REI Employees Unionize Amidst Allegations of Company Interference

 By Hadeel Hashem
• BNNBLOOMBERG

In an escalating conflict with its workforce, member-owned cooperative REI finds itself in the crosshairs of unionization efforts. Employees at multiple locations have cast their vote to join the union, thereby challenging the company’s position. However, they face allegations of obstruction from the company, a charge that casts a shadow on the cooperative’s reputation.

Accusations of Anti-Union Tactics

REI, a renowned retailer in the camping and outdoor sports equipment industry, has been alleged to have violated U.S. labor law at eight retail stores since their unionization last year. Workers from New York, California, Chicago, and Boston have lodged a total of 80 complaints with the U.S. National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), seeking to compel the company to negotiate with their respective unions. The complaints assert that REI has retaliated against pro-union workers, restructured job roles, and altered working conditions, all without union consultation. Furthermore, the company is accused of stalling the bargaining process with unions that have emerged victorious in elections at the stores.

Resistance Against Unionization

During a mandatory meeting at a Manhattan REI store last year, a manager highlighted what he termed ‘serious red flags’ regarding the union’s intent to organize the company’s workforce. Notably, the manager pointed out a decline in union membership and revenue. He compared these statistics unfavorably to REI’s significant contributions to social impact, such as their $6.3 million donation to nonprofit partners in 2021. However, some employees view the union as a social impact organization in its own right, believing their unionization efforts align with REI’s values.
Unionized Workers Stand Firm

Despite these challenges, unionized workers remain steadfast in their pursuit of fair treatment and respect. They have lodged nationwide unfair labor practice charges against REI, alleging bad faith bargaining practices, unilateral changes in the workplace, and a pattern of anti-union behavior. These charges, filed with regional NLRB offices, reflect the workers’ commitment to their cause and their determination to challenge the company’s alleged opposition to their unionization efforts.

REI fostered a progressive reputation. Then its workers began to unionize

Alina Selyukh

NPR
July 6, 2023




A pedestrian walks by REI's flagship store in New York, where last year workers formed the company's first union.Spencer Platt/Getty Images

A position at REI was the first and only retail job Claire Chang says she ever considered taking.

A shopping mecca for outdoor enthusiasts, the retailer had cultivated a progressive reputation: promoting sustainability, famously closing on Black Friday to encourage people to play outside, giving workers a paid four-week sabbatical after 15 years and running as a co-op co-owned by its shoppers.

"I mean, we all started working at REI because of its values," says Chang, a visual presentation specialist who has been at the flagship store in New York's SoHo neighborhood for five years.

Now, she and hundreds of other REI workers find themselves at odds with their employer over their efforts to unionize.

After health and safety worries during the COVID-19 pandemic, followed by furloughs and job cuts, Chang's team in SoHo became REI's first union shop in March 2022, in a landslide vote of 88 to 14.

"Despite being a large corporation, we had hopes that REI would be a different type of company, like they say they are," Chang says. "So we were hopeful that they would voluntarily recognize the union and, you know, meet us at the table and negotiate in good faith."

REI did not voluntarily recognize the union.

BUSINESS
Labor's labors lost? A year after stunning victory at Amazon, unions are stalled

Since the SoHo store's vote, seven more stores across the U.S. have unionized; a ninth vote remains too close to call.

Pro-union workers have formally accused the company of breaking labor laws — threatening and intimidating workers, disciplining and firing organizers — which REI denies. More than a year into it, workers and the company are nowhere close to a collective bargaining contract.
Workers push for steady hours and financial stability

REI leaders argue that negotiating with a union would hinder the company's ability to "resolve concerns at the speed the world is moving," as CEO Eric Artz said on a corporate podcast recorded last year before the first union victory.

REI did not make Artz available for an interview but sent NPR a statement instead.

"We respect our employees' rights under the law, including the right to choose whether to be represented by a union," it said. "However, we do not feel a union is necessary for our employees, who enjoy industry-leading wages and benefits, along with multiple outlets through which to provide input to co-op leadership."

REI says it has more than 16,000 employees in 181 stores. In addition to New York, workers have unionized in Berkeley, Calif., Cleveland, Chicago, Boston, Durham, N.C., Maple Grove, Minn., and Bellingham, Wash. They've joined the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union or its affiliate, the United Food and Commercial Workers Union.

"We would like essentially a living wage and good hours," says Jezzi Reynolds, who has been a sales associate in the Bellingham store for just over a year.



A shopper walks through REI's store in Seattle in 2018.Elaine Thompson/AP

REI often pays above $15 an hour; shortly after the first union win in SoHo, the chain raised wages nationwide, adding around $1 to $3 per hour for many. But workers say soon a lot of them saw their assigned hours cut. They describe schedules so inconsistent that a part-timer might get 14 hours one week, then 24 hours the next and four the following.

Reynolds and fellow pro-union workers advocate for guaranteed minimum hours and financial stability. Other organizers also mention higher pay as well as grievance and arbitration procedures.

"It got to the point where the workers said, 'You know what — we're going to practice your values for you because you're not living up to them,'" Dave Hein, who works at the Cleveland REI bike shop, said at a news conference in June. "And that is what we're going to put in a contract."

A version of this has played out at other companies that have spent decades building a progressive image as a generous employer. At Trader Joe's, workers have clashed over the pluses and minuses of a union. At Starbucks, the chain's anti-union fight is now a prominent plotline in its American story.

"The idea that a firm that purports to be progressive and sustainable plays hardball with its workers on economic issues, when it's actually doing pretty well, I think it makes it hard to keep that message," says Denise Rousseau, professor of organizational behavior at Carnegie Mellon University.

For 2022, REI reported record sales of $3.9 billion, though overall it registered a loss, in part because of what the CEO called "the largest single-year investment" in employee pay and bonuses.

Raises given, then rescinded at unionized store

When REI bumped up pay nationwide last year, it did so with one exception: the SoHo store, which was the only unionized shop at the time. The company, in its statement, argued that workers, by unionizing, chose to have "all aspects of their pay ... be negotiated at the bargaining table."

The union and the retailer struck a temporary deal: REI would give SoHo workers pay raises. The union would promise not to strike, among other things. The idea was to propel negotiations.



REI has cultivated a reputation as a progressive retailer, including by closing stores on Black Friday to encourage people to #OptOutside.Suzi Pratt/Getty Images for REI

REI, in fact, stood out among retailers with similar labor clashes for just how quickly it and the union began discussing a collective bargaining deal — unlike Starbucks or Amazon, for example, which contested the very results and proceedings of their union elections.

But over months, negotiations at REI stalled.

The union accuses the company of delays — striking out proposals without countering, dragging its feet on producing requested documents. A few bargaining sessions were canceled after REI changed law firms, hiring one that labor advocates view as a more aggressive union buster.

"The collective bargaining process is a lengthy legal one, and the timeline of our negotiations in SoHo and Berkeley is not atypical," REI representatives wrote to NPR, saying the retailer was "engaged in good-faith bargaining" and "will continue to participate fully in the negotiating process."

In June, the union's temporary deal with the company expired. SoHo workers refused to renew it, reclaiming their right to strike. REI then rescinded their raises, reducing their pay.

You may have heard of the 'union boom.' The numbers tell a different story

"It hit a lot of people pretty hard," Chang says of the pay cuts for her SoHo team. "You know, I am pretty much living paycheck to paycheck — a lot of my co-workers are."

The National Labor Relations Board is reviewing more than two dozen claims of unfair labor practices against REI, including claims about its handling of the wage increases and union-contract negotiations. The company says the claims are without merit.

"It is disappointing, you know, that REI has reacted in this manner and continues to double down," Chang says. "The truth is, people really enjoy working at REI. So we want to stay and make it better."

Editor's note: REI is among NPR's recent financial supporters.

Vote on tentative contract with General Motors too close to call as more tallies are reported


TOM KRISHER
Wed, November 15, 2023 


 United Auto Workers members walk in the Labor Day parade in Detroit, Sept. 2, 2019. The tentative contract agreement between General Motors and the United Auto Workers union appears to be headed for defeat. The union hasn’t posted final vote totals yet, but workers at five large factories who finished voting in the past few days have turned down the four year and eight month deal by fairly large margins. 

(AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)

DETROIT (AP) — Voting on a tentative contract agreement between General Motors and the United Auto Workers union that ended a six-week strike against the company appears too close to call after the latest tallies at several GM factories were announced Wednesday.

The union hasn't posted final vote totals yet, but workers at five large factories who finished voting in the past few days have turned down the four year and eight month deal by fairly large margins. However a factory in Arlington, Texas, with about 5,000 workers voted more than 60% to approve the deal in tallies announced Wednesday.

The vote tracker on the UAW's website shows the deal winning by 686 votes. But those totals do not include votes from GM assembly plants in Fort Wayne, Indiana; Wentzville, Missouri; Lansing Delta Township and Lansing Grand River in Michigan, and a powertrain plant in Toledo, Ohio, which all voted against the agreement, according to local union officials.

In most cases the vote tallies ranged from 55% to around 60% against the contract.

But in Arlington, production workers voted 60.4% in favor and nearly 65% of skilled trades workers approved the deal, making the tally tight.

Spokesmen for both the union and General Motors declined comment while the voting continues.

It wasn't clear what would happen next, but local union officials don't expect an immediate walkout if the contract is voted down.

Voting continues at Ford, where the deal is passing with 66.1% voting in favor so far with only a few large factories still counting.

The contract was passing overwhelmingly in early voting at Jeep maker Stellantis. The union's vote tracker shows that 79.7% voted in favor with many large factories yet to finish.

Local union officials say longtime workers at GM were unhappy that they didn’t get larger pay raises like newer workers, and they wanted a larger pension increase. Newer hires wanted a defined benefit pension plan instead of the 401(K) defined contribution plan that they now receive.

Tony Totty, president of the union local at the Toledo powertrain plant, said the environment is right to seek more from the company. “We need to take advantage of the moment,” he said. “Who knows what the next environment will be for national agreements. The company never has a problem telling us we need to take concessions in bad economic times. Why should we not get the best economic agreement in good economic times?”

Thousands of UAW members joined picket lines in targeted strikes against Detroit automakers over a six-week stretch before tentative deals were reached late last month. Rather than striking at one company, the union targeted individual plants at all three automakers. At its peak last month about 46,000 of the union’s 146,000 workers at the Detroit companies were walking picket lines.

_______

UAW workers at several GM plants reject tentative contract, imperiling deal

Overall, the deal is still on track for ratification, but by a slim 52% to 48% margin.


Pras Subramanian
·Senior Reporter
Wed, November 15, 2023 

Concern is growing among execs at GM (GM), and likely leadership at the United Auto Workers (UAW) after workers at several GM plants voted to reject the tentative labor deal.

Production workers at GM’s Lansing Delta plant — UAW Local 602 — voted against the tentative deal, with 63% opposing it. However, 60% of skilled trade workers voted for the deal. Overall totals resulted in 61% against and 39% for the deal at the Delta Lansing Plant, which builds the Chevrolet Traverse, Buick Enclave, and GMC Acadia SUVs.

Per the UAW's vote tracker, GM's big Lansing plant joined other plants like Wentzville Assembly, Defiance, Romulus Engine, Bowling Green, Lansing Grand River, Pontiac Stamping, Towanda Engine, and Marion Assembly in rejecting the deal.

News of the Lansing Delta Plant workers' rejection of the deal followed GM’s Spring Hill Assembly vote tally, where UAW members voted against the deal by a 68% to 32% margin. Prior to that, workers at GM’s Flint, Mich., truck assembly plant — which builds GM’s heavy duty pickups and large SUVs — voted by a relatively small 52% to reject the deal as well.

Striking United Auto Workers (UAW) members from the General Motors Lansing Delta Plant picket in Delta Township, Mich., Sept. 29, 2023. (Rebecca Cook/REUTERS) (Rebecca Cook / reuters)

Reports suggest veteran GM UAW members are concerned that newer workers are getting more money and better retirement benefits than older workers. Other workers are unhappy about the lack of a defined pension plan that workers had before the Great Financial Crisis of 2008.

"The situation at GM is more serious as a potential threat to ratification at that company," labor expert Marick Masters, a business professor at Wayne State University's Mike Ilitch School of Business, told Yahoo Finance following rejection of the deal at GM’s Flint Assembly.

Per the UAW's GM vote tracker, the overall deal is still on track for ratification, but by a slim 52% to 48% margin. The UAW's vote tracker does not include the vote tally from Lansing Delta Township, however.
Note that a tentative contract is ratified if a majority of hourly workers (which includes production and skilled trades) who vote opt in favor of the agreement. There is no possibility of a plant-level strike or negotiation, a source told Yahoo Finance.

"If the contract is rejected at one company, the union will have several decisions to make, including whether to call out a strike, how to deal with maintaining pattern agreements, and determining what they should try to get to satisfy rank and file," Masters said.

As for the other members of the Big Three, per the UAW Ford’s (F) union workers have thus far approved the deal by a 66.1% vote, and Stellantis’s (STLA) UAW workers have voted by a 79.7% vote to approve the deal.

Pras Subramanian is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on Twitter and on Instagram.

UAW & Detroit 3 Tentative Deal Leads to Mixed Responses

Rimmi Singhi

ZACKS
Wed, November 15, 2023 


After extensive negotiations and a seven-week strike, the United Auto Workers (UAW) union reached tentative agreements with Detroit 3 automakers — General Motors GM, Ford F and Stellantis STLA. But despite achieving record contracts with the auto biggies, not all UAW members are satisfied. As of the latest updates, the agreements are being voted on by union members, with varying levels of support across different automakers.

While GM and F carry a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) each, STLA has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) currently. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
At three key GM assembly plants, representing 21% of the company's 46,000 employees covered by the UAW, the proposed contract has faced rejection. Specifically, 61% of the workforce at the Lansing Delta Township plant in Michigan, responsible for producing Buick and Chevrolet crossovers, voted against the agreement. In Spring Hill, TN, a plant manufacturing Cadillac and GMC crossovers saw even higher opposition, with 67.5% rejecting the deal. Additionally, GM's Flint, MI, truck plant reported 52% against the agreement. A few smaller GM facilities also recorded votes against the pact.

Ford has seen a similar trend, with more than 54% of members at its Kentucky Truck Plant voting against the agreement. Stellantis, on the other hand, is witnessing stronger support, with approximately 82% of members favoring the contract so far.

The discontent among the union members, especially at General Motors and Ford, stems from various factors. Long-serving employees fear they might not benefit as much as newer ones, especially regarding retirement benefits. There's also skepticism about the contract language and distrust due to past corruption scandals involving former union leaders. Additionally, inflated expectations set by UAW President Shawn Fain regarding significant wage increases and the elimination of employment "tiers" have raised dissatisfaction.

The UAW's tentative agreements have indeed made notable progress, including a 25% wage increase, faster progression to top wages (from eight to three years) and significant new investments, including for battery workers. However, the agreements have fallen short in several areas, such as delivering a 40% general wage increase, which the UAW had called for, and eliminating wage and benefit tiers. The agreements also failed to reduce the workweek to 32 hours and lacked comprehensive post-retirement health care and traditional pensions for all employees.

Nonetheless, the UAW has touted these deals as a substantial advancement from previous negotiations, emphasizing gains for veteran workers and steps toward achieving equal pay for equal work. Quoting Fain, “I truly believe these are record contracts and are a major victory for our movement.”

Having said that, voices from within the UAW, like Brian Keller and Timothy Orner, express concerns about various aspects of the agreements, including parts consolidation, potential layoffs, and changes in 401(k) benefits. These concerns highlight the nuanced perspectives within the union, reflecting a diversity of priorities and expectations.

The mixed reception of these agreements reflects trust issues, expectation management, and the complexities of balancing diverse worker needs. What happens next depends on the union members' votes. If they reject a company's agreement, the UAW might have to change its approach, possibly revisiting negotiations or calling more strikes. These outcomes will not only shape the UAW's future but could also influence labor practices across the industry. Following the tentative deals, automakers like Toyota, Honda, and Hyundai have raised wages, showing the UAW's wider impact on the sector. As the industry awaits the final voting results, the potential ripple effects of these agreements are a point of focus.

The UAW’s deal to end the GM strike could be in trouble

Chris Isidore
Tue, November 14, 2023 

U.A.W. President Shawn Fain speaks before President Joe Biden spoke to U.A.W. workers Thursday, Nov. 9, 2023, in Belvidere, Il.

 (AP Photo/Paul Beaty) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

A growing number of rank-and-file autoworkers are voting against the deals with Ford and General Motors, despite pay increases that could come to 30% or more during the life of the contract.

The latest setbacks for the deals came in votes at two GM plants, a truck factory in Flint, Michigan, a city known as the birthplace of the union and a Spring Hill, Tennessee plant that builds SUVs for Cadillac and GMC, which both voted no, and by Ford workers in Louisville, Kentucky, home to the company’s largest and most lucrative factories

The Spring Hill plant is the most recent to report results, and it had the greatest level of opposition to the deal. Only 32% of 2,300 members who participated in the ratification vote supported the deal.

At the Flint Truck plant, 52% of the 3,400 members voted against the deal. The votes took the overall GM vote down to only 52% voting to ratify so far.

The Ford vote in Kentucky showed 55% of the members at the Kentucky Truck plant voting against the deal. That plant went on strike with little notice on October 12, about three weeks into the strike that targeted specific plants at the company. Members at Ford’s nearby Louisville Assembly plant who belong to the same union local voted 53% in favor of the deal. The Kentucky local voted against a 2019 contract at Ford by an even larger margin and that contract passed despite its opposition.

While the ratification vote at both companies still has the support of the majority of members, neither vote is large enough at this point to assure passage, especially with some large union locals yet to weigh in.

A vote tracker on the UAW site shows that 65% of members at Ford who have voted so far approve of the deal. But that’s down from the more than 70% who had voted yes heading into the weekend.

A “no” vote at either company could lead to a resumption of the strike, perhaps with little notice. But it wouldn’t be unique, as there have been several instances in which the rank-and-file have voted against deals negotiated by their union and endorsed by its leadership.

The UAW members at Mack Truck voted down a tentative agreement with that heavy truck maker on October 8, and have been on strike ever since, although they are in the process of voting on a slightly different version of that rejected deal once again.

Spokespeople for both GM and Ford declined to comment on the ratification votes so far.

UAW President Shawn Fain has told members repeatedly that these are record contracts and wins for the members, and that the union negotiators won every last dime the companies had to offer. But he also has said the final decision on what to do is up to the rank-and-file.

While the deals give an immediate 11% pay raise to members, guaranteed wage increases totaling another 14% over the next four years and a cost-of-living adjustment that could bring wages up to more than 30% when combined with the guaranteed wages, it did not meet all of the union’s negotiating demands at the start of talks.

The union began demanding an immediate 20% raise and raises totaling 40% during the life of the contract. And it wanted a return of traditional pension plans for workers hired after 2007, who have only a 401(K) plan for their retirement, and health care coverage for retirees and their families.

When Fain and other union officials were spelling out the deals reached with the three companies on Facebook Live, comments that appeared on the feed showed many members urging other members to vote no on the deals.

Some members voicing complaints online argued that the deal didn’t do enough to help the more senior employees who had been with the companies since before 2007. Others complained about the lack of health care coverage for retirees, especially since many members retire from production jobs before they’re eligible for Medicare. And some just urged members to vote no without giving a reason.

Results are due in at other Ford locals by the the end of the this week, including the large local that represents numerous plants in the same complex in Dearborn Michigan. The votes at GM and Stellantis are likely to stretch into next week.

So far the vote at Stellantis has overwhelming support, with 82% of the members who have voted supporting the deal. So far, the only unit of the union at Stellantis to vote no is the one that represents about 300 workers at a parts distribution center in Marysville, Michigan, about an hour north of Detroit.

Autoworkers hesitate on new contracts despite 'record' pay increases

Marley Jay
Tue, November 14, 2023 

Michael Swensen

Workers at Ford, Stellantis and General Motors are weighing in on the new contracts proposed by their union and the Big Three — and more than a few of them seem unsatisfied with what they're being offered.

According to a document submitted to the NBC affiliate WSMV-TV in Nashville, workers at GM's Spring Hill Manufacturing plant rejected the contract this week. The document showed that about 72% of production workers and 56% of skilled trade workers opposed the deal.

A majority of employees at UAW Local 602 in Lansing, Michigan, also reportedly voted against the contract this week.

Those are some of the latest GM employees who have said no to the contract after the six-week strike.

The UAW's "ratification trackers," which are updated hourly, show that almost 16,000 GM employees have voted on the contract so far, and they're backing the deal by a narrow margin of 52% to 48%.

The proposed contracts were negotiated after members of the UAW went on strike on Sept. 15. If majorities at each automaker approve, the pacts will last through April 30, 2028. Union members will get an 11% initial wage increase and a total pay increase of 25% over the course of the 4½ year deal. The new contracts also reinstate cost-of-living adjustments, let workers reach top wages in three years instead of eight, and protect their right to strike over plant closures.

Both the United Auto Workers and the carmakers described the deals as "record" contracts based on those pay increases. The union also said that members were regaining some of the benefits they agreed to give up after the Great Recession to help keep the automakers alive.

Compared to GM, Ford employees seem a bit more enthusiastic. As of Tuesday afternoon, more than 25,000 votes among Ford employees had been counted and the UAW said 65.9% supported ratification.

Ford was the first of the Big Three to reach an agreement with the UAW, and its members are scheduled to finish voting on the proposed contact on Friday.

The first group of Ford employees to weigh in was Local 900 at the Michigan assembly plant, which was the first Ford plant to go on strike. The UAW said 82% of those members voted to ratify the contract, with more than 3,000 'yes' votes.

Fewer Stellantis employees have voted so far, but the UAW tracker shows that more than 80% of the 6,000 voters approved.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com

UAW strike against Big Three may not be over as Spring Hill rejects GM contract

WTVF - Nashville Scripps
Tue, November 14, 2023


UAW ratification vote ongoing - track voting totals on Detroit 3 contract offers here

Jack Nissen
Tue, November 14, 2023 at 
DETROIT (FOX 2) - The hard part may be over, but the UAW strike won't officially end until the union's members vote to ratify the contract negotiated with Detroit's three automakers.

The ratification process requires that local groups review and discuss contract offers before workers decide to vote on whether to approve or reject the proposals. The UAW president has held multiple updates on Facebook and YouTube since securing offers from Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis, pitching members on what he has sold as an "historic deal."

That includes gains worth four times the value of previous contracts and a 25% wage boost from each of the automakers.

MORE: Here's how the UAW ratification process unfolds

But unless the members agree, the contracts won't take effect.

The UAW has posted ratification results from each automaker's local union groups that are updated hourly.
Ford ratification results

Ford employs the largest number of UAW members. The sheet tracking the votes can be found here.

Some of the largest local groups include its assembly plants in Kentucky, Chicago, Wayne, and Kansas City. There are also parts and components plants for building transmissions and engines manned by UAW members who are voting.

Find details of the contract here.
GM ratification results

There are 46,000 workers employed by GM that are voting on their own agreement.

The agreement with GM includes similar gains as what's written into the other two contracts. GM was also the first automaker to agree in principle to roping its future battery plants under the union's Master Agreement.

The GM's ratification vote tracker can be found here.
Stellantis ratification results

Stellantis was the second automaker to reach a deal with the UAW. They have some of the largest plants in Michigan, including its assembly plant in Sterling Heights. The company agreed to $19 billion in U.S. investments during negotiations, which included saving the Belvidere Assembly Plant.

The details of the contract can be found here.

Track the ratification vote here.


GM workers at big Texas plant approve UAW deal, boosting chances of passage

Wed, November 15, 2023 

FILE PHOTO: Logo of GM atop the company headquarters


By David Shepardson

(Reuters) - More than 60% of United Auto Workers union members at General Motors' Arlington, Texas assembly plant voted to approve a new labor deal, boosting the odds of passage, in what is the closest vote of the three Detroit automakers.

Voting on the UAW-GM deal has turned into a nail-biter, unlike Ford and Stellantis, where the union's negotiated agreement set to run through April 2028 looks like it will pass with comfortable margins.

The UAW's GM vote tracking site currently shows approval of the contract leading by a 52% to 48% margin with about 22,150 workers having cast votes out of about 46,000 UAW-represented GM workers. That total does not include Arlington, which has about 5,000 UAW members, the most of any GM plant.

Voting ends on Thursday at 4 p.m. ET.

The UAW went on strike for more than six weeks against the Detroit 3, seeking better wages, working conditions and cost-of-living adjustments. All three companies agreed to tentative agreements about two weeks ago.

Workers at other GM plants have voted against the deal, including 60% of workers at its Fort Wayne, Indiana truck plant, 53% at its Wentzville, Missouri plant, and 58% of workers at GM's Lansing Grand River plant.

Other GM plants have yet to vote, including its Lockport, New York plant.

UAW President Shawn Fain told reporters on Capitol Hill on Tuesday that early voting was trending positive. "Early results are very favorable," he said.

The UAW's new agreement with GM grants a 25% increase in base wage through April 2028 and will cumulatively raise the top wage by 33%, compounded with estimated cost-of-living adjustments to over $42 an hour.

Currently, about 66% of Ford workers that have voted are in favor of the UAW deal; about 79% of Stellantis workers have so far voted in favor, according to UAW figures.

Automakers were previously slashing costs and navigating a bumpy road to manufacture EVs and catch up with market leader Tesla, but lower margins on those vehicles have deterred them from accelerating the move.

GM in October also pulled its full-year profit forecast due to the strike and postponed a $4 billion electric truck plant in Michigan.

The UAW strike is already helping boost wages at rivals like Hyundai and Toyota

Graham Rapier,Associated Press,Nora Naughton
Tue, November 14, 2023 

The UAW union secured historic raises for its 140,000 members after a six-week strike.


The union now wants to target non-uninonized companies like Tesla.


Companies including Toyota and Honda are now rolling out raises of their own.

Roughly 140,000 unionized auto workers will soon ratify new contracts with the Detroit 3 automakers that, among other wins, solidify pay and benefits increases of up to 33%, topping out at roughly $42 per hour.

The deals, achieved after a six-week strike that ended in late October, appear to already be having repercussions outside of Ford, and General Motors. Some non-unionized automakers are now boosting wages for their own workers.

Hyundai, a tour-de-force in cool new electric vehicles, on Monday said it would raise wages by 25% for about 4,000 workers at its Alabama and Georgia by 2028, with the first bumps coming in January. The company said the raises would help it remain competitive and recruit and retain top talent.

Hyundai isn't the first to react to the new UAW contracts. Toyota said earlier in November that it would give workers at its Kentucky factory a 9% raise on January 1, with those at the top of the scale hitting $34.80 an hour, Reuters reported.

And Honda, too, said it would increase wages 11% beginning in January. Both Toyota and Honda also accelerated the time it takes for a starting employee to reach the top pay rate, which would match or come close to promises in the new UAW contracts.

The ripple effects aren't coincidences.

Harry Katz, a professor of collective bargaining at Cornell University, said it's likely the UAW settlement contributed to the raises at the nonunion factories.

"There's also a strong labor market, the companies are doing very well," Katz said. "They've always wanted to stay nonunion, and they try to stay close to the Detroit top-tier wages."

The UAW, for its part, has openly said it hopes to unionize more factories and automakers — especially Tesla, where pay is, by some measures, significantly less. However, prior unionization drives have failed at Tesla and CEO Elon Musk has been openly hostile about the possibility of one. That's why some experts say smaller, foreign companies may be easier targets.

"When we return to the bargaining table in 2028, it won't just be with the Big Three," President Shawn Fain said this month, "but with the Big Five or Big Six."

While non-unionized companies appear to be trying to stave off such organizing drives with better pay, the tactic may actually hand the UAW an advantage, Art Wheaton, a labor expert at Cornell University, told Insider.

"Responding with wage increases this quickly only helps the UAW's cause," Wheaton said. "They can point to 9% raises at Toyota and say 'look, we're already moving the needle, we can keep helping you.'"

ATI cargo pilots give union power to call a strike

Eric Kulisch
Tue, November 14, 2023 at 1:27 PM MST·5 min read

Air Transport International pilots picket outside the Nasdaq exchange on Sept. 27 where parent company Air Transport Services Group held a day-long briefing for investors. (Photo: Air Line Pilots Association)

Pilots at Air Transport International, a cargo airline owned by Air Transport Services Group that provides airlift to Amazon and DHL Express, have authorized union leaders to call a strike over stalled labor talks once such action becomes permissible under federal law.

The Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) said Tuesday that 99.7% of union members voted in favor of strike authorization, with nearly all of Air Transport International’s (ATI) 540 pilots participating.

Management and the union have been negotiating a new contract for 3.5 years and the talks are now being mediated by the U.S. government.

A strike authorization is a signal to the company that the pilots are serious and ready to walk off the job, especially when it has overwhelming support.

No labor action against the ATI is imminent. The company hauls packages for Amazon, provides supplemental airlift to UPS and supports U.S. military missions, in addition to offering charter service to logistics companies and other customers.

Under federal rules designed to prevent work interruptions in critical interstate commerce, workers are prohibited from striking and companies from locking out workers until a lengthy series of bargaining steps, including federal mediation, are completed.

The federal mediator has the power to hold the parties in mediation indefinitely. Federal mediation has been underway since late March.

If no progress is made, the National Mediation Board (NMB) at some point may release the union to a 30-day cooling-off period, during which negotiations can still take place but no strike or lockout can occur.

If the NMB determines the parties have reached an impasse, it can propose that the remaining issues be sent to a special panel for binding arbitration. Arbitration in the airline industry is rare because both sides must agree to it.

The law allows the president to create an emergency board to investigate a labor dispute and issue a report within 30 days if the parties reject binding arbitration. That is followed by another 30-day period to consider the board’s recommendations and reach an agreement. If no agreement is reached at the end of the cooling-off period, the parties may take action, such as a strike or lockout.

Pilots are seeking a contract that improves pay, retirement and work rules. U.S. passenger airlines American, Delta, United and Hawaiian have agreed to new contracts that raise pilot pay as much as 35% to 40% over four years.

“Today, ATI pilots sent a clear, unified message to management that we are willing to go the distance to secure a new contract,” said Capt. Mike Sterling, chair of the ATI ALPA Master Executive Council. “Now is the time for ATI to deliver a new contract that reflects the value we bring to the airline as highly skilled professionals. Our goal is to reach an agreement, not to strike. The ball is in management’s court, and it’s time for them to get serious at the bargaining table and invest in our pilots.”

ALPA claims 220 pilots, more than a third of the pilot base, have defected to other carriers for better work conditions so far this year. A quarter of the pilots left last year. In late September, it said ATI was unable to fill captain vacancies for the third consecutive month. Many passenger airlines are offering large signing bonuses to lure pilots from other employers. The attrition rate at ATI is far higher than at other airlines, according to ALPA.

“At the end of the day, you’ve got to have a contract that works for both sides. So if you’ve got the union side asking for FedEx or UPS wages or industry-leading, and that’s not in the cards from what we get from our customers, then that’s just not something we can agree to,” said Joe Hete, CEO of Air Transport Services Group (NASDAQ: ATSG), during last week’s earnings briefing. “So the key is finding a happy middle ground between their demands and our needs to keep things on the rails.”

Management said last summer that it doesn’t expect to reach a labor deal in 2023.

Hete was reinstated last week as CEO after ATSG’s board fired Rich Corrado because the company’s stock has underperformed the market and airline sectors for a long period of time. The company has taken lower revenues and profits this year, as has the rest of the industry, because demand has contracted from the heyday of the pandemic.

Shareholders appear unable to benchmark ATSG against peers because it is not a pure cargo airline. The company is the largest lessor of freighter aircraft in the world and operates two cargo airlines that predominantly operate under long-term, fixed-price contracts for e-commerce and express delivery companies that require daily scheduled service. Other business units carry out aircraft maintenance, freighter conversions and airport logistical services.

ATSG reported third-quarter revenues increased 1% to $523 million year over year. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization were $137 million, 16% below the third quarter of 2022.

ATSG last year generated a record $2 billion in revenue and adjusted profits before accounting measures of $641 million, an 18% increase from 2021. The pilots made their demands before the industry realized the extent of the market downturn.

A new pilot contract is expected to increase costs at a time when the company’s income stream is declining. But attrition is also costly because ATI has to hire new pilots and train them for several months, during which time they are not flying aircraft that generate revenue.

SO MUCH FOR THE FIRST AMENDMENT
Tesla can bar US factory workers from wearing union t-shirts, court rules

Wed, November 15, 2023 

Tesla logo shown on Model Y vehicle in California


By Daniel Wiessner

(Reuters) - Tesla Inc did not violate U.S. labor law by prohibiting workers at its flagship Fremont, California, assembly plant from wearing pro-union t-shirts, a federal appeals court has ruled.

The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a decision on Tuesday said that because Tesla required all employees to wear company-issued shirts while allowing them to display union stickers, its uniform policy was lawful.

The court reversed a 2022 decision by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which had said that any attempt to ban union insignia was unlawful unless an employer could show "special circumstances" such as safety concerns.

Tesla and the NLRB did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The electric vehicle maker adopted its uniform policy in 2017 amid an organizing campaign by the United Auto Workers union (UAW). The union has accused Tesla of various unlawful tactics to stifle organizing, which the company has denied.

The UAW has said that it plans to aggressively organize at non-union U.S. auto plants after winning new contracts with the Detroit Three automakers. President Joe Biden said last week that he supported the union's efforts to organize workers at Tesla and Toyota.

Tesla's "team wear" policy required employees to wear black shirts imprinted with the Tesla logo. The company has said the policy was necessary to ensure that vehicles were not damaged during assembly.

On Tuesday, the 5th Circuit said that it was wrong for the NLRB to require Tesla to prove that special circumstances justified its policy.

The company still allowed workers "to affix any number or size of union stickers to their team wear," so it was not unlawfully interfering with union organizing, the court said.

The full 5th Circuit is separately considering Tesla's appeal of an NLRB decision that said CEO Elon Musk violated federal labor law by tweeting in 2018 that employees would lose stock options if they joined a union.

A three-judge 5th Circuit panel in March had affirmed the labor board's decision.

(Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York; Editing by Nick Zieminski)

FDNY blames e-scooter battery for fire that kills 3 family members

PILAR ARIAS
November 14, 2023 

The New York Fire Department is warning of the dangers of non-safety certified lithium-ion batteries after an e-scooter battery was determined to be the cause of a fire that claimed the lives of three family members.

Firefighters responded to the early morning three-alarm fire in Brooklyn on Sunday. Units arrived just over three minutes after receiving the report, and found the three-story building with heavy fire on all three floors, according to a department Facebook post.

The fire victims were identified as81-year-old Albertha West, her son, 58-year-old Michael West, and her grandson, 33-year-old Jamiyl West, FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh announced at a news conference Monday.

"This was a difficult and a dangerous fire that drew a massive response from our members and seriously injured one of our firefighters," Kavanagh said.

The firefighter is reportedly included in the remaining number of 14 patients who suffered injuries, officials said.

"This brings our total number of people killed by fires caused by these batteries for this year alone to 17," Kavanagh said. "This number is staggering and is devastating, and it underlies a problem that we have been sounding the alarm on for some time."

Kavanagh directly called out retailers like Amazon and Walmart, which she says continue to sell batteries that are not safety certified by a national testing laboratory.

"Food service apps like GrubHub and Uber Eats need to do more to ensure the safety of their workers who depend on these bikes to make a living," she said

A GrubHub spokesperson called the fire "a horrible tragedy" and said the company has "always tried to create a safer, more sustainable environment in New York City and have supported several initiatives to promote fire safety and access to certified equipment."

The food ordering and delivery platform based in Chicago says it has "repeatedly called on New York City and the U.S. Congress to provide safe charging hubs for delivery partners, to establish a product safety standard for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, and to address concerns related to illegal, unregulated charging devices widely available for purchase through online retailers."

"We’re surprised and disappointed by the commissioner's comments given our close working relationship and because we stood with FDNY and City officials earlier this year to commit to increasing fire safety education and outreach in NYC," a statement from GrubHub reads. It added that no single company, manufacturer or organization is to blame, and every stakeholder involved will need to be a part of the solution.

GrubHub also said the batteries involved in Sunday's fire were reportedly for scooters, and there was no evidence that they were used for food delivery.

Amazon and Walmart did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

FDNY is on track to "surpass 100 fire deaths this year," a number not seen in decades. The total currently stands at 93 following the deaths on Sunday.

The department has safety tips regarding lithium-ion batteries here.

FOX NEWS LIKE MOST CONSERVATIVES OPPOSES ELECTRICAL VEHICLES IN PRINCIPLE, AND E SCOOTER FIRES ARE A FAVORITE FOR TRASHING E VEHICLES. THAT BEING SAID LITHIUM BATTERIES ARE NOT SAFE

A City in Tennessee Banned Public Homosexuality—and We All Missed It

Tori Otten
Tue, November 14, 2023



A city in Tennessee is using a recently passed ordinance essentially prohibiting homosexuality in public to try to ban library books that might violate the new rules.

Murfreesboro passed an ordinance in June banning “indecent behavior,” including “indecent exposure, public indecency, lewd behavior, nudity or sexual conduct.” As journalist Erin Reed first reported, this ordinance specifically mentions Section 21-72 of the city code. The city code states that sexual conduct includes homosexuality.

Anyone who violates the new ordinance is barred from hosting public events or selling goods and services at public events for two years. Anyone who violates the ordinance “in the presence of minors” is barred for five years.

An ACLU-backed challenge to the ordinance has already been launched, but that hasn’t stopped city officials from implementing the measure. Last Monday, the Rutherford County steering committee met to discuss removing all books that might potentially violate the ordinance from the public library. The resolution was met with widespread outcry from city residents.

“When have the people who ban books ever been the good guys?” local activist Keri Lambert demanded during the Monday county meeting.

Murfreesboro city officials have already used the ordinance to ban four books that discuss LGBTQ themes. In August, the county library board pulled the books Flamer, Let’s Talk About It, Queerfully and Wonderfully Made, and This Book Is Gay.

The board also implemented a new library card system that categorizes books into certain age groups. When it takes effect next year, children and teenagers will only be able to check out books that correspond to their age group; they will need permission from a parent or guardian to check out “adult” books.

Library director Rita Shacklett worried in August that the new rules would prevent students from accessing books they need for a class. She explained that many classic high school books, such as To Kill a Mockingbird, are now classified as “adult.”

It’s unclear if the county steering committee plans to pull books such as the A Song of Ice and Fire series, which includes multiple depictions of heterosexual sexual conduct.

Murfreesboro’s new ordinance is part of a much larger wave of attacks on LGBTQ rights in Tennessee and the rest of the country. In the past year, the so-called Volunteer State became the first state to try to ban drag performances. That law was overturned in court.

In March, the Tennessee House of Representatives passed a bill that would allow people to refuse to perform a marriage if they disagree with it, essentially gutting marriage equality. The bill was introduced in the Senate but deferred until next year.

After controversy, Texas school board says transgender student can sing in school musical

Ayden Runnels
Tue, November 14, 2023 

Max Hightower, 17, poses for a portrait in a hotel in Denton on Nov. 9, 2023. Credit: Azul Sordo for The Texas Tribune

Update: The Sherman school board on Monday directed high school leadership to allow the production of "Oklahoma!" to proceed as planned before the school principal stripped trans student Max Hightower of his role, the Dallas Morning News reported. The board also insisted the original script — and not a "youth" version — be used. This ensures Hightower will have a solo. However, it's unclear when the show will be staged.

DENTON — Max Hightower was hooked on theater after watching the musical “Hamilton.” Then just 13, he begged his family to rewatch it immediately. Soon, he started every morning listening to the soundtrack.

“I was like, ‘Oh my god, you can sing in a play, that's insane,’” said Max, who was already an active choir singer.

So, when Max, who is now a high school senior, was cast in a supporting role with his own solo in the Sherman High School production of “Oklahoma!” — a quintessentially American musical about love and statehood — he threw himself into the production.

But now it’s unclear whether Max, who is transgender, will get to sing as Ali Hakim, the Persian peddler. Through a whiplash of sudden policy changes about the gender of performers and public hand-wringing about the revered American musical’s content, Sherman school officials have effectively cast Max as the lead in a very different drama playing out in real life. It’s more akin to the civil rights fight of “Hairspray” than the love triangle in “Oklahoma!”

After Max was bumped from the chorus to the supporting role, the school pulled aside him and several of his fellow student thespians. High school administrators told students one by one that the play would be postponed and recast and that students could only play roles that match their sex assigned at birth.

After the initial decision garnered local and national headlines, the district on Friday recanted the gender policy. But the district also announced the school will now produce an “age appropriate” version of the play.

Only two versions of “Oklahoma!” are available from a firm that holds the licensing rights: the original and a “youth” version billed as an “adaptation for pre-high school students” that has content “edited to better suit younger attention spans.” In that version, the character Max was previously cast to play is now listed just as “The Peddler.” The run time of the show is one hour, compared to the original’s two-hour length.

"I think it's insulting. I think it's still targeting Max. I think they chose the version that would have Max in it the least," said Amy Hightower, Max’s mom.

The waffling about transgender students’ participation in a musical is the latest wrinkle in a national debate over trans rights, especially in public schools.

The fights, which have played out in school board meeting rooms and statehouses across the U.S., have largely focused on books in school libraries, access to restrooms and participation in sports. But Texas lawmakers earlier this year also banned trans kids from accessing puberty blockers and hormone therapy that leading medical groups have OK’d for children.

In Texas, decisions by school districts to enact strict gender policies and review the books available to students have made national headlines, including a new documentary podcast about the suburban Grapevine school district. Max’s family worries Sherman ISD’s handling of “Oklahoma!” has pushed the district in that direction.

“I didn't want us to be that,” Max’s father Phillip Hightower said. “I wanted us to show that we could stay somewhat progressive and look out for the needs of every kid.”

Sherman ISD, which has a student population of about 7,800, did not make any administrators available for comment, and the school board has not voted on any rules about student performers' gender assigned at birth.

One statement from the Sherman school district said “Oklahoma!” featured “mature adult themes, profane language, and sexual content.” Still, the show has been a staple production in high school theater departments for decades. That earlier statement also said that the policy about performers’ gender wouldn’t necessarily be applied to future shows.

“Sherman ISD values the diversity of our students and staff and knows this has been an especially difficult time for many of our students,” said a Friday statement from the district. “The circumstances revealed the need to implement a more formal review process for theatrical productions and scripts. Moving forward, the District will have a tighter review and approval process, and we apologize that this was not already in place.”

But that’s done little to appease Max’s parents.

“The superintendent and the administration is attempting to deflect blame,” Phillip Hightower said. “To deflect blame to the theater department, to the theater director, hell, I guess even to the school board that approved this a year and a half ago. Their non-apology sickens me."

Amy and Phillip Hightower sit with their son Max Hightower. 

Credit: Azul Sordo for The Texas Tribune

Centuries of artistic precedence

LGBTQ+ activists and lawyers believe the Sherman district’s initial decision about gender in casting decisions is the first of its kind to intrude on arts. Theater, in particular, has a centuries-old tradition of bending gender roles. Shakespeare routinely cast men in female roles.

Max’s gender identity has not been a secret. He came out to his friends as trans in the eighth grade and to his parents a year later. Barring some bullying and occasionally misused pronouns, he is treated like any other 12th grader.

So when Max was told he could no longer star in his new role, he was taken completely off-guard.

“I know it's Texas, I know where we live, but not my school,” Max said. “There were so many queer kids in Sherman High school, I was like, ‘They wouldn't pass something like that because they knew how bad that would get.’”

Max was not the only student whose birth gender did not align with their role in the play, nor the only trans student involved. The school had a shortage of male actors, and so many students, trans and cisgender alike, had lost the opportunity to play the parts they wanted.

The now-abandoned policy is believed to be the first attempt in the state to restrict theater productions based on sex, but similar cases have occurred. In Fort Worth, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against a charter school after it created a policy stating students could only join choirs based on their assigned gender at birth.

Brian Klosterboer, ACLU attorney and chair of the LGBT Law Section of the State Bar of Texas, called Sherman ISD’s temporary gender policy a “very extreme and egregious example” of discrimination and likened it to the lawsuit in Fort Worth.

“This Sherman ISD decision unfortunately is an example of this extreme anti-transgender animus that we are seeing here in Texas and across the country,” Klosterboer said.

Klosterboer and Equality Texas communications director Johnathan Gooch both said that Sherman ISD’s rolled-back policy appeared to be a clear violation of Title IX, the civil rights law prohibiting discrimination based on gender. In 2021, the Department of Education released a notice explaining that discrimination based on gender identity would violate Title IX.

Misconceptions about Texans’ acceptance

Gooch said the Sherman policy does not reflect what many Texans want from school leaders. Seventy-five percent of Texans support LGBTQ+ non-discrimination laws, according to the Public Religion Research Institute.

“I think there are some misconceptions about what Texans generally want and expect from their school boards and their community leaders,” Gooch said.

In a rural city of 46,000 almost 70 miles north of Dallas, sympathy for LGBTQ+ issues in Sherman seemed sparse to the Hightowers — but not impossible. Amy, who is from Howe, felt that the fast-growing city could be a better place for Max than more rural areas nearby. Phillip thought the community could grow into what they needed.

Valerie Fox, founder of local LGBTQ+ nonprofit Grayson Pride, said the city is more accepting than it appears, but fear of public backlash prevents allyship from becoming public.

“We can get a lot of secret support, so we can get some money if we need to in a pinch,” Fox said. “They'll donate it to us, but they don't want to be on a sponsor banner. They don't want anyone to know.”

Fox started Grayson Pride because one of her children is gay and Fox didn’t see support for LGBTQ+ identities in Sherman. She said attendance has quadrupled since she started the nonprofit four years ago.

The Hightowers have considered moving out of state to where Max’s siblings live and where there is less concern over how Max would be treated, but it is no easy choice.

“I don't really want to move away from here,” Phillip said. “I want to change here.”

Max’s parents had kept his transition private, even from some family members, out of concern and fear. But after the district took away their child’s pivotal role, they went to Facebook and posted publicly about the experience. The response, they said, has been overwhelmingly and unexpectedly supportive.

“If I'd have known that we had all of the support and all those resources, we would have reached out so long ago,” Amy said.

Grayson Pride and several community members plan to attend Sherman ISD’s Monday school board meeting. The play’s postponement is not on the meeting’s official agenda.

After local broadcast station KXII reported on the play’s postponement, Max said the atmosphere at school has completely shifted. Students follow him around and have called him transphobic names. His parents pulled him from school and opted to stay in a hotel for the later part of the week.

“People were trying to follow me to the bathroom to see which one I'd go into,” Max said.

Gooch says policies like the one in Sherman ISD not only violate Title IX but also create a hostile environment that enables further discrimination. Eighty-six percent of LGBTQ youth feel that recent political discussion has negatively impacted their well-being, according to a report from the Trevor Project.

Disclosure: Equality Texas, Facebook and the State Bar of Texas have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

Only a handful of Pa. school districts have policies protecting trans students

Bethany Rodgers and Chris Ullery, USA TODAY NETWORK
Updated Mon, November 13, 2023 

Bathroom bans and other provisions targeting transgender students have cropped up in a number of Pennsylvania school districts in recent years, part of a wave of state and local laws to restrict everything from trans health care to participation in sports.

But a handful of school districts in the commonwealth have moved in the opposite direction, making official commitments to recognize and safeguard students’ rights to assert their gender identities.

At least 30 school districts in Pennsylvania have embraced protections for transgender students, often through policies that touch on names and pronouns, confidentiality, athletics and access to private spaces such as locker rooms and bathrooms, according to an analysis by the USA TODAY Network.

Generally, these policies have surfaced over the past seven years in the collar counties around Philadelphia and near other Pennsylvania cities.

Brian Dittmeier, policy director at GLSEN, a national network that pushes for safe learning environments for LGBTQ youth, told the USA TODAY Network that specific policies with enumerated protections for LGTBQ youth help "build a culture of inclusion across the school community” and help both students and school staff address harassment.

These policies are also a wise legal move, said Christopher Dormer, superintendent in the Norristown Area School District.

In a time when many people view school systems with suspicion and accuse administrators of making decisions out of personal bias, it’s helpful to have a legally vetted policy for all to see, he said.

“It just puts everybody in a position of like, here is the governance and the guidelines that we all agree we’re going to live by,” said Dormer, whose district adopted its policy on transgender students in 2019.

File - At least 30 school districts in Pennsylvania have embraced protections for transgender students, often through policies that touch on names and pronouns, confidentiality, athletics and access to private spaces such as locker rooms and bathrooms, according to an analysis by the USA TODAY Network. Here a transgender student in the Central Bucks School District speaks out against a policy at a press conference in 2021.More

At least four school districts in Pennsylvania have faced lawsuits over the treatment of transgender or non-binary students since 2015. And practices in Central Bucks School District have spawned multiple legal issues, with the ACLU, on behalf of seven students, accusing the district of creating a “hostile” and “toxic” environment toward LGBTQ students and pressing for a federal investigation. The Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights is investigating the ACLU complaint.

Advocates and supporters of transgender protections have also described them as a moral imperative — important for the wellness of LGBTQ students, whose risk of self-harm decreases in supportive and affirming environments.

More: These Pennsylvania school districts have enacted transgender student protection policies

Survey: Pa. residents, is your school district supportive of LGBTQ+ students?

A 2021 National School Climate Survey conducted by GLSEN found that transgender students in districts with affirming policies reported lower rates of harassment and absenteeism and were less likely to be prevented access to school facilities and activities consistent with their gender identity.

But opponents contend the policies themselves are discriminatory, infringing on the rights of parents and on the privacy of cisgender students in bathrooms and changing areas.

“You've got to preserve the rights of everyone, not just the one class of people,” said Bruce Chambers, former school board president in Chester County’s Great Valley School District.

Anusha Viswanathan chastises board members in the Central Bucks School District during public comment Feb. 7. The board has passed a series of controversial policies that led to continued complaints it is fostering anti-LGBTQ sentiments in schools.

Why are Pa. districts passing these policies?

In New Hope-Solebury School District, located in Bucks County, school directors decided to pursue a policy on transgender students several years ago following “disparaging public comments” about these young people, according to a statement released by the board.

“In response to these comments, students, families and local representatives of the LGBTQ community advocated for a school policy that would support inclusion and provide guidance for meeting the needs of transgender students,” the statement continued.

In the Norristown Area School District, which serves a diverse Montgomery County community, officials have long been on a mission to increase racial equity and inclusivity, according to Dormer.

More: Central Bucks committee: Policy, not pornography, led to removing two LGBTQ-themed books

Several years ago, they realized they needed to broaden these efforts after one parent, whose elementary-age child was exploring gender, encouraged the district to adopt policies that would support students no matter how they chose to identify.

“It was kind of a great moment for us to say, ‘Yeah, we’re not going to just do it for you and your child, but this is about every child here and our staff,’” he said.

Dormer said when his school district began exploring policies on gender expansive and transgender students, officials didn’t have many examples to draw upon.

However, district leaders sought guidance from parents, community members and college researchers, he said, and the Pennsylvania School Boards Association also offered some guidance. Crafting the policy took about two years, and the Norristown school board adopted it in June 2019.

The policy — mirrored in many of the other Pennsylvania districts that have passed protections for transgender youth — states that students have the right to use restrooms, locker rooms and other private spaces that correspond with their gender identities. It also lays out direction on pronoun use, school programs and staff training.

A similar policy is in effect in Montgomery County’s Upper Dublin School District, which initially adopted language on transgender students in 2016 but reaffirmed and updated it earlier this year.

Transgender students in the district have credited the policy with supporting their mental health and their ability to succeed in school.

More on a push to change school policy: Libraries to locker rooms: How a religious law firm is changing PA school policies

“Being able to use my name and my preferred pronouns and being able to be comfortable at school has made my mental health and just my life a lot better,” one transgender teen said to the Upper Dublin school board during a hearing earlier this year.

One transgender teenager who had made several past suicide attempts told the school board that, by encouraging people to respect names and pronouns, these protections might even have saved the student’s life.

File - In New Hope-Solebury School District, located in Bucks County, school directors decided to pursue a policy on transgender students several years ago following “disparaging public comments” about these young people, according to a statement released by the board.

More: Penncrest board enacts book ban with one policy, targets transgender athletes with another

Pushback from near and far

Even in progressive communities, though, policies on transgender students can unleash a firestorm of criticism from conservative activists and national right-wing outlets warning of supposed gender indoctrination efforts in public schools.

One particularly controversial provision in many of these district policies reiterates the right to privacy and prohibits staff members from disclosing a student’s gender identity to parents, guardians or other school employees unless the child gives express permission or there's a legal necessity.

Some parents have reacted to this mandate with anger, arguing they have a right to know if their children are socially transitioning at school.

“You don’t hide information from parents,” said Chambers, the former school board president from Chester County. “The parents are responsible for raising the children, not the school.”

Great Valley School District enacted its policy after Chambers left office, and he said he was unaware of its existence for a couple of years. To him, the privacy provision was the most troubling part of the policy, but he also disagrees with allowing transgender students access to the restrooms and locker rooms of their choice, arguing that doing so discriminates against the cisgender youth who use those facilities.

In general, he said, he would favor giving transgender students the option to use a single-occupant bathroom or changing area.

The Greater Johnstown School District in Cambria County has also drawn backlash for a privacy policy, with the far-right website Breitbart accusing it of trying to “keep parents in the dark.”

The district’s website states that the policy is under legal review. Greater Johnstown officials did not respond to a request for comment.

More: Central Bucks still reviewing transgender athletes ban, but has draft plan to enforce it

But Dormer said these provisions are important to stay in compliance with federal student privacy laws and for the safety of any children who are in volatile living situations.

“In our responsibility to protect the well-being of the child, we don't want to set them up for anything that might potentially become unsafe at home,” he said.

Norristown Area School District has been on the receiving end of criticism for its inclusivity efforts, this year attracting attention for an initiative aimed at creating safe spaces in schools. As part of the initiative — a partnership between the district and the local teachers' union — participating educators and other staff members wore “I’m here” badges indicating they’re available to offer a listening ear and resources to these students.

Dormer said he saw the badges as a way to support students.

The conservative outlet National Review, on the other hand, characterized the initiative as an example of “culture-war aggression” being perpetrated by teachers' unions and an attempt to push “left-wing gender ideology” into schools.

But while policies on transgender students have ignited fierce battles in some school communities, Dormer said families in his district embraced the new requirements. In fact, in the four years since the policy passed, the superintendent said his district hasn’t gotten a single complaint about them.

“I’m really proud,” Dormer said. “We knew there were students that were feeling lost, that we now were able to make sure that they were included … and they felt loved and supported and could be their authentic selves every single day here at school.”

Student members of Holicong's Gay Straight Alliance club stand outside their Central Bucks school in Buckingham on Tuesday as part of a protest against a recent policy teachers say would make LGBTQ support "invisible" by removing pride flags.

Encouraging Pa. districts to update policies

While privacy policies like the one in Great Valley may outrage some parents, it’s also in line with advice from the American Psychological Association and the American School Counselor Association.

Both associations say it’s the individual student who decides how and with whom they share their gender identity status, and staff need the consent of the students before sharing that information with parents.

Both groups also refer to reports and surveys by GLSEN, formerly the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network.

Originally formed by a group of teachers in 1990, GLSEN is a national network of 1½ million members researching and advocating for safe learning environments for LGBTQ youth.

In GLSEN’s 2021 National School Climate Survey, more than 81% of the students surveyed reported feeling unsafe in school. The survey included responses from 22,298 students between the ages of 13 and 21 across the country. The average student age was about 15 and they were mostly between the 6th and 12 grade.

About 920 of that survey’s respondents were enrolled in a Pennsylvania school.

While many of those LGBTQ students reported some form of gender-based discrimination, GLSEN notes that “transgender and nonbinary students in particular experienced gender-based discrimination.”

Most of the gender-based discrimination reported in the survey came in the form of not being allowed to use a chosen name or pronouns (39%). Many transgender and non-binary students reported not being able to use bathrooms (34%) or locker rooms (32%) that aligned with their gender identity.

Almost 20% of respondents weren’t allowed to wear clothing or play on sports teams of their identified gender either.

The report also found that 22% of LGBTQ students reported being disciplined for public displays of affection that did not result in punishment for non-LGBTQ students.

Another 14% reported not being allowed to write or discuss LGBTQ topics in extracurricular activities.

GLSEN’s website hosts a number of research and policy resources, including model anti-bullying and gender-affirming school policies.

“Unfortunately, only roughly one in eight LGBTQ+ students are in a district with enumerated protections for gender identity,” Dittmeier said. “School districts can act now to update policies that reflect federal civil rights law, but GLSEN is hopeful that forthcoming updates to Title IX regulations from the U.S. Department of Education will encourage comprehensive policies that more robustly protect LGBTQI+ students.”

This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: How some PA school districts are supporting trans students