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    President of Powerful Service Workers Union Will Step Down

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    Mary Kay Henry of the nearly two-million-member Service Employees International Union will not seek re-election when her term ends in May.Mary Kay Henry, the president of the Service Employees International Union, one of the nation’s largest and most politically powerful labor unions, announced Tuesday that she would step down after 14 years in her position.Ms. Henry was the first woman elected to lead the union, which represents nearly two million workers like janitors and home health aides in both the public and private sectors.Under her leadership, it launched a major initiative known as the Fight for $15, which sought to organize fast-food workers and push for a $15 minimum wage. Winning over skeptics in the ranks, Ms. Henry argued that the union could make gains through a broad-based campaign that targeted the industry as a whole rather than individual employers.Labor experts and industry officials cite the campaign as a major force behind significant minimum-wage increases in states including California and New York and cities like Seattle and Chicago. It also pushed a recent California law creating a council to set a minimum wage in the fast-food industry, which will become $20 an hour in April, and to propose new health and safety standards.But the Fight for $15 campaign has not unionized workers on a large scale and enabled them to negotiate collective bargaining agreements with their employers.Ms. Henry’s tenure has coincided with a series of legislative and legal challenges to organized labor, including state laws rolling back collective bargaining rights and allowing workers to opt out of once-mandatory union fees, as well as a landmark Supreme Court ruling allowing government employees to do the same.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Restaurants and Unions Agree to Raise Pay to $20 an Hour in California

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      The deal will avoid a ballot fight over a law passed last year that could have resulted in higher pay and other changes opposed by restaurant companies and franchisees.Labor groups and fast-food companies in California reached an agreement over the weekend that will pave the way for workers in the industry to receive a minimum wage of $20 per hour.The deal, which will result in changes to Assembly Bill 1228, was announced by the Service Employees International Union on Monday, and will mean an increase to the minimum wage for California fast-food workers by April. In exchange, labor groups and their allies in the Legislature will agree to the fast-food industry’s demands to remove a provision from the bill that could have made restaurant companies liable for workplace violations committed by their franchisees.The agreement is contingent on the withdrawal of a referendum proposal by restaurant companies in California that would have challenged the proposed legislation in the 2024 ballot. Businesses, labor groups and others have often used ballot measures in California to block legislation or advance their causes. The proposed legislation would also create a council for overseeing future increases to the minimum wage and enact workplace regulations.“With these important changes, A.B. 1228 clears the path for us to start making much-needed improvements to the policies that affect our workplaces and the lives of more than half a million fast-food workers in our state,” Ingrid Vilorio, a fast-food worker and union member, said in a statement released by the S.E.I.U.Sean Kennedy, executive vice president of public affairs at the National Restaurant Association, said the deal also benefited restaurants. “This agreement protects local restaurant owners from significant threats that would have made it difficult to continue to operate in California,” he said. “It provides a more predictable and stable future for restaurants, workers and consumers.”Last year, the California Legislature passed Assembly Bill 257, which would have created a council with the authority to raise the minimum wage to $22 per hour for restaurant workers. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed it on Labor Day last year.But the bill met fierce opposition from business interests and restaurant companies, and a petition received enough signatures to put a measure on the November 2024 ballot to stop the law from going into effect.Other business groups in California have successfully used that tactic to change or reverse legislation they opposed.In 2020, ride-sharing and delivery companies like Uber and Instacart campaigned for and received an exemption from a key provision of Assembly Bill 5, which was signed by Mr. Newsom and would have made it much harder for the companies to classify drivers as independent contractors rather than employees.Those companies collected enough signatures to get the issue on the ballot as Proposition 22, which passed in November 2020. More than $200 million was spent on that measure, making it the costliest ballot initiative in the state at the time.And in February, oil companies received enough signatures for a measure that aims to block legislation banning new drilling projects near homes and schools. That initiative will be on the 2024 ballot.In response to calls from advocacy groups who have said the referendum process unfairly benefits wealthy special-interest groups, and in an effort to demystify a system that many Californians say is confusing, Mr. Newsom signed legislation on Sept. 8 that aims to simplify the referendum process. More

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      Canada Goose workers vote to unionize in Winnipeg.

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      Workers at three plants owned by the luxury apparel-maker Canada Goose in Winnipeg, Manitoba, have voted overwhelmingly to unionize, according to results announced by the union on Wednesday.Workers United, an affiliate of the giant Service Employees International Union, said it would represent about 1,200 additional workers as a result of the election.Canada Goose, which makes parkas that can cost more than $1,000 and have been worn by celebrities like Daniel Craig and Kate Upton, has union workers at other facilities, including some in Toronto, and has frequently cited its commitment to high environmental and labor standards. But it had long appeared to resist efforts to unionize workers in Winnipeg, part of what the union called an “adversarial relationship.”The company denied that it sought to block unionization, and both sides agree that it was neutral in recent weeks, in the run-up to the election. The union said 86 percent of those voting backed unionization.“I want to congratulate the workers of Canada Goose for this amazing victory,” Richard A. Minter, a vice president and international organizing director for Workers United, said in a statement. “I also want to salute the company. No employer wants a union, but Canada Goose management stayed neutral and allowed the workers the right to exercise their democratic vote.”Reacting to the vote, the company said: “Our goal has always been to support our employees, respecting their right to determine their own representation. We welcome Workers United as the union representative for our employees across our manufacturing facilities in Winnipeg.”Canada Goose was founded under a different name in the 1950s. It began to raise its profile and emphasize international sales after Dani Reiss, the grandson of its founder, took over as chief executive in 2001. Mr. Reiss committed to keeping production of parkas in Canada.The private equity firm Bain Capital purchased a majority stake in the company in 2013 and took it public a few years later.The union vote came after accusations this year that Canada Goose had disciplined two workers who identified themselves as union supporters. Several workers at Canada Goose’s Winnipeg facilities, where the company’s work force is mostly immigrants, also complained of low pay and abusive behavior by managers.The company has denied the accusations of retaliation and abuse and said that well over half its workers in Winnipeg earned wages above the local minimum of about 12 Canadian dollars (about $9.35).Workers United is also seeking to organize workers at several Buffalo-area Starbucks stores, three of which are in the middle of a mail-in union election in which ballots are due next week.Nearly 30 percent of workers are unionized in Canada, compared with about 11 percent in the United States. More

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      Maya Wiley Receives Backing of Local 1199 SEIU, Lifting Her Bid for Mayor

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }N.Y.C. Mayoral RaceWho’s Running?11 Candidates’ N.Y.C. MomentsA Look at the Race5 Takeaways From the DebateAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyMaya Wiley Is Backed by N.Y.C.’s Largest Union, Lifting Her Bid for MayorThe endorsement by Local 1199 of the Service Employees International Union is a major win for Ms. Wiley. The union was a key early supporter of Bill de Blasio in another crowded mayor’s race in 2013.Maya Wiley is running as a progressive who wants to lead New Yorkers out of the pandemic. The union that backed her represents more than 200,000 health care workers, many of whom are women of color.Credit…Seth Wenig/Associated PressFeb. 19, 2021Updated 12:19 p.m. ETNew York City’s largest union endorsed Maya Wiley, the former MSNBC analyst and legal counsel to Mayor Bill de Blasio, in the race for mayor on Friday, giving a lift to her campaign as she tries to prove that she is a leading candidate in the crowded Democratic field.The powerful union, Local 1199 of the Service Employees International Union, provided one of the first big labor endorsements in the wide-open mayor’s race and hoped to use its political weight to help elect a Black woman as mayor for the first time.The endorsement was a major win for Ms. Wiley, who is running as a progressive who wants to lead New Yorkers out of the pandemic in a city that has elected only one Black mayor and no women.For Ms. Wiley, who did not qualify for public matching funds this week despite having announced that her campaign had met the threshold, the union’s support comes at a critical time. The union was a key early endorser for Mr. de Blasio in 2013, helping him demonstrate that he was a viable candidate in a similarly competitive race.“Maya Wiley has the experience and vision needed to move us forward, and to reimagine what our city can be when working people have access to the tools and support needed to live with dignity,” the union’s president, George Gresham, said in a statement.Local 1199 represents more than 200,000 health care workers, many of whom are women of color and essential workers who have worked through the pandemic. Union leaders promised to mobilize members and to use their grass-roots organization to turn out voters.The endorsement will help Ms. Wiley make the argument that she can win the June 22 primary against other top Democratic candidates, including Eric Adams, the Brooklyn borough president, Scott M. Stringer, the city comptroller, and Andrew Yang, the former presidential hopeful. The campaign has moved mostly online during the pandemic, and it has become difficult for candidates to stand out.Ms. Wiley faced a setback earlier this week when the city’s campaign finance board said she had not qualified for the city’s 8-to-1 matching program, which could enable her to receive $2 million in public funds.“There were minor issues with some donations that should be resolved quickly, and the delay will not impact the campaign’s operations,” Julia Savel, a spokeswoman for Ms. Wiley, said in a statement.A candidate must raise at least $250,000 in contributions of $250 or less from at least 1,000 city residents to qualify for the program. Then a $10 contribution from a city resident effectively turns into $90.The campaign finance board audits each candidate’s filings. If a donor does not provide information like an address or employer, the donation is not eligible. The campaign can provide additional documentation to be considered for the next payment on March 15.So far, only Mr. Adams and Mr. Stringer have received public funds. Mr. Yang’s campaign said he recently met the threshold and expects to receive public funding in April, pending the board’s audit.Ms. Wiley’s campaign had made a big fund-raising push and declared victory in January, writing on Twitter: “You did it! You made history.”The endorsement from the health care workers’ union gives Ms. Wiley’s campaign fresh energy, but some political strategists expected her to secure it. Ms. Wiley is being advised by Patrick Gaspard, the former political director at 1199 who also worked for President Barack Obama in the White House.Gabby Seay, the union’s political director, said that she was excited to support a Black woman who has first-hand experience with racism and misogyny, especially after Kamala Harris’s history-making election as vice president.“This is what we mean when we say support Black women,” she said in an interview.Mr. Stringer, who is competing with Ms. Wiley for progressive voters, won an endorsement last year from the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, a major union that endorsed Christine Quinn, the City Council speaker, in 2013.Three other coveted unions have not yet made an endorsement: Local 32BJ of S.E.I.U., which represents building cleaners and airport workers, the Hotel Trades Council and the United Federation of Teachers.Ms. Wiley thanked the Local 1199’s members for helping New Yorkers during the “darkest days” of the pandemic.“As mayor, in my City Hall, the voices of frontline workers and unions will be as loud and as powerful as the pots and pans celebrating these essential workers at 7 p.m. every night this past spring,” Ms. Wiley said in a statement.Ms. Wiley, a civil rights lawyer whose father was a well-known civil rights leader, worked as Mr. de Blasio’s legal counsel for two years and then led the city’s police oversight agency, the Civilian Complaint Review Board.She has positioned herself as an expert on police reform and recently released an ambitious plan to shift resources from the Police Department to help families pay for child care and care for older relatives. Her plan aims to cut 2,250 police officers to give “high-need” families $5,000 a year to pay for those services.Some political consultants have argued that unions have less power than they once did or that labor endorsements could matter less this year. Ms. Seay rejected that idea, saying that the union offered “boots on the ground” and noting that its members are loyal Democratic voters.“There is no union like 1199,” she said. “Ask Bill de Blasio in 2013.”The union interviewed eight mayoral candidates and asked them to “walk a day” in members’ shoes to see what it is like to be a health care worker. Ms. Wiley spent time with Sandra Diaz, a home health aide who later said she believed Ms. Wiley would have her back. Ms. Wiley talked about caring for her own aging mother, who had Alzheimer’s, before she died.“She’s very down to earth, and she’s open to our ideas,” Ms. Diaz said.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More