Folks,
Greetings from the Burgh, where I am preparing to leave for Latin America in 12 days.
Btw, if you haven’t yet, make sure you read my article entitled “Lula's Investment in Anti-Fascist Brazilian Films Wins Big at Golden Globes.”
57% Towards Latin American Reporting Trip Goal
Good news, so far, we have fundraised 57% towards our $3,000 Latin America reporting fund. Help us reach our goal today!
Minneapolis Unions Call for General Strike
In Minneapolis, several major unions and community groups are calling for a general strike and economic boycott on January 23rd. Already, major unions including Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 1005, SEIU Local 26, UNITE HERE Local 17, CWA Local 7250, and St. Paul Federation of Educators Local 28 are supporting the call for a general strike and organizers expect the list to grow in coming days.
“We are facing a tsunami of hate from our own federal government,” Abdikarim Khasim, a Minnesota rideshare driver, told a crowd while announcing the effort today. “We’re going to shut it down on the 23rd. We’re going to overcome this.”
For more on the general strike, check out Workday Magazine.
AFT Quits Using Twitter Over Sexualized Images of Children
Earlier today, the 1.7 million member American Federation of Teachers, announced that they were formally leaving Twitter over the sites’ refusal to crackdown on sexualized images of children on their site.
The decision means that the union will lose its roughly 100,000 followers on the site.
“It’s not an easy decision but it’s the right decision," AFT President Randi Weingarten told Reuters. "You have to draw a line. If you’re on Team Humanity and you believe we have to protect children, in particular, you have to draw this line.”
15,000 NYC Nurses Continue Strike as Mamdani Helps
In NYC, more than 15,000 nurses, members of the NYSNA, went on strike at some of the city’s most famous hospitals including Montefiore Medical Center and multiple New York-Presbyterian and Mount Sinai Health System locations.
Unlike past mayors, who may be loath to call out such heavy hitters as the hospitals, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani was on the picket line on the first day of the strike; calling out the employers.
“There is no shortage of wealth in the health care industry, especially so at the three privately operated hospital groups at which nurses are striking,” Mamdani said Monday outside of New York-Presbyterian’s upper Manhattan hospital “But for too many of the 15,000 NYSNA nurses who are on strike, they are not able to make their ends meet.”
Largest Ohio ArcelorMittal Plant Workers on Strike
In Shelby, Ohio, more than 450 ArcelorMittal workers, members of the Steelworkers, are on strike after no deal was reached on Monday. The facility is the largest ArcelorMittal facility in all of Ohio.
The union says that the company has failed to meet expectations on wages and health insurance. However, the most difficult thing for most workers are the intense schedules that give workers just a few days a month off from work.
"A major sticking point is an alternative work schedule. The company has hired roughly 100-plus employees promising a 19-day on, 2-day off schedule that they called 'blue weekends.' Fourth of July weekend 2025, they took those away and put everyone back on their 7-day-a-week schedule," U.S. Steelworkers International Representative Steve Ackerman told the Mansfield News Journal. "Now, they are proposing to implement a schedule 'to get people more time off.' The schedule to get people more time off would only get about 40 of the 450 members more time off."
For more, check out Mansfield News Journal.
Following Violent Attacks, UPMC Altoona Nurses Win Contract Improvements
Finally, across Pennsylvania, there have been a rash of violent attacks on hospital staff in the UPMC chain, the largest hospital chain in Pennsylvania. In December, two were killed after a gunman opened fire at UPMC York. Earlier, in November, one nurse was beaten unconscious by a patient at UPMC Altoona.
Following the beating of the nurse at UPMC Altoona, nurse members of SEIU Healthcare PA, began pushing management for long sought after provisions that would protect them from workplace violence.
“During this process, we were able to advocate with management to finally implement many of the safety enhancements that we’ve been calling for over the past few years,” Jaime Balsamo, a 17-year nurse at Altoona and president of the local chapter of SEIU Healthcare PA told the Harrisburg Patriot-News. “This shows that when nurses unite with each other and our community, we can win concrete, positive change.”
For more, check out the Harrisburg Patriot-News.
News & Headlines Elsewhere
- Why 200,000 job applicants still haven’t solved the FAA’s controller shortage
- Are CorePower yoga teachers going on strike?
- More than 250 are on strike at Parker Lord's Erie County plant.
- Labor board rules in favor of union in contested BlueOval SK election
- Trump vineyard seeks foreign workers at lower wages after Trump Administration policy shift
- Massage parlor workers protest anti-trafficking summit that includes DHS, ICE
- MLB trying to ‘force’ players into salary cap, union says, as Manfred walks a tricky line
- Finally, the bus drivers union of Tehran issues a statement denouncing attacks on the country.
Alright folks, that’s all for today. Keep sending tips, comments, and complaints to melk@paydayreport.com
