All posts tagged Union

White House ceremony highlights Butch Lewis Act

Flanked by union members whose pensions will be preserved, not destroyed, President Joe Biden touted The Butch Lewis Act that will keep pensions flowing to retirees and their families through 2051.

Part of Biden’s American Rescue Act, the Butch Lewis Act provides long-term aid to some 200 financially troubled multi-employer pension plans that never recovered from the 2008 Recession.

Between 2 million and 3 million workers were at risk, including members of the building trades. Continue reading →

Gallup Poll Reveals Union Support Highest Since 1965

Posted by / August 31, 2022 / Categories: News / Tags: , / 0 Comments

Public support for unions has hit its highest point since 1965, according to the Gallup Organization’s annual poll, as respondents approve of unions by a 71 percent to 26 percent margin, with the rest undecided.

That ties the 1965 figure of 71 percent support, Gallup reported, adding that 19 percent of the public opposed unions that same year, with the rest undecided. The poll started in 1936, with the highest union support recorded at 75 percent a few times in the 1950s. Continue reading →

Non-Union Workers Hurt More by Pandemic than Union Workers

Posted by / April 1, 2021 / Categories: News / Tags: , , , / 0 Comments

While COVID-19 eliminated millions of jobs and forced additional layoffs last year, an annual report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics found fewer union members lost their jobs in 2020 compared to non-union workers.

The pandemic hit the job market extremely hard, with a large number of both union and non-union members getting laid off. Union members, however, fared slightly better, the study found.

From a nationwide perspective, the overall union membership rate increased last year, despite declines in the number of actual union members. The rate increase indicates a larger decline in total wage and salary employment among non-union workers compared to union members. Continue reading →

Second-Year Apprentices Complete COMET Training

Second-year Sheet Metal Workers Local 24 apprentices recently completed COMET training to help them better understand the role organizing plays in helping grow our union.

Construction Organizing Membership Education Training (COMET) was created in the mid-90s by what was then known as the Building and Construction Trades Department (BCTD), now called North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU). The BCTD noticed an alarming trend as the number of building trades unions and affiliated members were both in rapid decline. Continue reading →