The U.S. Labor Department has announced comprehensive updates to the Davis-Bacon Act that will raise pay for many construction workers (including millwrights), help ensure prevailing wages keep pace with actual wages, expand coverage to modern energy projects, beef up enforcement, and protect workers from retaliation.
Two new laws that expand protections for pregnant and nursing workers are now in effect. The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations and the PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act increases protections for those who need private lactation spaces.
SSMRC leaders successfully advocated for our members on two fronts recently during meetings with a U.S. senator from Georgia and a Florida district secretary of transportation. “The bipartisan relationships we’ve built here in the South help us get a lot accomplished,” said Rick Halford, political director for the SSMRC.
During the Trump administration, the National Labor Relations Board tried to hurt our unions and members by claiming construction workers and others, like millwrights, who do irregular work are not employees but small businesses, or independent contractors.
Workers in Alabama will have a temporary reprieve from state income taxes on overtime pay in 2024 and part of 2025, thanks to a bill the governor signed into law June 9. The Southern States Millwrights supports this action, and the legislation had unanimous, bipartisan support.
With the weather heating up, it’s important to know your rights regarding working in hot temperatures. Let your supervisor, job steward or business agent know if you have any jobsite health and safety concerns, including those related to extreme heat.
Tax fraud hurts everyone – workers, including our members, and their families, law-abiding contractors, communities, school children, veterans, and all taxpayers. That’s why we unite with the UBC and other regional during Tax Fraud Days of Action every year.
Marty Walsh, a former union member, has led the U.S. Labor Department with policies and initiatives for strengthening workers’ rights, unions, and union apprenticeships. The nominee to be his successor is equally qualified and just as committed to defending working people’s rights and holding corporations accountable under the law.
Union millwrights are already working on a $2.5 billion expansion announced yesterday of solar-panel manufacturing facilities in northwest Georgia. Those millwrights and others will be needed at the Dalton factory during the next year, and opportunities for SSMRC members to work at a similar factory in Cartersville, Georgia, are likely, said Robert Strickland, business agent for Millwright Local 1263, which covers Georgia and the Carolinas.
SSMRC Political Director Rick Halford will be among the speakers at an event aimed at highlighting ways unions and collective action by workers can alleviate the most pressing problems facing northwest Arkansas residents. The Northwest Arkansas Labor Council and the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville Education Association/Local 965 will host the Northwest Arkansas Labor Spring Teach-In…
SSMRC leaders networked with elected officials, contractors, and manufacturers at the 2023 Auto Focus Summit hosted by our training center in Charlotte, North Carolina, March 1-2. The Southern States Automotive Contractors Association, an organization the SSMRC was instrumental in creating, held the event.
The SSMRC is part of a committee that is working to make sure union members – and particularly our millwrights – gain substantial job opportunities through programs that will funnel billions of dollars into infrastructure, technology, and clean-energy projects during the next decade.
A bill in the Tennessee Legislature would micro-manage how votes for union representation are conducted at private businesses. The bill would make a secret-ballot election the only option for forming a union for employees who work for an employer who has received economic incentives from the state of Tennessee.
The Arkansas House of Representatives approved a bill Feb. 22 that would eliminate work permits that require children under 16 to provide proof of age, job and work-schedule descriptions, and parental consent to the state Labor Department. The Arkansas Senate is expected to consider a companion bill next week.
Childcare expenses account for 8% to 19% of family income per child and present barriers to employment for many parents, according to a new, county-level database of childcare prices the U.S. Labor Department released in January.
Political leaders are paying attention to union and worker issues. During the 2023 State of the Union Address, the president talked about unions, the creation of jobs with fair wages and benefits, and investing in the middle class. If you missed it, check out these highlights.
The percentages of women and Black and Latino workers signing up for union-affiliated registered apprenticeships are significantly higher than the percentages of those workers joining non-union apprenticeships, according to a study by the independent Institute for Construction Economics Research.
President Biden announced on Dec. 8 the release of $36 billion to prevent drastic cuts to the pensions of more than 350,000 union workers and retirees. Funded by the American Rescue Plan’s Special Financial Assistance Program, this is the largest award of federal financial support for worker and retiree pension security.
The 2022 mid-term elections are in the history books. If you voted, great! You have exercised your right. If you did not vote, there is 2024. If you’re not registered, you have time to fill out your registration card.
Congress has approved the first funding increase for the federal labor board since 2014, averting a budget crisis but falling short of what’s needed given a dramatic rise in unionization and unfair-labor-practice charges.