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Here is your weekly news from the Texas Labor Movement.

Join the Fight for the Senate! Make Calls Into Georgia Tomorrow.

Op-Ed: Texas AFL-CIO President Rick Levy: What the Texas AFL-CIO Would Like to See in the 87th Session of the Texas Legislature.

Op-Ed by Rick Levy from the Texas Signal:

In the 87th session of the Texas Legislature, the Texas AFL-CIO will fight for a fair shot for all working families to get ahead. It’s what we do, and it’s always a steep uphill climb.

This time, as the longest declared disaster in our state’s history lays waste to day-to-day assumptions, worker power takes on new meaning. The pandemic has fully exposed the neglect of issues faced by working families in this state, including worker safety, job security and health care. As the legislature convenes in January 2021, the priorities of the labor movement are shaped by our call to honor the sacrifices and the commitment of Texas workers and to pass policies that place the needs of working families first.

The next Legislature needs to honor frontline work that has kept our society going by considering wage policy, workplace benefits, and myriad matters of racial justice and economic inequality in a new light.

IUPAT Tradeshow Decorators In Houston And Dallas Stand Strong for Relief!

The Tradeshow & Convention industry has been one of the hardest hit from the COVID-19 pandemic, one the one of the first to shut down and will likely be one of the last to return. This week IUPAT held a national action designed to highlight the plight of industry workers.

Way to go IUPAT Local 550 and 756 in Houston and Dallas! 

SIGN THE PETITION! Proposed Rule Would Tilt Scales When State Employees Sign Up With Union

Our Brothers and Sisters in the Texas State Employees Union are opposing a proposed state rule that would tilt the scales against the freedom of state employees to speak up together through the union.

 TSEU reports the Comptroller’s office has adopted segments of an opinion by indicted Attorney General Ken Paxton that seeks to apply the U.S. Supreme Court’s Janus decision to Texas.

 Here’s the problem: The Janus decision, which imposed so-called “right to work” rules with regard to public employees on all states, added nothing new to the law in Texas, which already bars requiring virtually all workers to pay dues or fees to a union.

The mandatory language the rule would impose on sign-up forms all but shouts, “Watch out!” to anyone who has already decided, freely and voluntarily, to join the union.

 Paxton’s opinion called for annual re-ups for public employee union members and, to its credit, the Comptroller’s office did not include that and other Paxton items in the rule. 

But Paxton’s opinion is part of a reign of error highlighted, or low-lighted, last Friday by a U.S. Supreme Court order denying Texas’s effort to overturn the presidential election. The lawsuit by Texas was so baseless and frivolous that the high court said it did not present anything that the justices could consider within their jurisdiction.

The Paxton opinion on union sign-up rights is also gratuitous -- a blatant effort to stymie union organizing.

TSEU’s Joe Montemayor reports the union has nearly 400 signatures on this action item already. Let’s add to that total

Holiday Mailing Underscores Need to Expand Postal Service Portfolio

The U.S. Postal Service is handling a crushing workload as mail-order shopping accelerates in the pandemic. That prompted the Economic Policy Institute to post a useful survey of the war against USPS and the need to expand what the universal mail system does so the service started by Benjamin Franklin continues into a bright future.

In this holiday season, the Texas AFL-CIO appreciates more than ever the National Association of Letter Carriers, American Postal Workers Union and other USPS union workers whose work is essential to the nation’s well-being:

What this report finds: The United States Postal Service is a beloved American institution that provides an essential public service to communities and good middle class jobs for workers. It is a model of efficiency and responsive to changing customer needs. But the conflicting demands made upon it by Congress and regulators put it in a precarious financial position even before the pandemic. Anti-government ideologues and special interests have long sought to privatize, shrink, or hobble the Postal Service. The Trump administration revived these efforts, spurred by the president’s opposition to mail voting and his animus toward Amazon, a major customer.

What needs to be done: The Biden administration and Congress must act to undo the damage and allow the Postal Service to adapt to meet unmet needs, including the revival of postal banking.

Song of the Week - "A Long December" by Counting Crows

...There's reason to believe maybe this year will be better than the last.

Stay safe. Stay strong. Have a Happy Holiday.