LOS ANGELES, CA – SEPTEMBER 24, 2024 – Lots of of Los Angeles County SEIU 721 members rally to announce overwhelming help for an Unfair Labor Apply (ULP) strike authorization vote throughout a rally in entrance of the Kenneth Hahn Corridor of Administration in downtown Los Angeles on September 24, 2024. Dozens of SEIU 721 county employees shut down a Board of Supervisors assembly for a number of minutes contained in the Corridor of Administration. “We’ve got had it with LA County’s makes an attempt at union busting and we’re able to strike,” stated SEIU 721 President David Inexperienced, a Kids’s Social Employee with the LA County Dept. of Kids & Household Companies for greater than 20 years. Although segments of LA County’s workforce have come near putting most lately inMay of 2022, when hundreds of nurses reached an eleventh hour deal over stronger job protections and higher compensation a full-fledged strike of SEIU 721-represented bargaining items has not taken place in a long time. This time, a ULP strike would come with virtually all the LA County workforce and affect most providers inside the County’s 4,751 sq. mile service space. (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Instances by way of Getty Photos)
Genaro Molina | Los Angeles Instances | Getty Photos
Practically 20 years after they parted methods, two major unions introduced that they are reuniting simply days earlier than President-elect Donald Trump takes workplace once more.
The Service Staff Worldwide Union stated Wednesday it’s re-joining the AFL-CIO, a bunch comprising 60 affiliated labor unions. With the addition of SEIU, its membership will broaden to fifteen million employees.
The second Trump administration, which begins in lower than two weeks, is predicted to take a decidedly completely different view of labor unions in contrast with the Biden administration. The leaders of the AFL-CIO and SEIU, nonetheless, stated the choice to unite was not political.
“The notion that that is political could not be farther from the reality when it comes to the election outcomes,” AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler stated in an interview.
On the similar time, the union leaders stated they’re ready to defend employees as Trump enters workplace. Each unions had endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris within the 2024 race, arguing that Trump’s agenda can be “devastating” and “anti-worker.”
“We shouldn’t have rose-colored glasses on in regards to the threats that may very well be coming our means,” SEIU Worldwide President April Verrett stated in an interview.
Shuler stated the unions will faucet into their organizing energy to answer threats with a “actually sturdy protection” whereas additionally happening the offensive.
“We’re the, in all probability, solely establishment within the nation that has an infrastructure in each metropolis, in each state, in each office, that may be a mobilizing machine,” she stated. “And as they are saying, outdoors energy builds inside energy.”
About 2 million SEIU members work in hospitals, colleges, legislation enforcement and different settings. The AFL-CIO’s affiliated unions embody the American Federation of Authorities Staff, the American Federation of Academics and the United Auto Employees. Union members are employed throughout the nation at quite a lot of giant corporations, together with General Motors, Disney and the U.S. Postal Service.
Shuler and Verrett stated conversations about becoming a member of forces had been ongoing for years.
“This can be a key second, in fact, it is a sturdy sign, nevertheless it’s one thing that is been constructing and one thing we predict goes to essentially be for the long run,” Shuler stated, noting that she has been working with SEIU to extend collaboration since she began her presidency in 2021.
Verrett stated the SEIU board gave permission in June 2023 for the union to have extra formal conversations with the AFL-CIO about becoming a member of the affiliation.
The announcement brings SEIU into “a part of the broader federation in determination making about priorities,” stated Ken Jacobs, a senior coverage adviser on the UC Berkeley Labor Heart. He referred to the primary Trump administration as being “extraordinarily hostile to labor.”
“I believe that is additionally a fairly clear reflection of recognition of how essential labor unity goes to be on this subsequent 4 years, when we have now a Trump administration that we will anticipate to be hostile to the pursuits of working folks,” Jacobs stated.
A spokesperson for Trump didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark Wednesday evening.
Trump has promised to deliver again jobs that had gone abroad, in addition to revitalize the auto business.
In the meantime, Trump allies Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, the co-heads of the brand new nongovernmental Division of Authorities Effectivity, have proposed large-scale employment modifications for presidency employees within the coming Trump administration, prompting backlash from unions. Trump has criticized the United Auto Workers, and quite a few unions endorsed Harris final yr.
Nonetheless, Trump’s efforts to win over union employees proved efficient in getting one main union, the Teamsters, to say no to endorse a presidential candidate after years of supporting Democrats.
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