That was the message conveyed by a UWUA Young Workers Committee panel that gathered virtually for the P4A Training in Action conference. Committee members joined me and National Executive Vice President Patrick Dillon for a discussion about the choices they faced as high schoolers preparing for their futures. They hope that by sharing their experience…
As part of the recent Power for America conference, leaders from three locals joined me for a roundtable discussion on how we can all do a better job of fostering women leaders in our union. Juanita Ray, president of Local 223 in Michigan; Jean Washington, a Local 1-2 business agent; and Barbara Yatauro, president of…
With great sadness we share news of former UWUA President Donald Wightman passing away on November 16. We offer our condolences to his family, friends and all who knew him. A true fighter Upon learning of his death, President Jim Slevin said, “Don Wightman truly understood the fights our members and their families faced. He…
A recent incident at one of our locals led the Safety Committee to review certain employer practices. After benchmarking best practices, policies and procedures to help safeguard members with Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) from around the country, we discovered there were a number of OSHA standards and industry practices that were not being followed by…
A year ago, we thought we’d be back to “normal” by this fall. We looked forward to gathering for a command performance of the Power for America (P4A) training conference last held in 2017. Like with so many other things, COVID put a kink in our plans. Undeterred, UWUA leadership and members showed ingenuity and…
“It’s kind of a sad, but successful story,” says Local 369 President Craig Pinkham when asked about the work his members are doing to decommission the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Massachusetts. “The fact is that even though the plant is decommissioned and there are not going to be any more Utility Workers onsite, our…
Hourly employees in the public works department of the City of Canfield, Ohio ratified their first union contract on November 8, capping off a successful two-year campaign in which the workers also faced down brazen acts of anti-union intimidation by the city manager. The contract victory secures a successful organizing drive from September 2019, when…
“We’re coming for everybody we can organize,” says Connecticut Local 470 President Moses Rams. “The company is on notice. It’s not a secret.” With strong contracts to support organizing efforts at United Illuminating, unorganized employees there are reaching out to Local 470 to become union members. Unions improve lives In the first of what Moses…
The customer experience team at Elizabethtown Gas Company in northern New Jersey voted overwhelmingly to join the UWUA in late October. The 70 new members of Local 601 work in the call center, billing department and walk-in customer service centers. “The organizing committee really wanted a union and worked hard to make that happen,” says…
1 -What is the legal authority for a vaccine mandate? The President and the federal government have broad discretion to impose these kinds of requirements in federal contracts. Specifically, the President has authority under the Constitution and the laws of the United States, including the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act. The authority is granted…
This past year will surely be remembered as one of the most challenging in our country’s, indeed our world’s, history. As we began 2021, we all looked forward to putting the pandemic behind us. There are few families that did not experience the loss of a loved one to the virus, and our union grieves…