Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, LABOR NEWS—SEIU rejoins AFL-CIO, Longshoremen’s Association inks deal, (Jan 10, 2025)
Organizations Mentioned:AFL-CIO | Service Employees International Union
By Brandi O. Brown, J.D.
"Workers know it’s better in a union, and together we are stronger in our organizing and bargaining fights because there is power in unity,” said AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler.
This week has been a big one for organized labor, with the SEIU rejoining the AFL-CIO and the Longshoremen’s Association reaching a tentative agreement with the U.S. Maritime Alliance.
ILA and USMX reach agreement. On Wednesday, the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) and the U.S. Maritime Alliance (USMX) announced they had reached a tentative agreement on a six-year master contract, averting further work stoppage as was experienced in October 2024. The details have not been released, but the parties jointly stated: “This agreement protects current ILA jobs and establishes a framework for implementing technologies that will create more jobs while modernizing East and Gulf coasts ports – making them safer and more efficient, and creating the capacity they need to keep our supply chains strong.” They added, as well, that it is a “win-win agreement that creates ILA jobs, supports American consumers and businesses, and keeps the American economy the key hub of the global marketplace.”
SEIU rejoins AFL-CIO. Also on Wednesday, the AFL-CIO and the Service Employees International Union (SEOU) announced that they are reuniting, bringing the total joint membership up to 15 million.
"Workers know it’s better in a union, and together we are stronger in our organizing and bargaining fights because there is power in unity,” said AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler. “CEOs and billionaires want nothing more than to see workers divided, but we're standing here today with greater solidarity than ever to reach the 60 million Americans who say they’d join a union tomorrow if the laws allowed and to unrig our labor laws to guarantee every worker in America the basic right to organize on the job.”
“We are amassing our forces, building our strength and our power before the inauguration,” Shuler also reportedly said of the move. “Working people will continue to demand that our voices be heard.”
“SEIU members are ready to unleash a new era of worker power, as millions of service and care workers unite with workers at the AFL-CIO to build our unions in every industry and every ZIP code,” said SEIU International President April Verrett.
Strengthen and expand. According to the unions, jointly they plan to advocate for new rules to strengthen the right to organize and collectively bargain and expand those rights to currently un-covered workers; hold elected leaders accountable to ensure that all workers can have good union jobs that pay enough to live, with accessible, affordable, quality health care, and the ability to retire with dignity; demand leaders take action to write more inclusive and stronger labor laws, raise wages, and ensure public dollars go toward creating good union jobs; and support the efforts of workers to challenge union-busting corporations and drive multi-union, multi-sector organizing campaigns, among other things.
Speaking of the unions reuniting, President Joe Biden stated, “Their affiliation will help workers across the country to organize, earn higher wages, receive better benefits and build retirement security.”
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