APRIL 15
1912 – Eight members of the Musicians union die in the sinking of the Titanic. According to survivors, they played their instruments until nearly the end.
1915 – IWW union Agricultural Workers Organization formed in Kansas City, Mo.
1916 – Teacher unionists gather at the City Club on Plymouth Court in Chicago to form a new national union: the American...
National Labor News
Selling out U.S. steelworkers, shareholders approve sale of U.S. Steel to Nippon
By ELIZABETH DONALD
Illinois Correspondent
The national steelworkers union is accusing Nippon Steel of prioritizing its Japanese operations at the expense of U.S. workers even as U.S. Steel shareholders voted Friday to approve the sale of the iconic steel company.
United Steelworkers issued a statement Wednesday calling out Nippon for seeking to lift tariffs on Japanese tin mill products while United Steel...
April 8
1911 – A total of 128 convict miners, leased to a coal company under the state’s shameful convict lease system, are killed in an explosion at the Banner coal mine outside Birmingham, Ala. The miners were mostly African-Americans jailed for minor offenses.
1918 – President Wilson establishes the War Labor Board, composed of representatives from business and Labor, to...
By TIM ROWDEN
Editor-in-Chief
St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell has a rich family history with unions and growing support from Labor as he campaigns to unseat incumbent Congresswoman Cori Bush for Missouri’s 1st Congressional District in the Democratic primary election Aug. 6.
Bell’s father was a police officer. His uncle was a member of UFCW Local 655 at Kroger, and later...
By TIM ROWDEN
Editor-in-Chief
St. Louis – Midas Hospitality’s request for tax incentives for its planned development of the former Wells Fargo campus in St. Louis’ Midtown neighborhood was nixed by an aldermanic board March 26, potentially killing the project, for now.
The vote followed a hearing of the City’s Housing, Urban Development and Zoning (HUDZ) Committee at which UNITE HERE Local...
Painters District Council 58
Painters union, Herculaneum at odds over $1 million water tower project
Non-union, out-of-state contractor hired to paint, maintain two cisterns
By SHERI GASSAWAY
Assistant Editor
Herculaneum, MO – Painters District Council 58 is calling out the city of Herculaneum in Jefferson County for issuing a $1 million, no-bid contract to a non-union, out-of-state contractor to paint and maintain two of the city’s three water towers in violation of its own protocol to put...
By BENJAMIN SACHS
Boston (PAI) – The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), which unites business lobbyists and executives with state lawmakers and officials to craft deregulatory statutes – including Labor rights curbs – is promoting a model statute that conditions a corporation’s eligibility for any state “economic development incentives” on the corporation’s agreement not to respect the results of a...
By DAVID COOK
President
UFCW Local 655
I don’t normally directly address comments made by a candidate or politician unless they are in specific reference to the Labor Movement, but something was said this past weekend that must be commented on, and we should discuss how it does impact your workplace.
At a rally on March 15, former president Donald Trump said that...
Politics
Laborers denounce Mo. Sens. Hawley, Schmitt for putting political games before working families’ needs
Wentzville, MO – The Missouri-Kansas Laborers’ District Council is deeply disappointed by the decisions of Senators Josh Hawley and Eric Schmitt to refuse to participate in the earmark process to fund community projects, resulting in a significant shortfall in infrastructure funding for Missouri for fiscal year 2024.
In a recently signed budget package, $468 billion of funding was allocated to infrastructure...
By SHERI GASSAWAY
Assistant Editor
Wentzville, MO – Laborers Local 660 will soon be moving into a brand new union hall here at 1320 S. Callahan Road.
The current union hall, which is about 6,000 square feet, is located at 2633 West Clay St. in St. Charles. The new hall, currently under construction, will be more than twice that size at 15,000 square...