Recent Press

West Virginia AFL-CIO leaders, West Virginia union members and friends will rally outside the Charleston and Martinsburg offices of Senator Shelley Moore Capito on Thursday, July 22, beginning at 11:30 am, to urge Senator Capito to support the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act. 

During the rally, labor leaders will briefly discuss how the PRO Act, a labor rights bill, will reform inadequate labor laws and empower workers to exercise their freedom to organize and bargain. West Virginia workers will call upon Senator Capito to join Senator Joe Manchin and co-sponsor the PRO Act, legislation essential to making America’s economy work for working people. 

At the same time, the Eastern Panhandle Central Labor Council will rally outside of Senator Capito’s Martinsburg office.

WHAT: Rally outside the offices of Senator Shelley Moore Capito

WHEN: 11:30 a.m. Thursday, July 22

WHERE: 500 Virginia Street East, Charleston; 300 Foxcroft Avenue, Martinsburg

Today, Teamster Local 175 members employed by Coca Cola Consolidated in Bluefield West Virginia voted unanimously to reject the company’s final offer for settlement of a new contract and authorize a strike. The contract expires on July 28, 2021. The company is proposing significant increases to the amount that employees pay for their health insurance plan despite the fact that major changes were made to their health insurance only one year ago. The company is also offering nearly 20 percent less in wage increases for their hourly employees compared to similarly situated employees at the company’s Charleston West Virginia branch. The company is also offering substantially less for their commission employees than they agreed to pay their employees in other locations in West Virginia. During negotiations, the company claimed that it has been negatively affected by COVID-19. The fact is, as evidence by the company’s own numbers, the company sold substantially more product and made substantially more money in 2020 than it had in the previous years. While the company is crying poor mouth when it comes time to give increases to their employees, the company’s CEO Frank Harrison III already exorbitant salary was increased over $688,000 in 2020. 

Members of the United Steelworkers and their allies will be rallying in front of the West Virginia Capitol Tuesday morning to urge Governor Justice and legislative leaders to take action to save 1,500 Viatris/Mylan jobs that are at risk.

They will be asking the governor to form a task force to explore how to prevent Viatris/Mylan -- one of the last manufacturers of generic prescription medicine in the United States – from closing the Morgantown facility.

WHAT:                      Rally for Viatris/Mylan jobs
WHEN:                      10:30 a.m. Tuesday, June 8
WHERE:                   Steps on the river side of the State Capitol

A dozen organizations representing tens of thousands of public employees - including law enforcement officers and other first responders such as firefighters, as well as educators, state and municipal employees - have filed suit in order to block a new law that was passed with the sole purpose of retaliating against them.

“As is clearly stated in our circuit court filing, the so-called ‘Paycheck Protection’ Act discriminates against organized public employees who seek to ensure safe workplaces and fair treatment by their employers, and was passed by this legislative majority purely out of spite,” WV AFL-CIO President Josh Sword said. “House Bill 2009 selectively and discriminately prohibits paycheck deductions for public employees and their unions, a practice that has gone on for more than 50 years without a problem, while still allowing hundreds of other paycheck deductions to remain in place.

America’s labor movement honored Workers Memorial Day on Wednesday. It’s an annual day of remembrance when unions and allies from across the country come together to reflect on those who have lost their lives on the job from accidents and as a result of chronic illness and injuries sustained from dangerous working conditions.

In 2020, 17 West Virginians lost their lives while on the job. These workers were fathers, daughters, brothers and sisters. They were first responders, coal miners and service workers. They were our friends, and they should not have lost their lives.