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Following are the St. Louis Labor Council COPE endorsements for the March 2 and April 6 elections based on recommendations from area Labor Clubs and approved by Labor Council delegates on Feb. 16, 2021. Incumbents are marked with an asterisk (*).
MARCH 2 ELECTION
ST. LOUIS CITY LABOR CLUB
City of St. Louis
Mayor’s race – OPEN
(Vote for any or all)
Lewis Reed
...
Charles T. Pelo, a second-generation and 30-year member of Iron Workers Local 392, died Jan. 30, 2021 at Mercy Hospital South. He was 77.
Brother Pelo, of Edwardsville, Ill., was a recovered alcoholic who was sober for 46 years and participated in many local Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and organizations. Through the program, he helped numerous fellow alcoholics get and stay...
National Labor News
Stacey Abrams: Amazon workers “deserve the dignity and well-being that a union can help provide”
https://twitter.com/staceyabrams/status/1363282664384520193?s=20
UFCW 655
UFCW 655 files unfair labor charges against MERS Goodwill for withholding raises to union members
Retaliating against workers who voted to join union, MERS gave raise to all employees but them
By ED FINKELSTEIN
Publisher
UFCW Local 655 has filed unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board against MERS Goodwill for their failing to give a scheduled raise to two dozen employees at their now-unionized Festus store while providing the increase to every other...
Thousands of jobs in the trucking industry
By TIM ROWDEN
Managing Editor
Even as TC Energy, the main contractor on the Keystone XL project, debunked misinformation that President Joe Biden revocation of the permit of the Keystone XL pipeline would eliminate a grossly exaggerated 11,000 union jobs, the true cost and impact of the project on existing jobs remained unclear.
TC Energy’s president...
President Joe Biden has proposed raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025. The increase is long overdue – the federal minimum wage has not gone up since 2009. But there’s a lot of misinformation circulating about its perceived impact.
The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) estimates raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour would lift the...
If we are in true solidarity with everyone in our movement, we all win
By APRIL SIMS
Secretary-Treasurer
Washington State Labor Council
Black History Month has offered us the opportunity to lift up the significant role Black Americans have played in this country from before its founding. This is a complex history, both painful and joyful, but one that is important to honor....
Opinions
OPINION: Louis DeJoy is plotting more moves to destroy the Postal Service — he must be stopped
By JOAN McCARTER
The U.S. Postal Service (USPS), still reeling from Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s sabotage to help the Trump campaign; the spread of COVID-19; and the huge increase in mail because of the pandemic, was able to deliver just 71 percent of first class mail on time by the end of last year, as opposed to 92 percent in...
Elevator Constructors Local 3
John Orr found the college grind wasn’t for him; turns out a union career was
Recently retired Elevator Constructors Local 3 business manager reflects on a rewarding career
By MARY ANN O'TOOLE HOLLEY
Correspondent
If you know recently retired Elevator Constructors Local 3 Business Manager John Orr, you may not know that his long-held desire is to walk the 500-mile trek of the Camino de Santiago, an ancient route stretching across Europe, coming together in northwest Spain.
With...
Events
Madison County Federation of Labor will meet in-person Feb. 25 for elections, scholarship contest
East Alton, IL – The Greater Madison County Federation of Labor will resume in-person meetings – carefully – on Thursday, Feb. 25, just in time to take nominations for officers and begin working on the Federation’s annual scholarship essay competition.
“We’re going to mask up, and we’re going to try to stay apart,” said Federation President Dean Webb, noting that...