It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Monday, February 26, 2024
U$A
Labor organizers push back on 'union-busting' bill
Labor organizers are pushing back on a measure in the Iowa Legislature they say is designed to undermine unions.
It would create an additional step in order for a labor union to be certified by the state.
Senate Study Bill 3158, introduced by the Republican majority, would require public employers that hire union-backed workers to submit a list of employees who are in the bargaining unit to the state within 10 days of a union recertification election.
If they fail to do so, the state will immediately decertify the union, unless the union takes the employer to court.
American Federation of Labor (AFL) Iowa chapter President Charlie Wishman called the bill a clear attempt to disrupt unions.
"If they're not sending in the list, why are they punishing the union by saying that the union needs to take the employer to court?" said Wishman. "It's just totally upside down, on its face."
Supporters of the measure claim the state had not been getting union membership information in a timely manner from more than 40% of companies holding recertification elections, and that this measure would fix that.
Wishman said unions have addressed that issue and claim it's no longer a problem.
Wishman suggested the bill would further burden an already overloaded court system at taxpayer expense.
"This is creating confusion," said Wishman, "and it is going to create more court cases, and it is creating more bureaucracy that didn't need to be there."
Study Bill 3158 awaits action in the Iowa Senate.
Disclosure: Iowa Federation of Labor contributes to our fund for reporting on Environmental Justice, Livable Wages/Working Families, Social Justice, Urban Planning/Transportation. If you would like to help support news in the public interest, click here.
Opponents of 'union busting bill' fly message above Iowa Statehouse
Feb 22, 2024 DES MOINES, Iowa —
Some Iowa teamsters descended Wednesday on the Iowa Statehouse, pushing back against a bill they say weakens Iowa unions.
Our cameras captured a plane flying around the Capitol reading "Kill Senator Dickey's Union Busting Bill."
The bill would impact public employees like teachers, first responders, plow drivers and more. It would require employers, like cities and schools, to prove a list of local union members during the collective bargaining process.
If that employer fails to do so, the state would immediately decertify the union. The union would then need to ask a court to force their employer to submit that list.
A rolling caravan of about 100 cars and trucks circled the statehouse today, demanding lawmakers kill the plan.
Under current law, if an employer fails to submit a list of union members, then union contracts would be approved without a vote.
Senator Adrian Dickey is leading the bill.
Dickey says he is being "attacked for simply proposing public employers and unions follow the law."
Dickey says the bill is nothing more than a technical clean-up and a that "if the public sector employer and the union are following the law, nothing will change for them."
Soccer Referees union accused of threatening MLS replacement officials SCABS
Jeff Carlisle, U.S. soccer correspondent
Feb 23, 2024, 08:15 PM E
The negotiations between the Professional Soccer Referees (PSRA) -- the union that represents officials that work MLS matches -- and its employer, the Professional Referees Organization (PRO), are becoming increasingly acrimonious, with PRO filing an Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) charge against the PSRA earlier this week.
The filing, a copy of which has been obtained by ESPN, alleges that PSRA executive board member Chris Penso "unlawfully threatened and coerced potential replacement workers by threatening them that performing officiating work during a lockout would negatively impact the officials' eligibility for assignments to officiate college soccer matches."
The charge comes amid a lockout by PRO of PSRA referees that was instituted after the union voted overwhelmingly to reject a tentative collective bargaining agreement negotiated between representatives of the two organizations. This marks the second time in the last 10 years that PRO, which is funded in part by MLS, has locked out the PSRA referees during CBA negotiations. The PSRA is seeking increases in compensation as well as improved travel accommodations.
The MLS regular season began on Wednesday with the league using a replacement officiating crew for Inter Miami and Lionel Messi's win over Real Salt Lake. A full slate of games is set for this weekend with replacement referees coming from the professional, college and youth ranks.
CBA talks are scheduled to resume next Wednesday in New York City, with a federal mediator present.
The ULP document goes on to allege that Penso and other bargaining unit and PSRA members have revoked college assignments of replacement officials.
"College soccer officiating assignments are outside employment unrelated to the operations of PRO, and Mr. Penso, as well as numerous other bargaining unit and PSRA members, are responsible for assigning such work for third parties," the document states.
The document also alleges that on or about Feb. 18, 2024 and continuing thereafter, other agents of PSRA, including bargaining unit and PSRA members, "threatened replacement workers with reprisals for engaging in replacement work during a lockout, including, but not limited to, loss of outside employment (i.e., college officiating assignments and other non-bargaining unit work); loss of reputation and future opportunities to officiate PRO-assigned matches; exclusion from the social and professional officiating community; and other explicit and implicit threats for engaging in work of the PSRA bargaining unit during a work stoppage, which is protected under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act ("NLRA")."
The PSRA had previously filed two ULP charges against PRO. The first, filed back on Jan. 5, alleged that PRO representatives spoke directly with union members about the CBA talks without union leadership present, a tactic known as "direct dealing."
The second ULP charge, filed earlier this month, alleges that PRO's general manager, Mark Geiger, sent a letter to union membership on Feb. 9 stating that if the tentative agreement wasn't approved, it would lock the players out, withdraw its current proposal and agree only to substantially inferior terms.
The PSRA complaint contends this constitutes "regressive bargaining, violates [PRO's] obligation to bargain in good faith, and constitutes reprisals against PSRA members for engaging in protected activity."
Contacted by ESPN following the disclosure of PRO's filing, PSRA president Peter Manikowski said: "The union is reviewing [the document], and we want to reiterate that the National Labor Relations Board is investigating the two Unfair Labor Practice charges that we filed in January and February."
PRO's ULP filing comes amid the two sides trading accusations about the bargaining process. Prior to Wednesday's season opener between Miami and Real Salt Lake, MLS commissioner Don Garber told reporters that the rejection of the tentative agreement amounted to "a very disappointing process."
"I can't remember in my nearly 40 years of sports ever having a bargaining unit reach agreement and then not having the members support it," he said.
The PSRA hit back on Thursday stating, among other things, that its negotiators repeatedly told their PRO counterparts that what was being offered wouldn't be approved by its membership, and only put the tentative agreement to a vote because they were told "there is no more money," and needed to drive home how inadequate the proposal was. It also described a proposed no strike/no lockout agreement as inadequate given that it would have frozen wages at 2023 levels.
This drew a response from Geiger that the PSRA had mischaracterized his letter to union membership, and that he was simply conveying what would happen if the deal was rejected. Geiger added that the offer of paying PSRA members the same wage during negotiations was required by U.S. labor law, and would take place as negotiations continued.
MICHIGAN
What new union contracts mean for Meijer employees
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Raises and more paid time off are coming for Meijer employees after the union voted to ratify new contracts.
The United Food and Commercial Workers Local 951 ratified the contracts late Thursday night, the union says. The UFCW 951 represents more than 25,000 Meijer workers.
Under the new union contracts, new Meijer hires in Michigan must either join the UFCW 951 or pay a service fee. Non-union members who are already employed by Meijer have until June 15 to either become a member, pay the fee or quit, the union says.
There aren’t many employees who aren’t already part of the union, John Cakmakci, president of UFCW Local 951, told News 8.
“We’re proud of that,” he said.
He expects the new requirement will make the union stronger.
The three separate contracts cover retail, distribution center/transportation and retail facilities maintenance workers. They include immediate raises of up to $1.50 an hour, plus more paid time off for those who were hired after Oct. 23, 2005.
There will also be a 25% increase in Meijer’s 401(k) match, employees will be eligible for healthcare benefits after 30 days instead of 60 days, and there will be a new paid family care leave for employees to take paid time off to take care of a family member with a serious illness.
Employees will also be guaranteed a raise for every 700 hours they work, down from the 1,000 hours previously required.
“There were significant wage increases for our members in the distribution center as well as in the retail, premium improvements and paid time off. And some working language improvements as well,” Cakmakci told News 8.
The new contracts also give employees more opportunities to get a full-time position, along with increased shift, job classification and building premiums.
“We’re excited to have reached an agreement that includes significant investments in our team and demonstrates how much we value and care about our team members,” Ken Barton, the vice president of labor relations for Meijer, said in a statement. “This agreement also positions Meijer to continue providing great services to the communities we support.”
Cakmakci said the bargaining process took about four and a half months. While he said the union has a good relationship with Meijer, having three contracts makes the process “fairly complicated.”
Meijer Inc. store in Grand Haven. Credit: Mark Sanchez
Members of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 951 voted this week to ratify new contracts with Meijer that contain improvements to wages, paid time off, 401(k), health care and pay for more than 25,000 Meijer employees.
The three separate, four-year contracts approved this week are effective Feb. 25. The contracts cover employees working in retail, distribution centers and transportation and retail facility maintenance and offer immediate wage increases of up to $1.50 per hour.
Other contract improvements include:
More paid time off for employees hired after Oct. 23, 2005;
A 25% increase in the company’s 401(k) match;
A shortened waiting period for health care benefits eligibility for full-time employees, from 60 days to 30 days;
New paid family care leave, which provides paid time off for employees to care for family members with a serious illness;
More opportunities for employees to obtain full-time positions;
Guaranteed wage increases for every 700 hours worked in retail units as opposed to a prior 1,000 hours; and
Increased premiums for various shifts, job classifications and locations.
John Cakmakci, UFCW Local 951. Credit: Courtesy photo
“Not only are our members receiving significant wage increases, but the length of time it takes them to get to the top rate has been reduced due to the closing of gaps in the wage scale,” UFCW Local 951 President John Cakmakci said in a statement. “I am proud of the members who served on the bargaining committee and worked together to achieve contract gains that improve the lives of their fellow members.”
Cakmakci characterized the new contract as a win for workers represented by UFCW 951, the largest private sector union in the state.
“We’re excited to have reached an agreement that includes significant investments in our team and demonstrates how much we value and care about our team members,” Ken Barton, vice president of labor relations at Meijer, said in a statement. “This agreement also positions Meijer to continue providing great services to the communities we support.”
The union began negotiations with Meijer months ago. Cakmakci noted at the time that improvements in paid time off and more affordable medical care were among the union’s top priorities in contract negotiations with the supercenter retailer, the first after the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic subsided.
The previous contract, which was ratified in 2020, expired this month.
“With everything that people have gone through in the last three years with COVID and everything, I think our members felt like they were forgotten,” Cakmakci said in a November report.
Cakmakci said at the time that Meijer has historically set a standard for negotiations with other retail employers.
“It’s been a long process, but I’m very excited for this new contract,” said Steve Speare, who works at Meijer distribution center 882 in Monroe County and served on the bargaining committee for UFCW 951. “Everything we did is about getting what you work for, making a living, and I was comfortable with how everything turned out.”
The new contract also comes during a period of changing Michigan laws concerning union membership.
Michigan’s right-to-work law ended Feb. 13, making it the first state in 58 years to repeal such a law. Right to work had allowed workers covered by a collective bargaining agreement to opt out of joining the union.
To reflect this repeal, the new UFCW 951 contacts with Meijer will require all new hires to join the union or pay a service fee as a condition of their employment with Meijer. Existing Meijer workers who have opted not to join the union will have until June 15 to become a union member, pay the service fee or leave the company, according to a statement.
Cakmakci sees the right-to-work repeal as a victory, noting the “detrimental impact right-to-work has had on our state.”
“Right-to-work laws are about increasing the power of corporations while restricting the power of workers to join together in unions, rather than worker freedom or job creation,” he said. “Unions are one of the few organized groups that have the capacity to successfully advocate for the economic interests of working people, so the ability for workers to be in a union must be protected.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been updated from its original version to include comment from Meijer.
PeaceHealth hospice and home care nurses near Eugene strike over the weekend
Heather Herbert, a hospice nurse with PeaceHealth, speaks at a press conference in Springfield, Ore.,
on Dec. 29, 2023.
Nathan Wilk / KLCC
After almost a year of negotiations, nurses with PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Home Care Services are going on strike. More than 90 nurses with the Oregon Nurses Association will be striking for two weeks starting Feb. 10. These nurses provide hospice care and other services to patients in the Eugene area.
The nurses have been working under an expired contract since April 2023 and are looking to raise safety standards, increase recruitment and retention, and secure better pay.
Heather Herbert is a hospice nurse with PeaceHealth and an ONA member. She joins us to share more about her job and nurses’ hopes for the future.
In a statement to OPB, PeaceHealth officials wrote:
“After notifying the ONA that their initial strike date of Feb. 1 would cause a lapse in benefits for their members, the union pulled their initial notice and filed for the new strike date of Feb. 10. PeaceHealth notified the union of their error to prevent caregivers from unnecessarily losing their health benefits due to the strike timing. PeaceHealth’s employment policy states that benefits expire the last day of the month in which you work – i.e. if an employee’s last day of work is Jan. 31, their benefits expire at the end of January. If an employee’s last day of work is Feb. 1, their benefits expire at the end of February.
“Once PeaceHealth received the strike notice from ONA, we immediately postponed our upcoming bargaining sessions to focus our full attention on ensuring the continued delivery of safe, high-quality patient care during the union’s strike. We look forward to resuming negotiations at a later date, but right now our focus must be on our patients and providing uninterrupted care.
“As is standard practice, PeaceHealth has contracted with an agency to provide experienced temporary replacement caregivers during the strike to ensure patient care continues uninterrupted. This strike will not impact operations at PeaceHealth hospitals and clinics in Lane County. PeaceHealth has successfully negotiated four other long-term union contracts over the last 12 months – including one with ONA – providing wage increases and stability for nearly 3,000 caregivers in Lane County.”
The following transcript was created by a computer and edited by a volunteer:
Dave Miller: This is Think Out Loud on OPB. I’m Dave Miller. After almost a year of negotiations, nurses with PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Home Care Services are going on strike on Saturday. These nurses, about 90 of them, provide hospice care and other services to patients in the Eugene Springfield-area. They’ve been working under an expired contract since April. The planned strike is scheduled to last for two weeks. Heather Herbert is a hospice nurse with PeaceHealth and a member of the union, the Oregon Nurses Association. She joins us now. Heather, welcome.
Heather Herbert: Thank you. It’s great to be here, Dave.
Miller: Yeah. Thanks for joining us. For our listeners who may not know what your work is like, can you just describe, first of all, just the range of patients that you might see?
Herbert: Yeah. We work closely with Home Health, so they’re also in this bargaining that we’re doing, but I’ll speak mostly about hospice. To come onto our service, you have to have two doctors agree that if you were to die in six months, no one would be surprised and we don’t do anything to hasten death, nor do we do anything to prevent it. We just kind of let nature be there and then we just work with families and patients to support them with symptom management and whatever else they need to have the best quality of life at the end of their life.
Miller: What kind of care might they require? What kind of care might that entail?
Herbert: So a lot of it is things like pain, shortness of breath. As our bodies start to fail, all of our systems start to. It could be anything with your disease process. So seizures or edema. We’ll put in drains to help drain people’s fluids in their lungs or abdomen or their kidneys. You name it. Those are the types of things that we do.
Miller: I mean, the timing is pretty squishy, right? Just based on what you said, that people wouldn’t be surprised if somebody died within six months. But I imagine that means that you might have a patient for three days, but you could also have them for more than a year?
Herbert: Yeah, we’ve had patients for many years, and we grow very close with them, because we’re in their home multiple times a week, usually, during that time. And we also work with moms who know that their babies won’t live for very long as well. So it’s the whole range of anybody who would qualify, can be a part of our service.
Miller: Maybe this is just my own assumptions that are incorrect, but that strikes me as maybe the most challenging part of your job, dealing with a newborn who is going to die soon, as opposed to somebody who’s 90. Is that accurate?
Herbert: Yeah. That’s accurate. I work a lot with kids and so we get to partner with parents who are saying hello to their new person and also goodbye at the same time. And what fears do they have? What are they wanting to experience at this time? And help partnering with them to reach their goals.
Miller: One of the issues, to turn more towards the bargaining, is the work that you do and the work that happens by nurses, in the hospital context. What’s the overlap, in terms of the care that you and your home-based colleagues are providing and what’s being provided by nurses, in a hospital setting?
Herbert: Yeah, I love this question. I have worked in the hospital. I was on the oncology floor. I’ve worked in the OR, I have used every single one of my same skills, from IVs, wound care, catheters, medications. And as a hospice nurse, I still use all of those same skills. I have to have the same degree, the same level of education. But in the hospital, things are very much controlled. You have your hospital room, you get to come in and out of that room at any time of the day. We tell people what to wear. Here’s your gown, go sit over there, here’s your OMRON number that we’ll monitor you through.
With home care, we are a guest in someone’s home and I come into that home, whether it is a mansion on a beautiful hill or a broken down RV, or a tent. I’ve been in homes with no running water, no floors, people who don’t speak English and I don’t necessarily have an interpreter that I can call easily to come and meet me there. And all I have are the tools in the back of my car and to help provide the exact same care that I have given in the hospital.
Miller: What drew you to this particular version of nursing? I mean, because as you said, you’ve worked in hospitals before. I assume you sought this out?
Herbert: Yeah. Well, my last job was in the OR and I just really missed patient care. And what I love about my job is I get to go into people’s homes and I get to see the essence of who someone is. It is a very intimate setting and people are usually scared, and I get to meet their family and their goals. I partner with them to make their last chapter of their life the best chapter that we can give them.
Miller: Let’s turn more fully then to the negotiations. They’ve been going on for just about a year now. What are the biggest sticking points right now?
Herbert: Well, it’s actually been over two [years]. We’re going on our second year now and all that we are wanting is to have the same pay, the same that we’ve always had. We’ve always had the same exact contract with the hospital as before. And so all we’re asking for is equal treatment that they’ve done before, since we’re doing equal work. And this has just been the standard.
Miller: So, meaning in the past, you have been paid the same as hospital-based nurses. And you’re saying that that’s what you want right now.
Herbert: Yeah, that’s what we want right now. And the reason that it’s so important is because our nurses are leaving, and if you don’t have the staff, then your organization is no longer functional. And I have always loved that the culture of where I work, I can go into the spaces of people’s homes and just be present and be what they need, while providing the same care that they get in the hospital. But now, we have a bunch of nurses who are leaving and we can’t bring in new ones. I’m no longer able to provide the same type of care that I love so much.
Miller: You mean, because you’ve had to take on more patients? Because some nurses are leaving, the care that you’re providing has to change?
Herbert: Well, currently, two nurses that normally work alongside me are not working. So I have to take on their role as well. In the past, I’ve been able to call my scheduler and say, this family is in crisis and I need to stay here, and they used to be able to give those visits to other nurses. And now they’re not able to do that because they don’t have the staff. People are leaving because they can get paid more elsewhere.
Miller: How much turnover has there been among home-based hospice nurses over the last year or two?
Herbert: We’ve never had a retention problem before. We’ve always been able to keep our nurses and hire quickly. And within the last year, there’s been about 30 nurses who have left, which when you’re talking 90 nurses, that’s substantial and it takes months and months to train new nurses. We’re just not able to hire. Nobody is applying.
Miller: Where have they gone? What’s the range of places they’ve gone to?
Herbert: Some of them have gone into the hospital, into mental health. They’ve gone into insurance companies, I believe. Those are some of the few.
Miller: Do you see that exodus as being tied specifically to the ongoing labor negotiations? Or just a separate fact that’s complicating your life right now, based on other issues about the challenges of the job or the desire to have the stability, maybe, that would come from other kinds of jobs?
Herbert: Working with my fellow nurses, we love our jobs. We love the beautiful, sacredness of caring for dying people and the relationships that we get to build with the family. And we’ve never had a retention problem before. Since this negotiation has started, it feels like divorce has happened in our unit. It feels like we’re divided. We’re not being treated with respect, things are being dragged on for a really long period of time. People are crying in the office because of the strike that we’ve decided to do because our loyalty is to our patients. And if you can’t provide the care that you’re wanting to, it causes a lot of moral distress.
Miller: Have you thought about leaving the profession or at least leaving this particular position?
Herbert: I have. I totally have. I’ve applied at different places and I’ve chosen to stay because when you care for people this way, I don’t know how to go back. I don’t know how to hold the hand of a dying person and look them in the eyes and feel so connected and bring peace to a family who is so scared of the most important moment of someone’s life. It’s very rewarding and I don’t know how to go backwards.
Miller: Go back to a knee surgery…
Herbert: I don’t know how to go back to the OR, where it feels like an assembly line of just people coming in, people going out.
Miller: I mean, I’ll just say that obviously for those people who are going in for those surgeries, it’s very important for them in that moment as well. But I think our listeners take your point.
We did reach out to PeaceHealth officials and they gave us a statement. It reads in part, “Once PeaceHealth received the strike notice from ONA, we immediately postponed our upcoming bargaining sessions to focus our full attention on ensuring the continued delivery of safe high quality patient care, during the union’s strike. We look forward to resuming negotiations at a later date. But right now, our focus must be on our patients and providing uninterrupted care as is standard practice.”
They wrote, “PeaceHealth has contracted with an agency to provide experienced temporary replacement caregivers during the strike to ensure patient care continues uninterrupted. The strike will not impact operations at PeaceHealth hospitals and clinics in Lane County.”
Heather Herbert, have you talked to your patients about the strike?
Herbert: I have spoken to them and it’s a really hard conversation because our loyalty is to our patients. And we have personally dedicated our hearts and our times into partnering with them and walking this journey with them. And it feels so sad that we can’t be there during this time.
Miller: What have you heard in response from them?
Herbert: From our patients?
Miller: Yeah.
Herbert: A lot of them can’t get out of bed. And most of them wish that they could stand with us because they know that we are doing this for them and our community so that we can build a stronger hospice service, to be able to give back to them.
Miller: What normally happens when one nurse leaves for the day and then another nurse takes over? What kind of a handoff is there normally?
Herbert: So we have patient charting that’s available for people to read with notes of like, to-do lists, things like that. And then we also get together every other week with all of the team and talk about all of our patients with the social workers and chaplains so that we’re together. Life happens unexpectedly, but things that may happen down the road, say, somebody needs respite or we’re worried about a pain crisis or they’re going to be homeless, or stuff like that. How do we, together, support the upcoming needs that people may have?
Miller: Is there going to be anything like that, any kind of warm handoff, between you and your fellow nurses, and what PeaceHealth calls temporary replacement caregivers?
Herbert: I wish that there were. Yesterday was my personal last day, and they haven’t told us who the nurses are who are coming. So I wouldn’t know who to give the report to.
Miller: Why did the union put an expiration date on the strike? It’s planned to start in two days, on Saturday, and to last for two weeks.
Herbert: We’re nurses and we’re just like everyone else out in the community. We have our own responsibilities to our families. A lot of us are single moms. We need our insurance. That was a big concern that a lot of people have. Some of their children are medically fragile and they need to be able to go to a doctor’s office, or older spouses who need that. So we are just hoping that this strike lets PeaceHealth know that we are very serious about how we feel about what the culture is of our community, the hospice, so that we can give the best to our community, but still be able to keep our insurance and things like that. And get back to our patients, because we care about them.
Miller: Just to go back to your own work and your own way of thinking about life now, I’m curious if being a hospice nurse has affected the way you think about your own death?
Herbert: Absolutely. I’ve actually done the practice. People have birthing plans and not everyone always talks about a death plan. So I’ve actually done my own death plan about where I would like to be, what music I’d like, things like that. But also I think it’s just made me a better person in general, being able to see what families go through. It reminds me that life is really precious. So I take more opportunities to love the people that I love and forgive easier and to laugh faster, quicker, and to not take life for granted.
So this job has definitely changed me, makes me a better listener. That’s what I say when I’m like, “I don’t know how to go back,” because I’m a better person for being this type of nurse.
Miller: Heather Herbert, thanks for your time today. I appreciate it.
Herbert: If anyone would like to come and join us, you’re more than welcome to come and join us on the 10th, and then respectournurses.com is where we have some really good information.
Miller: Heather Herbert is a hospice nurse with PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Home Care and a member of the Oregon Nurses Association.
Workers at Randolph County flooring plant on strike after contract rejected
BEVERLY, W.Va. — Union workers at the AHF Products plant in Randolph County have voted to strike after rejecting a new contract.
A Sunday night news release from the company said a new tentative contract reached by the company and the bargaining unit of Teamsters Local 175 representing workers at the hardwood flooring plant had been reached but a “narrow plurality” of workers voted to reject the contract and go out on strike.
The company said the “good-faith agreement would result in the largest economic package for workers in the history of the location.”
The company said the plant would remain open.
“The AHF Products Beverly facility remains open, and work is available for any bargaining unit member who wants to work,” AHF said. “The company continues to serve its customers through abundantly available product. Our team stands ready to move forward with the agreement that both sides have already worked successfully to craft.”
The company and union last had a labor dispute in March 2020.
