It’s Worker Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024.

The heads of several unions spoke on Monday, the first night of the Democratic National Convention, which continues through tomorrow in Chicago.

Showing up to praise the Biden-Harris administration, and denounce how Trump treated working Americans, were:

Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO, an umbrella of unions;
Lee Saunders of the municipal employees’ AFSCME;
Brent Booker of the LIUNA laborers’ union;
Kenneth Cooper of the IBEW electrical workers’ union;
Claude Cummings, Jr. from the Communication Workers of America;
April Verrett, president of the healthcare workers’ SEIU; and
Shawn Fain, president of the United Auto Workers (who showed up in a “Trump is a Scab, Vote Harris” t-shirt).

Shawn Fain, president of the United Automobile Workers, speaks during the Democratic National Convention Monday, Aug. 19, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Noticeably absent was Teamsters leader Sean O’Brien, who spoke at the Republican convention in Milwaukee and wanted to give a full speech to Democrats in Chicago, rather than share the stage for brief remarks with the other union leaders. (The Teamsters have still not endorsed a candidate in the presidential race, a move that has rankled many of the union’s 1.3 million members—including the Teamsters National Black Caucus, which endorsed Harris.)

“Four years ago,” said AFSCME leader Saunders, “we faced a pandemic and a recession with a president who didn’t care one bit about what working people were going through.”

“While Trump made empty promises,” said LIUNA’s Booker, the Biden-Harris administration delivered. “Thanks to them, our members can buy a home, put their kids through school, and retire with dignity.”

Union heads acknowledged it’s still tough for workers.

Fain, of the UAW, particularly came for corporate greed. “It causes inflation,” he said. “It hurts workers. It hurts consumers. And it hurts Americans.”

But the AFL-CIO’s Shuler said that’s what separated Trump’s vision, which she said was “a CEO’s dream,” from Harris, which Shuler said “is an opportunity economy, where we lower the cost of groceries, prescriptions, and housing.”

Get the full story here.

At last week’s AFSCME convention, Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz compared Kamala Harris’ time spent working at McDonalds, with Donald Trump: “Can you simply picture Donald Trump working at a McDonald’s, trying to make a McFlurry or something?” Walz asked.

Is it something like: he would tell you how great he was at making McFlurries, then never actually make you one, then refuse to take responsibility?

Oh, and last week Trump told Elon Musk that companies should illegally fire striking workers, which actually got him in trouble!

But beyond the spectacle of campaigning, working Iowans need real policy changes to better our lives.

That’s my question for you this week: What working-class policies should the candidates be focused on? I’ll print your answers Friday.

Amie Rivers

Community Editor, Iowa Starting Line

Email me

Working class news you can use:

(AP Photo)

Railroad Safety bill advancing: HR 8996 would fix several things rail unions have been advocating for since the almost-strike in 2022. But the biggest win in the bill for Christopher Smith with rail union SMART-TD? “Two person crew legislation is huge,” he told me. And Smith is lobbying for more rail safety in the Iowa Legislature come January, including a bill that would limit train length.
John Deere got $19 million from the state of Iowa in 2023, the largest recipient of a tax break from a 1984 law called the “research activities tax credit.” Even Iowans for Tax Relief (which wants corporations to pay less in taxes) thinks a company that made more than $10.6 billion in 2023 and is actively laying off workers and moving production to Mexico doesn’t need that money.
Another rural Iowa nursing home closes: ABCM Corporation is closing Morning Sun Care Center in Southeast Iowa’s Morning Sun, laying off 68 workers by Oct. 2 and leaving around 50 residents and their families in the lurch.
Southwestern Iowa plastics plant closes: Myers Industries in Atlantic will close, move production to Indiana, and lay off 60 workers by Dec. 15.
A union for renters? With illegal lockouts—when your landlord locks you out of your home without notice—on the rise across the country, a new movement organizing tenants has sprung up. And now, there’s enough of those unions that a new federation of them, the Tenant Union Federation, hopes to help folks bargain for tenant protections and “wield power at a massive scale.”
CEO pay is up again: That’s according to a new report from the AFL-CIO, which shows average CEO pay was up 6% in 2023 over 2022 (did you get a 6% raise in 2023?), and more than $4.2 million just 10 years ago.
What if we actually taxed the rich fairly? They’d just move to a tax-free country, right? That’s why this Brazilian economist’s plan, which calls for a global wealth tax of 2% on the 3,000 wealthiest people in the world is so intriguing.
Voting on a union:
– 140 electricians, welders, pipe fitters, and more at Quaker Manufacturing in Cedar Rapids are voting today on whether to unionize with one of several unions or joint unions.
– 33 drivers and other workers at Iowa Beverage Systems in Des Moines will vote Thursday on whether to unionize with Teamsters Local 90.
Iowa layoffs coming up:
– Tyson Foods in Perry is still closing up shop: 32 workers will be laid off by Saturday, and the remaining five workers by Sept. 28.
– Wells Fargo in West Des Moines is laying off 10 workers by Sunday, 24 workers by Sept. 11, 12 workers by Sept. 23, and three workers by Oct. 6.
– John Deere Davenport Works is laying off 211 workers by Aug. 30.
– John Deere Dubuque Works is laying off 99 workers by Aug. 30.
– Smithfield Packaged Meats in Altoona is closing and laying off 319 workers by Aug. 30. Read more about that here.
– Danfoss Power Solutions in Ames is laying off 40 workers by Aug. 31.
– Amcor in Des Moines is laying off nine workers by Sept. 1.
– Winnebago Industries in Charles City is closing (the smaller of its two locations there) and laying off 36 workers by Sept. 1. Read more about that here.
– John Deere Waterloo Works is laying off 191 workers at its East Donald Street site, 89 workers at its Commercial Street site, and 65 workers at its West Ridgeway Avenue site, all by Sept. 20.

Before you punch out 🍿

(Netflix screenshot)

In my never-ending quest to get better at my job, I’ve been reading and watching labor/working-class stuff. So I thought I’d occasionally share what I’ve learned!

“American Factory” is a 2019 documentary on Netflix that got on my radar after it won an Oscar in 2020. It’s about the auto glass workers at a GM plant in Ohio who lost their jobs in 2008, and how a Chinese billionaire bought and reopened the factory in 2018 as Fuyao Glass America.

Cultures clashed, but Fuyao was touted as saving jobs, as well as saving the manufacturing town from being hollowed out like countless others across the Midwest.

Or, that’s what filmmakers thought they’d be documenting.

As worker returned, their new CEO called them “not efficient” and in need of constant retraining. He ignored safety and environmental laws. And—when workers tried to unionize to advocate for themselves—he did everything he could to stop the union, including some likely illegal tactics. (The company settled with three workers in 2019.)

I won’t spoil the ending. But if you’ve ever wondered how and why folks get to the point of putting their livelihoods on the line for a better life, this is a great watch.

(Send me your book/movie/article suggestions here.)