John, 

What an incredible year 2023 was for Labor—a Hot Strike Summer indeed! Whether it was the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and their UPS Members, the Writers Guild, SAG-AFTRA, or UAW taking on the Big 3, we made history with monumental victories to build on and Solidarity we haven’t witnessed in a generation!

New workers from different sectors continue to energize the movement across the country, such as cannabis workers, REI, university campuses, tech and gaming workers, and many more! In addition to these new workers, the Labor Community and the general public continue to support the ongoing battles in the air travel industry on behalf of flight attendants and pilots. As well as the struggle for first contracts at Amazon, Starbucks, and the BASIS Charter School in Tucson!

The infusion of federal dollars into infrastructure, semiconductor manufacturing, batteries and electric vehicles, clean energy, and AI presents a unique opportunity for Labor to flex our collective muscles and our accumulated political power to take our seat at the decision-making table. To stake our claim in the 'sole proprietorship’ of intellectual properties here-to-fore dominated by corporations.

As organized Labor, our call to action, our responsibility to our members, is to continue to organize, organize, organize! When President Shuler announced the formation of the Center for Transformational Organizing at the Constitutional Convention in 2022, it sent a very strong message to all of our affiliated unions that the AFL-CIO is committed to organizing and growing the labor movement.

In the great state of California, the California Federation of Labor recently rolled out their new organizing program, simply named ‘Unionize California’! Simple but powerful in its message to workers wanting to organize. In spite of all of the wealth and prosperity workers continue to produce, we still have to fight for our fair share, and in California, workers have an ally to help them do just that!

We are ready to take up this challenge in Arizona, as many other states already have! If you know any worker who wants to organize their workplace, please contact us here at the AZ AFL-CIO. We will work with them to put them on the path to dignity, respect, and prosperity in the workplace! If you are looking to organize in Maricopa County and surrounding areas, please contact Organizing Specialist Rasean Clayton at [email protected] and Ryan Kelly at [email protected] to organize in Pima County and other surrounding areas.

We are also excited to announce that Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the California Labor Federation, Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher as our Keynote Speaker at this year 2024 Day of Action at the Capitol. Lorena is the first woman and first person of color to serve as Chief Officer of the California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO. She was sworn in on July 27, 2022. She will be our keynote speaker at our 2024 day of action. If you would like to become a volunteer at this years event, please scroll down and see more information below or email us at [email protected]. 

In solidarity,

Fred Yamashita

Secretary-Treasurer

Executive Director
Arizona AFL-CIO

2024 Legislative Committee Meeting Alerts - Starting Friday, Jan. 12th

Join us every Friday at 9:30 AM via Zoom to get updates and alerts on the 2nd Regular Session of the 56th Legislature. Click on the button below and complete the form. 

For additional questions, contact our Political Director, Joe Murphy at [email protected].  

Join us on Tuesday, February 13, at more than 30 airports for a worldwide day of action and picketing event.

More information to follow! 

Flight Attendants across the industry are fighting to raise the standards for our career. More than two-thirds of the U.S. Flight Attendants are in contract negotiations right now, including red-hot contract fights at American, Alaska, Air Wisconsin, United, Omni, Southwest, Frontier, PSA, Mesa, and more.

Union Events and Action

We want to uplift what you are doing for our members and our community!

Please fill out all the required information to have your Local's event uploaded to our Arizona AFL-CIO website or featured in our next Labor Dispatch. If you have any questions please reach out to Alina Cordoba, Communications & Operations Director at [email protected].

Unions Should Start Planning for a Mass Strike on May Day 2028

"Calls for a general strike usually skip over the hard work of organizing one. But UAW leader Shawn Fain is urging unions to align their contract expiration dates for May 1, 2028 - setting up the possibility of a mass May Day strike."

How the Country's Top Union Leader Gets It Done

"Organized labor is in Liz Shuler’s DNA. The AFL-CIO president grew up in a union household, with a father who was a power lineman at Portland General Electric and a mother who was an estimator in the company’s service-and-design department. The first time Shuler bargained, she was an 11-year-old babysitter trying to match what a friend earned."

There Were Nearly 400 Strikes in 2023, and Experts Think There's More to Come: 'Nothing Succeeds Like Success'

"Between Jan. 1 and Nov. 30, there were 393 strikes in the U.S. involving more than 500,000 workers, according to Johnnie Kallas, a Ph.D. candidate at Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations and director of the university’s Labor Action Tracker. This year saw more work stoppages involving 1,000 or more workers than any year since 2013, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics."

Elmore Nickleberry, Memphis Sanitation Worker Who Went on Strike in 1968, Dies at 92

"Nickleberry was one of nearly 1,300 mostly black sanitation workers in Memphis who endured grueling, unsafe working conditions and poverty wages ($1.65 a day) in the 1960s. He was one of the last of the original strikers."

'When We Fight, We Win': VP Congratulates Culinary Union But Workers' Fight Isn't Over 

"Vice President Kamala Harris met with hundreds of Culinary Union workers Wednesday to congratulate them on historic contracts."

Costco's Surprising Response to Workers' Union Win: It's Not You, It's Us

"The group of 238 workers in Norfolk are set to join 18,000 Teamsters at Costco nationwide, according to the union. Specially, the workers said their hope in becoming Teamsters is to have a voice asking for higher wages, pension contributions, bonuses and more flexible attendance policy, among other workplace improvements."

SpaceX Illegally Fired Workers Critical of Elon Musk, US Labor Agency Says 

"A regional official with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a complaint claiming SpaceX violated the workers' rights under federal labor law to band together and advocate for better working conditions, according to Kayla Blado, a spokeswoman for the agency."

Hobbs Announces Planned Reforms to Arizona's School Voucher Program 

“Gov. Katie Hobbs is setting her sights on the state’s private school voucher program, announcing a plan Tuesday to reform the program’s oversight and eligibility, less than a week out from the start of the new legislative session."

Hooray for ValleyWood

“Is Arizona poised to become an extension of Hollywood? Experts say new state incentives program could boost industry."

Voting Matters: Arizona's Minimum Wage Now Nearly Double Federal Rate

“The raise is due to the Fair Wages and Healthy Families Act, a voter-approved law that required the state’s minimum wage be raised every year to match cost-of-living increases. It also required employers to provide paid sick time for employees, and raised the minimum wage for tipped employees to be $3 less than the untipped minimum, provided employers can prove tips make up the difference."

In Yuma, Farmworkers' Struggle With Heat Is Worsened by Inadequate Housing

“Laurent, who has been a farmworker in Yuma County for seven years, told this story during an interview about how local housing shortages affect those who labor day and night, often in extreme heat, to help produce the leafy greens for which this region of Arizona, near its borders with California and Mexico, has become known."

Thank you for reading the Arizona Labor Dispatch! Can you help us grow our readership by sharing our sign-up form? 

If you'd like to promote an event for your union in our weekly newsletter, fill out our submission form or email AZ AFL-CIO  Communications & Operations Director Alina Cordoba at [email protected]