Folks,
Greetings from the Burgh, where Tim Walz is expected to arrive later today to campaign with union members.
Biden Blocking U.S. Steel Sale Very Popular in Western PA
As Payday Report went to press, news reports leaked that the Biden Administration intended to block the sale of Pittsburgh-based US Steel to the Japanese company Nippon Steel.
The Steelworkers union, based in Pittsburgh, has long advocated blocking the sale. They want the company to be sold to Cleveland Cliffs, with whom the union already has a relationship.
When Biden previewed the blockage here at a Labor Day event in Pittsburgh, he received thunderous applause and much positive press coverage in the region.
"When you're in Pittsburgh, you're standing with steelworkers. Let's be clear. I believe in American steel companies — American-owned-and-operated steel companies," said Biden at the IBEW Local 5 hall on Monday. "And I made it clear last time I was in Pittsburgh: United States Steel, an iconic American company for more than a century, is going to remain an American company."
For more, check out the Washington Post.
1 in 5 Western PA Voters Are Union Voters - Help Us Reach Them
Folks, unions are going to be crucial to winning in Western Pennsylvania. They represent 1 in 5 voters, which is why Kamala Harris and Tim Walz plan to come to Pittsburgh once or twice a week until election day.
Payday hopes to cover them and how union members and racial justice groups are responding here in Western PA.
Donate to help us cover this crucial union election in Western PA.
Electric Battery Workers Face Union Busting as Kamala Visits
Not only is Vice President Kamala Harris visiting Pittsburgh tomorrow, but 300 workers at EOS, in nearby Turtle Creek, are voting on unionizing with the United Steelworkers.
Under Biden-Harris federal programs, the plant has received $400 million in federal loan guarantees and millions more in subsidies. The company will also be eligible for up to $1.98 billion in federal tax subsidies between 2026 and 2032.
The Biden-Harris Administration has often touted how their federal subsidies make it easier for workers to unionize, but workers at EOS say they are facing union busting.
So far, three workers have been fired during the organizing campaign.
"I know they're going to try everything in their power to deter people away from voting for this unit," one of the fired union organizers, Stan Upshaw, told Capital & Main.
For more, check out Kalena Thomhave's piece at Capital & Main.
1,000 Electric Vehicle Battery Workers Unionize in Spring Hill
Meanwhile, down south in Spring Hill, Tennessee, over 1,000 battery plant workers at Ultium, a joint venture of General Motors and L.G. Energy Solution, have unionized with the UAW.
The union election is the most extensive auto manufacturing campaign for the UAW in the South since the victory at Volkswagen in Chattanooga. The organizing drive was helped heavily by the unionized workers at G.M.'s massive Spring Hill plant, which the UAW organized in the early 1990s.
The UAW feels confident that the victory in Spring Hill will open the door to more organizing opportunities for them in the South.
"The UAW members at Ultium and V.W. are proving that the new jobs of the South will be union jobs," said UAW Region 8 Director Tim Smith in a statement. "In the battery plants and E.V. factories springing up from Georgia to Kentucky to Texas, workers know they deserve the same strong pay and benefits our members have won. And we're going to make sure they have the support they need to win their unions and win their fair share."
For more, check out Common Dreams.
830 University of Buffalo Resident Physicians Go on Strike
Eight hundred thirty resident physicians at the University of Buffalo are engaged in a historic strike against being overworked and underpaid. Resident physicians say they have used that treatment for far too long.
"It might be a kind of fraternity thing to do...to say work your butt off... but several people can't handle this kind of stress. I think people have progressed to the idea that when you put this much effort and you bill as much and make hundreds of millions of dollars for this university you should be appreciated and not hazed."
Canadian New Democratic Party Leaves Coalition With Liberals Over Canadian Rail Lockout
Finally, in Canada, the left-leaning New Democratic Party (NDP) ended the alliance with the more centrist Liberal Party of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
While the party has long been frustrated by the centrist positions of Trudeau on a variety of issues, NDP party leader Jameet Signh has said that the decision of Trudeau's government to impose binding arbitration on locked-out rail workers was "a line in the sand that was crossed."
He says that the NDP, the fourth largest party in Canada with 24 members in Parliament, will now chart their own independent path.
"The fact is, the Liberals are too weak, too selfish and too beholden to corporate interests to fight for people. They cannot be change(d), they cannot restore the hope, they cannot stop the Conservatives," Singh said in a video today. "But we can."
For more, check out Kelowna Capital News.
Headlines & News Elsewhere
- 4,000 Portland-area Fred Meyer workers end strike but call for boycott
- WGA East Members at Vox Media sites The Dodo and Thrillist engage In one-day strike
- Federal court says Uber owed murdered W.A. driver' duty of care
- "We'll shut them down": Labor union says it's far apart from U.S. ports on new contract as Oct. 1 strike looms
- Travelers shocked to learn United Airlines flight attendant strike is looming
- Sunnyside mushroom farmworkers rally after more firings in August
- DC school bus drivers accuse OSSE of trying to push out union workers
- Finally, a British union has warned of a severe tea shortage as Tetley Tea workers strike
Alright folks, that's all for today. Keep sending tips, story ideas, cookie recipes & hate mail to melk@paydayreport.com
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Love & Solidarity,
Melk
