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Newsletter March 2021
President’s Message “Why do you need a union?” This is a question I’ve been asked more than once by old high school and college friends who don’t work in academia or in fields where unions are common. One Acienit id quatust ibustrum eseresponse that at least seems to get their attention is when I refer to the success of the players’ qui dem velles pro te que unions in professional sports. “Do nis younireally think,” I ask them, “that the team owners would have maxim in et such resectat et allowed theillaborae players to share a percentage of the profits without the unions?”
es as endus que esti ut omnienThe last public event I attended before everything shut down a year ago was a negotiation session READING ON PG. 2 representing service workers at the Encore Casino in led byFINISH the Teamsters in Boston. They were Everett, just outside of Boston. Although the full horror of the pandemic was not yet clear, the service workers—in housekeeping and in restaurants at the casino—were clearly terrified. The Teamsters made a compelling case for safety precautions, furlough pay, and job protection. Marty Walsh, the then-Mayor of Boston, played a key role in those discussions. Before becoming mayor, Walsh was a longtime member of the Laborers’ Union Local 223, serving as the president of the union until he stepped into the mayor’s office. Walsh brings his strong labor background to his new position as Secretary of Labor in the Biden administration, which is shaping up to be one of the most labor-friendly administrations in decades. One sign of that? In Alabama, a labor battle has been brewing between the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union and Amazon. President Biden has spoken resoundingly in favor of the union. For decades, no president in either party has been as outspoken in support of unions as Biden has been. Why do the warehouse workers need a union to represent them? Amazon has become a powerhouse in just over two decades and has become ingrained in American life. Part of that massive growth has led to serious problems with working conditions. Let’s just look in our own backyard for an example. In 2011, the Morning Call reported on Amazon having squads of ambulances ready at their Breinigsville warehouses for workers suffering from the effects of excessive heat. Literally, Amazon had made a calculation that it was cheaper to hire ambulance services to be on call to take away workers sickened by the heat than to invest in a proper cooling system. The pressure that the publicity from the Morning Call article ultimately led to changes. In the future, a union would play a role to ensure that the situation never gets to such a point--because workers matter.
President, APSCUF-KU
