Fallout from grave accusations against United Farm Workers leader Cesar Chavez:
Earlier this week, a New York Times investigative report detailed a “pattern of sexual misconduct” by UFW co-founder Cesar Chavez. The newspaper uncovered “extensive evidence,” backed up by interviews of 60+ people, that Chavez allegedly groomed and raped underage girls. The publication independently verified and corroborated “many” survivors’ accounts via third-party interviews and a vast array of historical documents.
Further, UFW co-founder Dolores Huerta lodged her own accusations against Chavez, who allegedly raped her during her 30s, leading to two pregnancies. She spoke of him as a “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” personality who “used some of his great leadership to abuse women and children.”
After this news broke, UFW cancelled their late-March annual celebrations of Chavez’s legacy. California lawmakers are also moving to rebrand Cesar Chavez Day (Mar. 31) as “Farmworkers Day.” As well, community centers, libraries, and parks across the U.S. are starting to take action on whether to remove statues and rename these landmarks.
It’s worth noting Huerta’s revelation that she had stayed silent because she “feared that no one within the union would believe her.”
Will Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA strike again?
In 2023, WGA went on a 148-day strike against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). This led to a 2023 contract that supposedly protected both sides on AI. Yet WGA’s new bargaining agenda shows that writers believe that the contract, which was pushed by union leaders, didn’t really address their concerns on AI or streaming residuals.
This week, contract renewal talks formally began between WGA and AMPTP while members picketed. Surely, workers don’t want another full-fledged strike when their union doesn’t provide guaranteed strike pay, instead claiming to do hardship determinations before issuing assistance.
Meanwhile, SAG-AFTRA’s own month-long talks with AMPTP reportedly “broke off” last week without much progress on a new contract.
Major hospital strikes ending, pending, and ongoing:
– 170 technical employees, including radiologists and surgical techs, ended a Teamsters strike at Multicare Yakima Memorial Hospital in Washington. Despite two months off the job, they still have no contract.
– 23,000 Kaiser Permanente nurses joined 2,400 mental health therapists and social workers for a 24-hour strike in California on Mar. 18. Those workers are represented by the National Union of Healthcare Workers and California Nurses Association.
– 900 nurses plan to strike at Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center on Mar. 23. They’re represented by National Nurses United.
– 10,000 Teamsters-represented Corewell Health East nurses authorized a strike in Michigan over stalled contract talks.
– 750 nurses at Michigan’s Henry Ford Genesys are closing in on 200 days on strike. The hospital’s latest proposed offer would increase RN salaries by 13% in 2026. They would also add new weekend and off-shift premium pay and make significant staffing-ratio changes. Teamsters aren’t budging.
UFCW’s inconsistent messaging on the JBS meatpacking strike:
The first meatpacking strike in 40 years is now taking place at Swift Beef Co. in Greeley, CO. Around 3,800 workers walked out, and accusations are flying on both sides with the company revealing that the union won’t let members vote on their most recent proposed contract.
The union also appears to have a short memory.
UFCW Local 7 President Kim Cordova grumbled about JBS’ offer being too “similar to a national agreement the company made with unions in other states last year.” Yet last year, UFCW bragged about the “historic” nature of that deal, and International VP Mark Lauritsen claimed to have scored “major wins” on safety. He added, “Every employer in the meatpacking industry should follow JBS’s leadership and reintroduce pension plans for the hard-working men and women who keep America fed.”
The hits keep coming for the Cemex standard:
As we previously discussed, the Sixth Circuit declined to enforce a Cemex bargaining order in Brown-Forman Corporation v. NLRB and remanded the case to the Board. The judges found that “the Cemex Board exceeded its adjudicatory authority” in overriding the Supreme Court’s Gissel standard, which limited bargaining orders to cases of serious employer misconduct.
An update: On Mar. 12, Ogletree Deakins attorney Ryan T. Sears filed a rulemaking petition on behalf of a coalition of business groups including Associated Builders and Contractors, National Federation of Independent Business, and the National Retail Federation.
The petition requests that the NLRB formally rescind the Cemex decision. The coalition pointed out that the Board’s aggressive move not only chilled lawful speech by employers but also hindered workers’ free choice by favoring card-check rather than secret-ballot elections.
We’ll see how the Board responds. Elsewhere, Cemex cases in the Ninth Circuit and D.C. Circuit are pending after oral arguments.
