Cincinnati
AFL-CIO
Labor Council
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Saturday, February 5, 2022 |
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This Week's Messages from AFL-CIO President, Liz Shuler
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This guarantees the massive federal construction contracting industry must partner with trade unions for labor. And thanks to today’s action, 200,000 union members will ensure America’s government buildings are built by the most skilled craftspeople in the industry.
The labor movement and the Biden administration continue to make solid progress. We need to make sure our members are educated and organized to keep our momentum going.
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Together, in a democratic union, workers will advocate for higher wages and improved health and safety standards at the Silao facility, helping to set new standards in the automobile industry.
We will continue to observe the situation closely, and we look forward to partnering with the workers’ union to improve the lives and livelihoods of working people in Mexico and the United States.
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The bipartisan infrastructure law is our opportunity to revive America’s industries and build back better in towns and local economies all over the country, in all sectors.
We need more women to see themselves in the construction industry. The doors are open wider than ever, and there are more women in the building trades now than there were decades ago.
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act includes investments in training programs that will expand access to underrepresented communities and create on-ramps to careers for people that will last a lifetime. The training pipeline needs to reflect the communities where the jobs are being created.
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The elite athletes who make up the NWSL Players Association (NWSLPA) worked for hundreds of hours to secure the first collective bargaining agreement in the sport’s history in the United States.
The players stood together in solidarity and commitment and secured a contract that increases salaries, introduces free agency in 2023 and strengthens protections for player safety, including mental health.
Working people across the country are fed up and are engaging in strikes and other actions to improve our own workplaces and lives, and the NWSLPA players are a shining example of how to get the job done.
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Our Sisters and Brothers at the USPS Remember the Creed.
Its the Bureaucrats that Don't!
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"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds." These words have long been associated with the American Postal Worker. Though not an official creed or motto of the United States Postal Service, the Postal Service acknowledges it as an informal motto.
In the very earliest of day, before the United States was its own nation, long before the internet or telephones and multitudes of methods for instantaneous communication over vast distances, the connective of the American colonies was the mail which was transported by horseback riders on the rough-hewn roads between cities and towns. The safe, efficient delivery of the mail was critical to the colonies’ survival, which is why three months after the battles of Lexington and Concord, the Continental Congress turned to Benjamin Franklin to establish a national post service as the first Postmaster General.
The postal service was a mess when Philadelphia’s 47-year-old Benjamin Franklin took the helm. At that time, it was run under the crown as a moneymaking venture for Britain. For years, it ran a deficit, and Franklin realized the best way to turn a profit was to improve services instead of gutting them. Ironic isn’t it that the future Founding Father — a statesman, scientist, and shrewd businessman — believed in efficiency and innovation. Historians by and large believe he would have been alarmed at the more recent attempts to slash operations of one of the nation’s founding institutions.
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So, let’s fast forward to January 18 this year, when a federal crisis-response service launched and anyone with a fixed address in the United States or its territories could go to CovidTests.gov and order four tests sent for free to their home. The initiative may have come weeks too late to help contain the omicron surge, but at last, free rapid testing by mail is finally available in the U.S.
As it turns out, that inviting website is really just a splash page for the United States Postal Service (USPS), one of our nation’s first public institutions, founded for the sake of public good, and yet, in recent times, one that has been systematically dismantled. And now, in the third year of this pandemic, the Covid-19 response is being foisted upon critical public institutions that have been underfunded or tampered with for decades.
It’s counterintuitive that some of our most essential institutions that might have remained stable during a crisis have been stripped to where they can barely function, and yet still leaned on as if whole and robust. Even before the prior administration admittedly was starving the agency to make it harder to vote by mail, USPS has been besieged by challenges. To no small extent, the problem is that the office is made to operate differently from any other public institutions.
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Trying to provide world-class service like the USPS by making its money off the sale of postage and services instead of relying on taxpayer funds, as do all other public services we enjoy, is insane.
One can point to 2006, when Congress passed a law requiring the post office to prefund health care benefits for retiring employees, as that moment, and the financial burden that created, for the financial situation the USPS is in now.
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With the advent of a new administration in 2021, attention on the USPS crisis slowed, but the office continues to struggle under the strain of the remnants of so many destructive policies, compounded by this pandemic. Just a few months ago, the postal service announced it was slowing down its mail delivery for some letters and packages; staffing shortages that have roiled other industries have overburdened postal employees, who work as many as 80 hours a week, have caused additional delays.
It might be less frustrating if it weren’t all so predictable. Rural Americans have reported delays and losses, significantly impacting their livelihoods. Essential government communications such as stimulus checks and advanced child tax credits, delayed and lost, and all because an essential public utility all of us and the government rely on to fulfill basic functions has been willfully neglected.
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Let me conclude by asking this: If I had a letter, and I gave it to you, then demanded that you take it to the most remote corner of the planet, find a specific location, no matter how difficult the terrain, or harsh the weather, and safely deliver that letter to a specific individual, all for $.58, would you be able to do it? Yet that is what we ask the USPS to do millions of time each and every day.
So, as we all sit in our nice warm homes on this brutally cold winter morning, let’s remember the Sisters and Brothers who are out there now…doing it…getting it done…even while their good work is kneecapped and handcuffed. The USPS is a mission-critical system, a necessary government service, and the good, noble, dedicated women and men who carry out that service each and every day, are doing their level best, under willfully burdensome and unnecessarily onerous circumstances. Remember that if your package is a little late, or your mail doesn’t arrive as you wish. It isn’t becasue of the hard-working women and men of the USPS. Stand strong with our Sisters and Brothers and support the USPS!
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Get Your Dream Job!
The US Postal Service is Hiring
- Average Postal Employee Makes $72K a Year With Incredible Benefits.
- $21 Per Hour Starting Pay On Average.
- More than 1,000 Open Jobs Posted Each Day All Over The United States.
- No Experience is Required. No Education Requirements Either.
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National Thank A Mail Carrier Day, Postal Service Reform Act Update, and More...
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Happy National Thank A Mail Carrier Day!: Today is the National Thank A Mail Carrier Day! Beyond general appreciation for your mail carrier by saying hi or clearing snow and ice on their path, today is the perfect day to thank postal workers for packing and delivering millions of COVID-19 tests to every household in the U.S. Take a pic of your USPS delivered COVID-19 tests and tweet it out using the hashtags #FreeAtHomeCovidTests #ThanksPostalWorkers – or check out this toolkit with sample tweets and posts. If you do one thing this week to save the post office, this is it!
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Upcoming vote on the Postal Service Reform Act: After months without action on the Postal Service Reform Act, the House is finally planning to vote on the bill next week. With significant bipartisan support and endorsement from DeJoy, we expect it will move through the House and Senate. It’s possible that the bill could reach the president’s desk by the end of the month.
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Oshkosh and new USPS trucks: This week, the Biden administration and the EPA took new steps to halt the USPS’s plan to spend $11.3 billion on a new fleet of USPS trucks. Citing the environmental implications of this being a mostly gas-powered fleet, this plan is incongruent with Biden’s goal to convert all federal vehicles to electric. The Guardian digs into the plan to build the vehicles with non-union labor, quoting UAW’s Cindy Estrada calling it “Build Back Worse.” (best line of the week!) Wisconsin Oshkosh workers are organizing with support from UAW and the AFL-CIO to fix or cancel the contract.
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Other News:
A Postal Regulatory Commission report indicated USPS scored low in customer satisfaction in FY 2021 compared to prior years due to continued mail delays across the nation.
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Thank you Paul, Carl, Paige, Ted and Jeremy... You've Set The Stage!
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Wow, it worked! And a big shout out and thank you to Sisters and Brothers that made it happen: Paul Frankenfeld (AFM Local 1), Carl Vineyard (USW Local 14734), Paige Stephens (UFCW Local 75), Ted Thompson (NALC Branch 43), and Jeremy Tyler (Workers United Local 12). Thank you for being the very finest version of us – the best that we can be! To you five, thank you!
Frankly, I wasn't sure it would work, and I’m sure it will likely still have fits and starts, but the Delegate Meeting Wednesday evening was about, by, and for Delegates. Instead of a valiant effort by the Executive Secretary-Treasurer alone to make the meeting worthwhile, over half of Wednesday's meeting was dedicated to voices of Sisters and Brothers in the struggle, sharing their view of that struggle with one another. We heard about victories, we heard of losses, and we heard stories of battles yet undecided. We heard about The Labor Movement we all love and share, and it was, by my estimation, the most informative and uplifting delegate meeting I’ve attended in my near-five years with the CLC.
It has long been my vision that we would be better...we would be stronger...we would be in greater solidarity if we were more connected. We all live busy lives, and we are all stretched to our maximum putting it all in and on the line for the Labor movement each and every day. It’s an indisputable fact! Having said that, it can be a difficult, frustrating, and often lonely slog, fighting the good fight every minute of every day… and when you lay your head down at night, sometimes you aren't entirely sure if it was a good day or not...if you made headway or not...if you won more than you lost. I know... The work is hard and often the love for the movement can seem unrequited.
However, fear not! Wednesday evening, we got a glimpse into the movement all around us. Those good and noble persons named above stepped out and stepped up to share some moments with us from their corner of the movement. Bits and pieces of the battles they have lost, and won, and are yet to be determined... They, for those few moments, were speaking not just with all of us, but for all of us. And I could not have been prouder of them, and you, and the movement.
We speak often of Unity and Solidarity – and we should! We easily toss it about and place it in our closing on the written page – all good. But we must be more intentional...more purposeful in living it. And where better to make that happen than during the one time each month when we come together as Sisters and Brothers, joined in common cause, to tell the stories of our struggles, victories, hopes, dreams, disappointments and more?
"After all, it’s called a "Delegate" meeting, not an "Executive Secretary-Treasurer" Meeting!" So, it is my intention to do my work and dedicate myself 110% to the stewardship and advancement of the Cincinnati AFL-CIO Labor Council, and to each of you... but going forward, this is about you -- not me. The stage is set. I am asking you to take it. So, until next month, I will see out there!
In unity and Solidarity Forever!
Brian
(Brian Griffin, Executive Secretary-Treasure, Cincinnati AFL-CIO Labor Council)
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Thirteen U.S. Workers Die on the Job Per Day, on Average—and These Are the Most Dangerous Jobs |
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by Abigail Johnson Hess
4,764 U.S. workers died while on the job — an average of 13 workers dying per day and the equivalent of one worker dying every 111 minutes. This data, recently released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, measures fatal workplace injuries and does not capture the full scope of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Happy Lunar New Year!
Happy Black History Month!
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This week we was both Lunar New Year and the first day of Black History Month. So we want to talk about both our communities.
Black and Asian American communities have worked proudly together for working people and for civil rights for many years.
In this pandemic, we’re told that the rise in violence against the Asian American community is mainly coming from the Black community. This is not true.
Don’t believe the attempts to divide us—our communities have struggled and worked together for decades.
Asian organizers created Letters for Black Lives to talk about anti-Blackness with Asian families in their own language.
So today, we share a holiday. And our fight for justice will be shared until the day we are all free.
Happy Year of the Tiger! Happy Black History Month!
In Solidarity,
Team AFL-CIO
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Ohio's impact on Black History Month
from Julien Johnson
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Brothers and Sisters,
As we wrap up the first week of Black History Month, I wanted to point out Ohio’s role in the Month long Holiday. As many know, Black History Month is the celebration and acknowledgment of African and Caribbean Americans. Black History Month originally began as black history week which was advocated by Carter G Woodson, a decorated black historian and member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc.
On Feb 7,1926 Negro History Week was established an recognized nationwide. Fast forward 43 years at Kent State University, Students such as Dr. Timothy “Dean” Moore, also a member of Omega Psi Phi, and the Black united students organized to extend Negro history week to a Month. Through their collective efforts, The school adopted the first unofficial month long celebration of Black history.
In 1976, the month long celebration was adopted and recognized nationally and observed to this day. Similar to organized labor, we see the strength in unity amongst different races, classes, genders and, sexual orientation. Through solidarity and collective efforts the smallest action can make historical impacts. For more info on the Kent State University’s Role in Black History Month click here .
Julien Johnson
He/Him/His
Southwest State Representative
Ohio AFL-CIO
614-312-4507
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Nearly $500 Million Dedicated To Ohio From Biden's Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill |
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Ohio’s bridges will soon see their first major improvement in generations. Money from the infrastructure bill, signed into law last year, has arrived in the Buckeye State.
Earlier this month, Ohio received nearly $500 million in funding from the bipartisan infrastructure bill. This is an investment in transportation safety and will improve the commutes of Ohioans everywhere.
The $483 million in funding is meant to be used on bridges in "poor" and "fair" condition, Ohio Department of Transportation press secretary Matt Burning said to Axios.
Most of these are maintained by Ohio cities, townships and counties, he says.
"With that in mind, we're working through the details so (ODOT) can determine how to best invest these new funds where they're needed most. We hope to have some proposals on that to share soon."
Repairing bridges is just the beginning of big infrastructure investments in Ohio. Funding for programs to improve highways, broadband internet access, clean water, and air and sea ports are also advancing.
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Member Spotlight: All The Union Members Out There Keeping Us Safe
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This very morning, all across Ohio, working people are dealing with a weather event that gave us everything from heavy rain to a foot of snow, and ice in between. As many Ohioans hunker down indoors to ride out the storm, not so for scores of union members whose job demands they be outside to serve and protect us.
Here are some Unions whose Sisters and Brothers that will be working to keep Ohio moving: OCSEA/AFSCME plow drivers, IBEW line staff, Utility Workers, first responders, UFCW grocery workers, nurses and hospital staff, postal employees, teachers and school support staff and countless others.
The Ohio AFL-CIO and the Cincinnati AFL-CIO Labor Council send a huge THANK YOU to all members called to duty doing battle in the elements to ensure Ohio communities stay safe while keeping our economy moving.
Ohioans learned early on during the pandemic that union members are everyday heroes, and this week they will prove again the necessity of our work.
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NPEU Members at CAP Vote to Put All Actions on the Table to Raise Wages |
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Earlier this week,, members of the Nonprofit Professional Employees Union, IFPTE Local 70, who work at the Center for American Progress announced that they had overwhelmingly voted to reject management's most recent salary proposal and to put all options on the table to win a fair contract, including a work stoppage.
This is a big moment for our members at CAP, for our union and for nonprofit workers across the country. By taking a strong stance for living wages and against the status quo of low starting salaries (current minimum salary at CAP is $40K), we are showing nonprofit execs everywhere that the era of paying junior staffers paltry salaries and trying to make up for it with prestige or good vibes is over.
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U.S Senator Sherrod Brown: Working For Working People!
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Another Major Jobs Announcement For Ohio
Senator Sherrod Brown joined GE Aviation and Boeing at the White House to announce the company’s sale of fifteen Boeing 777X freighters, made in America by union Machinists and with GE Aviation engines developed in Ohio, to Qatar Airways. The deal builds on this month’s Intel announcement of 10,000 advanced manufacturing jobs coming to Ohio. It will support GE Aviation workers in the Cincinnati area and more than 12,500 workers nationwide, and allow GE to innovate and invest in their production and workers. The total value of the order with GE is more than $6.8 billion.
“The world is beginning to see what we’ve always known – that Ohio workers are the best at what they do, and that the future of advanced manufacturing is in our state,” said Brown. “GE Aviation has been driving that innovation and growth for years, building on Ohio’s rich aviation heritage. They’re such an asset to Ohio, and this deal is a huge win for the Ohio workers who are part of GE.”
Brown was joined at the White House by U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, GE Aviation CEO John Slattery, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE) President Matthew Biggs, and IAM District 751 President and Directing Business Representative Jon Holden. The sale will support GE Aviation workers in the Cincinnati area and more than 12,500 workers nationwide, and allow GE to innovate and invest in their production and workers.
"The IAM represents tens of thousands of members in the aerospace industry who welcome this long-term investment,” said IAM International President Robert Martinez Jr. “This investment, championed by the administration, signals an understanding of the impact of one of our nation’s most vital manufacturing sectors. Today’s announcement gives hope to so many communities that will benefit from the good union jobs this investment will create.”
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FEBRUARY 03, 2022—Brown Secures Commitment That Medicare Will Cover Costs for Over-The-Counter Covid-19 Tests
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FEBRUARY 03, 2022—Senators Brown, Wyden Release Joint Statement Following Vote for Independent Union by General Motors Workers in Silao, Mexico
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FEBRUARY 03, 2022—Brown, Colleagues Raise Concerns About Lack of Oversight to Prevent Veteran Suicide
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FEBRUARY 03, 2022—Brown, Colleagues Unanimously Pass Bill Out of Committee to Provide Health Care for Post-9/11 Toxic-Exposed Veterans
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FEBRUARY 02, 2022 — Brown Hosts College Leadership Summit in Columbus
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FEBRUARY 02, 2022 — Brown Announces More Than $120,000 In AmeriCorps Seniors Volunteers Awards to Serve Counties in Northeast Ohio
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FEBRUARY 02, 2022 — Brown Announces Nearly $600,000 In AmeriCorps Seniors Volunteers Awards to Serve Counties in Southwest Ohio
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FEBRUARY 02, 2022 — Brown Announces $225,000 In AmeriCorps Seniors Volunteers Awards to Serve Counties in Southeast Ohio
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FEBRUARY 02, 2022 — Brown Pressing to Pass Bill to Address Global Semiconductor Shortage
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FEBRUARY 02, 2022 — Brown Announces Reverend Dr. Carl Wallace to Sit on USDA’s Inaugural Federal Advisory Committee on Urban Agriculture
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FEBRUARY 02, 2022 — Brown, Colleagues Urge the Navy to Address Maintenance Backlogs at the Navy’s Four Government-Operated Naval Shipyards
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FEBRUARY 02, 2022 — Brown, Portman Praise Confirmation of U.S. Federal District Court Judges for the Northern District of Ohio
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FEBRUARY 01, 2022 — Brown Statement on Sale of Facebook’s Stablecoin Diem
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FEBRUARY 01, 2022 — Brown Honors the Life of Pension Rights Center Founder Karen Ferguson In Congressional Record
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FEBRUARY 01, 2022 — Brown Announces More Than $256 Million Investment to Create Jobs Cleaning Up Orphaned Oil, Gas Wells
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JANUARY 31, 2022 — Brown on The Senate Floor: Confirm These Historic Nominees to Serve the Northern District of Ohio
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JANUARY 31, 2022 — Brown Joins White House, GE Aviation to Announce $6.8 Billion GE Aviation Sale to Qatar Airways
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JANUARY 31, 2022 — Brown Announces New Acting Chief of Staff
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Princeton Business & Community Events |
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7 Ways to Start the Year off Right. Register now for upcoming FMCS Institute courses! |
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Training for the real-world challenges of labor-management relations and organizational change.
Don't wait! The FMCS Institute's 2022 courses will provide you with the opportunity to expand your conflict resolution and organizational change toolkit by introducing a diverse lineup of targeted and hands-on programs brought to you by experienced instructors and practitioners. Register today for some of our most in-demand courses.
Funny You Should Ask - The Art of Inquiry (Online) February 2, 9, and 16
Negotiation Skills (Online) Spring 2022
Negotiation Skills (Online) Summer 2022
Arbitrating in the Federal Sector (Online) Spring 2022
Arbitrating in the Federal Sector (Online) Summer 2022
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It's ON, Cincy! Enter to WIN a piece of Bengals Football History & Fight Hunger! |
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Our very own Cincinnati Bengals are going to the Big Game!
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33 Years! That is how long the Bengals have been playing their hearts out each season for the moment they return to the Big Game! And last Sunday, they made it!
We are over the moon here at Freestore Foodbank celebrating with pride for this HUGE accomplishment of our very own team! And so...the raffle is officially ON!
We are holding a Raffle to Fight Hunger to make our own little bit of history for this momentous occasion while helping to fight hunger for our 1 in 7 food-insecure neighbors in the tristate area.
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Here are more details on the raffle entry:
We start with the minimum gift of $33 for a single entry, for the 33 years Bengals Fans have cheered and supported their team to make it to the Big Game!
OR you can represent with a tribute to Cincinnati Bengals Defensive End #94 Sam Hubbard and go for 4 entries for $94!
The more you give, the more chances you have to win a genuine piece of Bengals 2022 history, while also helping end hunger with Freestore Foodbank! Every gift made will not only represent your entry in our raffle, but will also provide warm and nutritious meals to hungry neighbors in our community this very weekend.
WHO DEY think gonna beat dem Bengals? NOOOOooooobody!!!
Together, let’s make a touchdown + help END hunger!
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Entries can be made up until 11:59 PM Thursday, February 10. Winners will be announced Friday, February 11 at 10 AM on our social media. Winners will be contacted by phone to make arrangements via mail, pickup (at our location), or delivery (local deliveries only) — just in time for the BIG GAME Sunday!
Thank you for your support and good luck in the raffle!
With gratitude,
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Kurt L. Reiber
President & CEO
Freestore Foodbank
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Ohio Vaccination Dashboard
The COVID-19 Vaccination Dashboard displays the most recent data reported to the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) regarding the number of individuals that have started and completed the COVID-19 vaccination series by various demographics and county of residence.
The COVID-19 Vaccination Dashboard displays the most recent data reported to the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) regarding the number of individuals that have started and completed the COVID-19 vaccination series by various demographics and county of residence. “Vaccination started” indicates that the individual has received at least one valid dose of COVID-19 vaccine. The number listed as “vaccination completed” is a subset of the number included in “vaccination started,” indicating that those individuals within that group have received all recommended COVID-19 vaccine doses and are considered fully immunized. ODH is making COVID-19 data available for public review while also protecting privacy. This dashboard will be updated daily. Please see footnotes below for more details.
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Ohio COVID-19 Dashboard
Overview
ODH is making COVID-19 data available for public review while also protecting patient privacy.
The State of Ohio COVID-19 Dashboard displays the most recent preliminary data reported to the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) about cases, hospitalizations and deaths in Ohio by selected demographics and county of residence. Data for cases and hospitalizations is reported to ODH via the Ohio Disease Reporting System (ODRS), and verified mortality data is reported via the Electronic Death Registration System (EDRS).
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Below are the current reporting trends from Friday, January 21 for key indicators calculated from data reported to the Ohio Department of Health. These trends are updated daily and are presented by report date.
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Below is a snapshot of key metrics pulled Friday, February 4, 2022 from daily data reporting to the Ohio Department of Health. These metrics are updated daily. |
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Hamilton County
Cases
182,296
Hospitalizations
5,527
Deaths
1,816
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Clermont County
Cases
49,607
Hospitalizations
1,331
Deaths
469
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Brown County
Cases
10,816
Hospitalizations
98
Deaths
149
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Butler County
Cases
87,660
Hospitalizations
2,989
Deaths
1,005
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Warren County
Cases
55,916
Hospitalizations
1,268
Deaths
508
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Other News For and About Working People: |
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Cincinnati AFL-CIO
Labor Council
Executive Secretary-Treasurer
Communications & Administrative Associate
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