Folks,
Greetings from the Burgh, where, after a few da rights movement, we are finally catching up on some local news.
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A quick update, our fundraising over the past few weeks is strong, and we are now only $1,600 short of what we need to hire a part-time community engagement editor
Over 900 Nurses Vote to Unionize at UPMC
For years, unions have struggled to unionize at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, the largest employer in the state of Pennsylvania.
This week, it was announced that over 900 nurses employed at UPMC Magee-Women's Hospital voted to unionize by a margin of 402-305; creating a potential breakthrough in the UPMC system.
“My coworkers and I are absolutely overjoyed to finally win a union voice for our patients, our profession, and our community,” Jenna Berry, a registered nurse at the Magee-Womens Cancer Center, said in a statement. “We call on UPMC executives to respect the voice of the clear majority and begin negotiations with us right away.”
For more on the victory, check out WESA..
19,000 Boeing Workers Could Join Strike Wave
In St.Louis, a strike of 3,200 Boeing jet fighter workers has entered its third week. The company has played hardball with the union, even taking a $5,000 signing bonus off the table if workers didn’t approve a contract by August 3rd.
Boeing offered a contract that included a 20% raise over 4 years. However, last fall, Boeing ended a 53-day strike in Washington State by offering workers a 38% wage increase over a 5-year period, but now St. Louis area union members say they want to hold out for more.
Union leaders say that members are upset by hardball tactics, including Boeing rescinding the $5,000 ratification bonus because workers didn’t approve a contract by August 3rd.
“The move that the company did, taking away the signing bonus, just really totally infuriated our members, and they feel really disrespected by that,” Machinists union President Brian Bryant told the St. Louis Post Dispatch.
Boeing CEO Kelly Orberg is preparing to face new strikes as rank-and-file Boeing workers become more militant. From Bloomberg:
Ortberg is facing his second major strike since joining Boeing a year ago, this time by a union that doesn’t have a history of activism. It’s only the third strike in a half century by factory workers at the defense hub, who’re represented by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 837, according to Scott Mikus, analyst with Melius Research.
The strife, which started with workers voting down contract terms endorsed by IAM leaders, comes ahead of Boeing’s upcoming negotiations with the union representing about 19,000 engineers, technicians and pilots.
For more, check out Bloomberg.
California Agricultural Workers Go On Brave Strike
Despite ICE targeting many farms throughout California, agricultural workers at Eat Sweet Farms in Salinas and Watsonville, California are on their second strike so far this year.
"We are unhappy with the treatment we are receiving from the supervisor, and we have many complaints,” one farmworker, Roseila Lopez, told KION.
Inside Look at Largest Sanitation Strike in a Generation
Finally, Waste Dive has a deep dive on the largest sanitation strike in a generation:
Piled up garbage in Massachusetts. A landfill with a skeleton staff in California. Stalled recycling in Ohio.
Piece by piece, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters has waged the largest sanitation worker strike in a generation. Rather than a nationwide workforce deciding to walk out en masse, the 2025 Republic Services strike began in the suburbs of Boston with a regional contract.
It quickly spread via four additional contract disputes in communities around the country, with other Republic Services employees halting work in solidarity for two to three weeks. At its peak, the labor action involved more than 2,000 workers, and more than 450 are still picketing today in Massachusetts and Georgia.
For more, check out Waste Dive.
News & Headlines Elsewhere
- A union push at JP Morgan reveals tensions inside America’s largest banks.
- Kentucky electric vehicle battery workers begin voting on whether to unionize
- SAG-AFTRA Prez candidate Chuck Salvin under fire for xenophobic tweets
- Backed by Bernie Sanders, Fifrefighters union leader launches big for the battleground PA district
- Yosemite and Sequoia & Kings Canyon have organized in response to Trump’s attacks on the federal workforce.
- Finally, a long look at how IATSE organized new workplaces in Maine
Alright folks, that’s all for today. Keep sending tips, donations, comments and complaints to melk@paydayreport.com
Love & Solidarity,
Melk
