the employees that make them the money in the first place — there’s not much talking to them left,” Zuckerman said.?

Teamsters had accused UPS of walking away from the negotiating table earlier this month, something the company denies. UPS has said its part-time employees earn an average $20 an hour after 30 days with the company and receive the same health care and pension benefits as full-time employees.?

In a July 14 news release, UPS stated it was starting “business continuity training” for employees in order to “deliver our customers’ packages if the Teamsters choose to strike.”

“These activities also will not take away from our ongoing efforts to finalize a new contract that increases our employees’ already industry-leading wages and benefits, allows UPS to remain competitive and provides certainty for our customers and the U.S. economy,” the company said in its release.?

Zuckerman said he expects UPS to come back to the negotiating table next week in Washington D.C. “What we need to do is to make sure we take care of our part time” employees, he said.?

“They got to show us the money. They’ve got to bring it to the table, and we can get a deal,” Zuckerman said.?

Camron Tyler, 29, who’s worked at UPS’ hub in Louisville for almost three years as a part-time package handler, admits he’s a bit nervous looking to the weeks ahead. But he also knows that some of his co-workers already are struggling to make ends meet.?

“You hear about a lot of people having to go on to assistance programs and the like even though they’re working here, and it isn’t tenable for a lot of people, you know — bills, food, everything,” Tyler said.

He said his and his co-workers’ hours recently have been reduced, creating a tighter financial crunch at the grocery store and elsewhere. Tyler said part-time shifts that used to average around five hours a day have dropped to about three hours.?

“I think the main thing most people want is to be able to be self-reliant in their work, to be able to take care of themselves,” Tyler said.

When asked about whether UPS employees at the Worldport have seen reduced hours, a company spokesperson in a statement said it made some “operational changes” that allow it to maximize its air deliveries.

Pendleton is also worried about the uncertainty of the potential strike, saying the union could lose “the teeth” it has if UPS is able to break a potential strike. But he’s reassured that other unions, including pilots for UPS, are backing the Teamsters if the union does walk off the job.

“All these other unions that are standing behind us and telling them flat out, ‘We won’t cross the picket line for you guys.’ And that helps a lot more than they can know,” Pendleton said.

The light could go out on many public records in Kentucky, experts warn, under House Bill 509. Above, the Kentucky Capitol at dusk, Jan. 4, 2023. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Arden Barnes)

A judge has temporarily blocked a new Kentucky law barring some public-sector unions from being able to collect dues through payroll deductions.?

Jefferson Circuit Court Judge Brian Edwards issued a temporary injunction July 3 against the implementation of Senate Bill 7 in a lawsuit brought by local unions in Louisville.

SB 7, sponsored by Sen. Robby Mills, R-Henderson, prevents public employers from assisting with “any labor organization, person, or other legal entity with the collection of dues, fees, assessments, or other charges” or the collection of personal information for labor unions.

Edwards in his order said the unions had successfully argued that there would be “immediate and irreparable harm” to the unions unless the law is temporarily blocked while the lawsuit over its constitutionality is considered. One of the unions, Teamsters Local Union 783, had collected all of its dues through payroll deductions until SB 7 went into effect in late March.?

These local unions assert SB 7 — which the Republican-dominated state legislature passed over the veto of Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear — violates the equal protection of the law guaranteed under the Kentucky Constitution because the law exempted unions for law enforcement, jail and prison staff and firefighters from the new law.?

Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron and a Republican lawmaker in support of the law have defended it and its exemptions saying the “hazardous nature” of some occupations is the reasoning for the exclusions. A spokesperson for Cameron’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the temporary injunction.?

The law exempted public-sector unions that had existing contracts with employers to continue to collect dues through payroll deductions until the contracts expired. Ron Richmond, the communications director for AFSCME Indiana-Kentucky Council 962, represents a local union that was a plaintiff in the lawsuit.?

“We have about 12 or 14 locals across the state, but only two of them actually have their contracts opening or open right now. So the impact would have been immediate for them,” Richmond said. “The injunction was necessary to protect the process for the ones that kind of had something at risk right away.”

Richmond said with the temporary injunction, employers can again collect union dues through payroll deductions.?

The Kentucky Education Association, the state’s largest union representing teachers, has another lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of SB 7 on similar grounds pending in Franklin Circuit Court.?

The executive director for KEA had previously said approximately 90% of its union members pay dues through payroll deductions. A KEA spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Attorney General Daniel Cameron addressed supporters at the Galt House in Louisville after easily winning the Republican nomination for Kentucky governor on May 16, 2023. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Austin Anthony)

A Kentucky judge has recused himself from a court case after Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron questioned the judge’s impartiality based on ?political contributions supporting the judge’s recent reelection.

Franklin Circuit Court Judge Phillip Shepherd in an order Tuesday directed a lawsuit filed by the Kentucky Education Association be transferred to the other circuit judge in Franklin County, Thomas Wingate.?

The Kentucky Education Association (KEA), the state’s largest teachers union, is challenging the constitutionality of a new state law, Senate Bill 7, that bars the union from collecting dues through payroll deductions and has asked Shepherd to temporarily block the law.?

Cameron is defending the new law and had invoked another new state law, Senate Bill 126, to have the case moved to a new circuit court at random. An attorney for Cameron’s office has stated SB 126 is needed to allow lawsuit participants in challenges of state laws and decisions to have a case moved if they believe a judge may be biased.?

In a court filing footnote, Cameron said campaign contributions made by lawyers representing KEA to Shepherd’s nonpartisan reelection campaign last year — along with $100,000 given by KEA’s political action committee to another political action committee that used the funding, in part, for advertising to support Shepherd — could “cause a reasonable observer to question the impartiality or bias of the presiding judge in a case involving the KEA, its PAC, or its counsel.”

Shepherd has been a past target of GOP criticism for some of his rulings, and Republicans, including Senate President Robert Stivers, supported an opponent who unsuccessfully ran against Shepherd last year.?

Shepherd in his Tuesday order said that he did not think that individual donations to a judge’s election campaign or a judge’s opponent alone created grounds for recusal.?

But he did say “independent expenditures” given through political action committees, such as the funding given by KEA’s PAC, could more easily undermine public confidence in the court system.

“The Court believes public confidence in the Court system is more easily undermined by vast independent expenditures than publicly reported individual donations that are limited by law. Independent expenditures are less transparent, less regulated, and less subject to public accountability than individual donations,” his order stated. “This litigation is related to a labor organization’s ability to collect dues, and therefore, to fund such expenditures through its affiliated political action committee. Therefore, it is important for this Court to remove any potential for the appearance of bias.”

“If the Court rules in favor of the KEA, reasonable people may wonder if the ruling was influenced by the KEA’s financial support for the independent expenditure supporting the judge in the last election. If the Court rules against the KEA, reasonable people may wonder if the Court rejected valid arguments against the legislation in order to avoid the appearance of favoritism.”

Shepherd said he understood recusing himself and transferring the case could burden KEA with delays on a ruling of whether SB 7 will be temporarily blocked but that he was confident Wingate, the other other Franklin Circuit judge, would issue prompt rulings in the case.?

In March, Cameron recused himself from a lawsuit his office is handling after Pace-o-Matic, the largest “gray machine” company in Kentucky, gave $100,000 to a PAC backing Cameron’s race for governor. Pace-o-Matic and other companies are challenging a new state law banning their gambling machines in the state. The AG’s office is defending the law.

The aging of Kentucky's population will place new demands on the health care system. The National Council on Aging reports that about 95% of older adults have at least one chronic condition, such as diabetes and heart disease, and that almost 80% have two or more chronic conditions. (Getty Images)

Kentucky’s population is shifting older, new data shows, with the oldest counties in the western part of the state.?

Counties with colleges and military clusters are home to the younger populations, according to analyses of new Census data by the Kentucky State Data Center (KSDC).

Eastern Kentucky is aging faster than the rest of the state, according to KSDC, which could be because of young people moving away.?

Between 2010 and 2020, the median Kentuckian age increased from 38.1 to 39.4. The population ages 65 and older also increased from 13.3% to 17%.?

An aging population — and fewer babies

“It’s not unexpected that the population is aging like this,” said Matthew H. Ruther, the KSDC director and a University of Louisville professor.?

However, the increase from 13% to 17% is “a really big jump,” he said. “And it’s not done yet. We’re going to still be seeing this going into the future.”?

In fact, Ruther estimates the 65 and older population will hit 20%.??

“The peak of the baby boom was in 1957,” he explained. “Those people are now 66. And so you’re … still going to be seeing this older population get larger, both in absolute terms and as a percent of the population.”?

With that increase, the state will need to consider the medical needs of the older population and the demands that will be placed on the health care system. The National Library of Medicine in 2008 reported that chronic conditions are more prevalent in older communities, producing greater utilization of health care services.?

The National Council on Aging said in March that about 95% of older adults have at least one chronic condition, such as diabetes and heart disease. Almost 80% have two or more chronic conditions, according to the Center on Aging.?

Yet large areas of Kentucky suffer from a lack of primary care providers.? The Kentucky Primary Care Association said in 2022 that 94% of the state’s 120 counties don’t have enough primary care providers.?

“People are already having trouble getting to doctors or hospitals because of supply issues,” Ruther said. “If nothing changed, then this is going to become more problematic in the future.”?

And while the older age group widens, some younger groups are smaller. That means fewer people are preparing to enter the workforce than are getting ready to leave it.?

We see fewer young people, in part, because people are delaying starting a family, Ruther said.?

Deaths exceeded births in 2020, the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, when there were nearly 4,000 more deaths than births in Kentucky. In 2021, deaths exceeded births by 8,089, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The trend is continuing. Preliminary data shows that in 2022 Kentucky deaths (57,269) exceeded births (52,458) by about 4,800.

The CDC said that in 2021, the mean age of American mothers at the time of their first birth was 27.3 years. That’s up from 27.1 in 2020.?

“People wait longer to have children,” Ruther said. “And then when people wait, they tend not to achieve their intended fertility.”?

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists says that “peak reproductive years” are between the late teens and late 20s.?

“By age 30, fertility (the ability to get pregnant) starts to decline,” ACOG says. “This decline happens faster once you reach your mid-30s. By 45, fertility has declined so much that getting pregnant naturally is unlikely.”?

These birth declines are “also not unexpected,” Ruther said. “But there are definitely going to be some ramifications for school systems across the state,” such as lower enrollments.?

Homeownership disparities — by race

Meanwhile, the percent of Kentuckians who own homes declined from 2010 to 2029.

Between 2010 and 2020, homeownership in Kentucky declined overall from 69% to 66%. Factors may include the price of buying a house rising faster than wages and not enough access to credit, according to the KSDC.?

Beyond the general decline, there exist disparities between white and Black homeowners, Ruther said.?

Homeownership for white Kentuckians dropped from 72% to 71% over the decade, while for Black Kentuckians it fell from 39% to 36%.?

“Homeownership isn’t the end-all be-all of life, right?” Ruther said. “Some people don’t want to own a home. There’s … nothing necessarily wrong with that. But it is the primary way that people — that households — build wealth.”?

“Wealth-building opportunities are limited when you are renting,” he added. “So that’s … going to reverberate into the future.”?

A change in single households?

Kentucky is also seeing an increase in single-person households.?

“When we think of single-person households, most people tend to think of young people living carefree on their own,” Ruther said. “But a lot of the single-person households are actually … older individuals who are widowed or never married.”?

Especially in the western and eastern parts of the state, single-person households tend to be older people, Ruther said. Single-person households in urban areas like Lexington or Louisville are younger people, often college students living in apartments.?

“It’s sort of new that people are living by themselves,” Ruther said. “I don’t think that the number of single-person households outnumbers the number of two-parent family households, but it’s probably very close at this point.”?

COVID-19, floods and tornadoes

This data only covers up to 2020, so much isn’t represented, such as the full effect of COVID-19, as well as the housing and migration issues brought on by the deadly tornadoes in West Kentucky and the back-to-back floods in the East.?

The demographic fallout over these events, Ruther said, should show up in the next few data releases.?

Demonstrators participate in a protest outside of McDonald's corporate headquarters on Jan. 15, 2021 in Chicago, Illinois. The protest was part of a nationwide effort calling for minimum wage to be raised to $15-per-hour. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — Children as young as 10 were found working past midnight at a McDonald’s restaurant in Louisville, the U.S. Department of Labor said in announcing numerous civil penalties levied on fast-food franchises.

As part of an investigation into federal child labor law violations in the Southeast, the Department of Labor said that three separate franchises that operate a total of 62 McDonald’s restaurants across Kentucky, Indiana, Maryland and Ohio “employed 305 children to work more than the legally permitted hours and perform tasks prohibited by law for young workers,” the agency wrote in a Tuesday press release.

All together, those franchises, Bauer Food LLC, Archways Richwood LLC and Bell Restaurant Group I LLC, were fined $212,744 in civil penalties, the agency said. The Department of Labor listed the franchise locations but did not specify which violations occurred where, other than saying the 10-year-olds were found working in Louisville.?

McDonald’s corporate office as well as the three employers who were fined did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday from States Newsroom.

“Too often, employers fail to follow the child labor laws that protect young workers,” Wage and Hour Division District Director Karen Garnett-Civils in Louisville said in a statement. “Under no circumstances should there ever be a 10-year-old child working in a fast-food kitchen around hot grills, ovens and deep fryers.”

Garnett-Civils said the agency is seeing an increase in federal child labor law violations, “including allowing minors to operate equipment or handle types of work that endangers them or employs them for more hours or later in the day than federal law allows.”

The Department of Labor has found a 69% increase in children employed illegally by companies since 2018. During fiscal 2022, there were 835 companies that employed more than 3,800 children in violation of labor laws.?

Despite the increase in federal child labor law violations, multiple states have either passed or introduced legislation to roll back child labor laws, a push from businesses and conservative lawmakers.?

The DOL’s investigation into Bauer Food, which is based in Louisville and operates 10 McDonald’s locations in Kentucky and Indiana, alleged the company employed 24 children under the age of 16 to work more than the legal hours permitted for minors.?

“These children sometimes worked more hours a day or week than the law permits, whether or not school is in session,” according to the Department of Labor.

That investigation also found two 10-year-old children who were employed, but not paid, and sometimes worked as late as 2 a.m. They prepared food orders, cleaned the store, worked the drive-through window and operated a register.?

The agency did not explain why the children were not paid.

The agency found that one of the two 10-year-old children was allowed to operate a deep fryer, which is prohibited for working minors under 16.?

Bauer was fined $39,711.

DOL investigators found that Archways Richwood, which operates 27 McDonald’s locations in Kentucky and Ohio, let 242 children between the ages of 14 and 15 work beyond hours allowed for minors.??

The company was fined $143,566 in civil penalties.

Bell Restaurant Group I, also based in Louisville, operates four McDonald’s and is part of Brdancat Management Inc., which includes Jesse Bell I, Jesse Bell V and Bell Restaurant Group II operating an additional 20 locations in Maryland, Indiana and Kentucky. The employer was fined $29,267 in civil penalties. DOL investigators found 39 children between the ages of 14 and 15 were allowed to work more hours than the legal limit, and two of the minors worked during school hours.?

DOL investigators also found that the employer “systemically failed to pay workers overtime wages they were due and as a result, the division recovered $14,730 in back wages and liquidated damages for 58 workers.”

Kentucky Education Association Executive Director Mary Ruble testified at a May 1 hearing in Franklin Circuit Court.(Kentucky Lantern photo by Liam Niemeyer)

FRANKFORT — Kentucky’s largest teachers union representing thousands of educators throughout the state is asking a judge to temporarily block a new law that prohibits the union from collecting dues through payroll deductions.?

The Kentucky Education Association (KEA) sued the state last month asking for Senate Bill 7 to be struck down as unconstitutional and is now asking for a temporary injunction to block the law while it’s being heard by the state courts.?

SB 7, sponsored by Sen. Robby Mills, R-Henderson, prevents public employers from assisting with “any labor organization, person, or other legal entity with the collection of dues, fees, assessments, or other charges” or the collection of personal information for labor unions. It levies fines of up to $1,000 on unions or public employers who violate the law.?

At a Monday court hearing before Franklin Circuit Court Judge Phillip Shepherd, attorney Amy Cubbage representing KEA said because SB 7 had an emergency clause — meaning it went into effect in late March immediately after the GOP-dominated legislature overrode a veto?by Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear — the union did not have time to adapt to the new law.

“There was no lead time here for any of the parties to plan and move people to these alternative payment methods,” Cubbage said. “When people have been able to rely on a payment method for 50 years and that’s been taken away, it does cause a harm. It does take time to rework that contractual arrangement.”

In testimony at the court hearing, KEA Executive Director Mary Ruble said before SB 7 became law approximately 90% of the union’s members paid monthly dues through automatic deductions in cooperation with a public school district. The other methods of payment include using credit cards, direct transfers from bank accounts, and direct billing where members pay dues with cash or check.?

“We have not received any dues collected by payroll deduction for April and don’t expect to receive any for May, June, July, August, September, etcetera,” Ruble said.?

KEA has about 23,500 active members and at least 17,000 retired members, she said.

Ruble said the union has been reaching out to teachers individually since the passage of SB 7 to have teachers switch to a new payment option such as credit cards and that the labor organization’s efforts have almost solely been focused on tackling the issue.?

A lawyer for the Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet, tasked with enforcing the new law, said the state agency hadn’t received any allegations of violations of the new law and that it wasn’t enforcing it because of the pending litigation.?

Beshear in his veto of SB 7 said the measure could also impact other public sector unions in occupations beyond education, by conflicting with federal rules on ?collective bargaining, thus putting public transit systems in Lexington, Louisville and Covington at risk of losing ?more than $76 million in federal funding.?

Mills, the sponsor of SB7, has previously said the legislation was about stopping “the practice of public employee unions using taxpayer-funded payroll systems to collect political contributions from members.”

Republican Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron’s office intervened in the court case opposing the temporary injunction being granted, with an attorney for the office saying the union’s “financial harm is totally recoverable” through other payment methods beyond payroll deduction.?

“I see very little difference in convenience between looking at your bank account every month, and looking at your paystub, in which you’re still going to be able to see the automatic transfer of the money,” said Assistant Attorney General Marc Manley.

Attorneys for KEA have argued that SB 7 is unconstitutional in part because it violates the equal protection of the law guaranteed by the Kentucky Constitution, by exempting unions for law enforcement, jail and prison staff and firefighters from the new law.?

Rep. Josh Bray, R-Mount Vernon, who spoke in favor of SB 7 on the House floor, said the “hazardous nature” of some occupations such as law enforcement was the reasoning for why such unions were excluded from the law, which Manley reiterated.?

“Due to the hazardous nature of these other professions and the danger that can come about, that there could be a risk of substantial injury or maybe even death,” Manley said. “So some of those aspects of that type of profession could make financial transactions, quickly changing financial transactions more difficult.”?

Cubbage pushed back on that argument, specifically mentioning a Missouri law that had put new restrictions on collective bargaining for public sector unions that was struck down because the law excluded some unions from the restrictions.?

“We actually have SROs, school resource officers, who are members of KEA. So if they are considered to be a hazardous occupation, I believe they qualify for this … they could lose the benefit of payroll deductions from the KEA.”?

Cubbage also said there was “no distinction” between unions for teachers and law enforcement officers in that both have engaged in political speech through political action committees.?

Plaintiffs and defendants plan to file responses on whether Shepherd should issue a temporary injunction over the next week.

ACLU Southern Affiliates United logo, provided

Employees of the Kentucky chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) announced on Monday their intent to unionize.

ACLU of Kentucky staff, as well as staff from Louisiana and Mississippi, will join?ACLU Southern Affiliates United.?

They have requested voluntary recognition for their union from management at each affiliate and want to bargain together.?

“There is power in the South. From Appalachia to the Gulf Coast, the South has been the birthplace of national movements for justice and radical change for centuries,” ACLU Southern Affiliates said in a mission statement sent to management Monday morning.?

The unit will have 24 members, including 11 from Kentucky and will be part of the Washington-Baltimore News Guild.?

“The most powerful communities of the South are represented in our ranks: Black and Brown folks, women, queer folks, formerly incarcerated people, people who’ve experienced poverty, and others who know that a more perfect union is only possible if every impacted voice has a say in shaping it,” the newly formed unit said. “To this end, we are stronger together.”?

In a statement, Kentucky Senior Policy Strategist Jackie McGranahan said members are “ensuring we all have an equal seat at the table” by making the move to unionize.

The unit’s logo features kudzu, a plant common to all three states in the unit.

“And it’s really fast growing and you can’t ignore it,” one employee told the Lantern, “which is how the southern states are.”

Gov. Andy Beshear has tried to appeal to his own reputation for transparency to explain his apparent support for a bill that would reduce the public's access to records of official government business. (Photo by Arden Barnes)

Calling it “an attack on unions and teacher associations that support and protect hard working Kentucky families,” Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear vetoed a bill that would stop automatic payroll deductions for some public employees’ unions or association dues.

In his veto message, the governor said Senate Bill 7 violates the Kentucky Constitution by “targeting public employees.”?

The Kentucky Education Association has opposed the legislation as it could no longer rely on automatic deductions for dues collection.?

“Because it has an emergency clause, Senate Bill 7 will immediately impact the union membership of those public employees who use payroll deduction to pay their dues. Senate Bill 7 is an attack on unions and teacher associations that support and protect hard working Kentucky families,” Beshear wrote. “These are people who educate our kids, drive our buses, pave our roads and work in our libraries. Senate Bill 7 also has First Amendment implications, stifling public employees’ freedom of speech.”

Beshear said part of the bill “is so broadly worded” to prevent public employers from assisting groups like labor organizations with collections of dues and fees “that it could be read to prohibit payroll deductions for entities such as dental and vision insurance providers, financial service firms, and charitable organizations.”?

Another provision in the bill would remove part of Kentucky statute that allows school district employees to give written consent for a payroll deduction for dues for organizations like the Kentucky Association of School Administrators, “which is dedicated to serving school administrators in Kentucky through advocacy, professional development, research, and leadership,” Beshear wrote.?

Additionally, he cited a letter from the Amalgamated Transit Union, which has local unions in Covington, Lexington and Louisville, saying the legislation “would render the public transit systems in the Commonwealth ineligible for more than $76 million in federal transit funds” in fiscal year 2023. The U.S. Department of Labor certifies arrangements for continuing collective bargaining rights, he added, and the bill would deny transit employees the right to bargain over dues deduction.?

Earlier this legislative session, both the Senate and House passed the bill with some rural Republican lawmakers joining Democrats in opposing the bill.?

“Senate Bill 7 is simply designed to stop the practice of public employee unions using taxpayer-funded payroll systems to collect political contributions from members,” said Sen. Robby Mills, R-Henderson, the bill’s primary sponsor, while introducing the bill in the?Senate.

The House added exceptions to the bill for police and firefighters unions.?