Biden Encourages Unionization at Amazon – UE Wins MIT Union Drive – 265 Wisc. Autoworkers Strike Over 2-Tier Wage System

Biden speaking today to building trade union members warned Amazon that more unionizing was coming (Getty Images)

Folks, 

Greetings from the Burgh, where I feel my energy returning after working on covering the Amazon union drive this weekend. (Check out my coverage from over the weekend.)

Thanks to everyone who donated to my long COVID recovery fund so I could have some time to rest after working this weekend. 


Biden Encourages Unionization at Amazon 

After the victory by Amazon Labor Union on Staten Island, Amazon hinted publicly they intended to fight the union effort. 

However, today in remarks to a national conference of the Building Trades Union in D.C., President Biden warned the company to prepare for unionization. 

“…the choice to join a union belongs to workers alone,” Biden proclaimed as the crowd of union activists broke out in cheers. “And by the way, by the way, Amazon here we come. Watch. Watch.” 

For more, check out Reuters. 

Help Us Cover Organizing Following the Amazon Victory

Following the victory of workers at Amazon in Staten Island, there is likely to be even more organizing. 

Donate to Help Us Cover Organizing in the Wake of Amazon Victory. 

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UE Wins MIT Election to Represent 3,800 Workers 

Today the nation’s largest independent union, the United Electrical Workers (UE), won big after a union election to represent 3,800 MIT graduate employees passed by a margin of 1785 to 912 students. 

In a letter to students, MIT signaled they would immediately recognize the union and begin bargaining with the union in the coming months. 

“What started four years ago with a dozen students in an MIT classroom discussing the needs of graduate workers has culminated in this historic victory for student-workers at MIT. Now, we celebrate!” the union wrote on Twitter. 

For more on the win, check out MIT’s Twitter page. 

Hundreds of Wisconsin Autoworkers Strike Over Two-Tier Wage System

Over 265 autoworkers at Vollrath in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, went on strike Monday. The union called for the elimination of the two-tier wage system. 

“We welcome the company coming back to the table with meaningful proposals to address our members’ concerns,” UAW Local 1472 President Rob Kilgore said in a release. “We welcome good-faith proposals and efforts to address our members’ economic issues that are critical to our families.”

For more, check out the Sheboygan Press.

Strikes & News Happening Elsewhere

Alright folks, that’s all for today. 

Donate to help us cover organizing in the wake of the victory at Amazon. 

And if you, can please sign up as one of our 678 recurring donors today. 

Please, send any story ideas, tips, comments, or suggestions to [email protected]. 

Thanks yinz for all the support. 

Love & Solidarity, 
Melk

About the Author

Mike Elk
Mike Elk is an Emmy-nominated labor reporter and alumni of the Guardian. In addition to filing nearly 2,000 stories from 46 states, Elk traveled with Lula from Sáo Bernando do Campos all the way to the Oval Office in the White House. Credited by the Washington Post for being the first reporter to track the strike wave systematically, Elk started Payday Report using his NLRB settlement from being illegally fired for union organizing in 2015. He lives in his hometown of Pittsburgh and works frequently in Rio de Janeiro, where he attended college at PUC-Rio. He speaks both Portuguese and Pittsburghese fluently. His email is [email protected]

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