unions | ARLnow.com

Morning Notes

Published March 25, 2019 at 7:30AM | Updated March 25, 2019 at 8:40AM

Amazon Talking to Unions — “Amazon.com Inc., JBG Smith Properties Inc. and union representatives in the D.C. region have met a few times in the last six weeks to discuss benefits and wages for the workers who will build HQ2 in Pentagon City.” [Washington Business Journal]

Changes Coming to Arlandria? — “For decades, developers have eyed Arlandria, the working-class neighborhood near Reagan National Airport where a transplanted Hispanic culture flourishes amid Northern Virginia’s upscale condominiums… Now, crime is down, the economy is humming, and Amazon is moving in virtually next door, with plans to hire thousands of well-paid workers, who’ll be in search of easy commutes.” [Washington Post]

News

Amazon Signals It Could Sign Agreement with Local Unions to Govern Arlington Construction

By Alex Koma

Published February 13, 2019 at 3:30PM | Updated February 13, 2019 at 5:01PM

Amazon is showing an increasing willingness to sign a collective bargaining agreement with local unions before it sets to work building new office space in Arlington, perhaps meeting a frequent demand of activists concerned about the tech giant’s labor practices.

Though the company cautions that nothing is set in stone until county officials formally sign off on an incentive deal to bring the tech giant’s new headquarters to Crystal City and Pentagon City, Amazon is sending signals that it’s open to the prospect of striking a “project labor agreement” with construction workers who could someday erect the company’s future home in Arlington.

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Amazon-Focused Town Hall Reveals Community Concerns Over Tech Giant’s Power

By Alex Koma

Published December 4, 2018 at 1:45PM

How might lowly local officials be able to bring one of the world’s largest companies to heel?

That’s the prime question on the minds of many Arlington and Alexandria residents worried about how Amazon might soon reshape their communities.

News

Arlington Democrats Back Striking National Guard Workers

By Alex Koma

Published August 6, 2018 at 10:45AM

County Board Chair Katie Cristol (middle) meets with striking Didlake workers in June. (via @kcristol)

Arlington Democrats are throwing their support behind a group of workers with disabilities who have spent the last few months on strike, demanding the chance to unionize.

The county’s Democratic Committee voted Wednesday (Aug. 1) to urge Didlake, a Manassas nonprofit who employees the workers, to “respect the rights of its workers” at the Army National Guard Readiness Center on S. George Mason Drive and recognize that they’ve repeatedly voted to form a union.

News

Taxi Drivers Argue DCA Construction is ‘Destroying Our Business’

By Alex Koma

Published July 24, 2018 at 10:45AM

Taxi drivers demonstrate outside a MWAA meeting in Crystal City (courtesy of New Virginia Majority)

Construction-related changes at one Reagan National Airport arrivals terminal have local taxi drivers fuming, and they argue airport officials are ignoring their complaints while catering to ridesharing services like Uber and Lyft.

Dozens of drivers serving the airport have begun leading protests outside Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority meetings in Crystal City, with the most recent demonstration coming last week, in order to force attention on the issue.

News

Workers with Disabilities at Army National Guard Center Go On Strike, Demand Ability to Unionize

By Alex Koma

Published May 30, 2018 at 3:45PM | Updated May 30, 2018 at 4:12PM

Workers at the Army National Guard Readiness Center picket the facility (courtesy of LIUNA)

A group of workers with disabilities at the Army National Guard Readiness Center on S. George Mason Drive has gone on strike, pushing for the right to unionize and a reduction in healthcare costs.

A dozen employees with Didlake, a Manassas nonprofit that contracts with the National Guard to provide maintenance and custodial services at the center, walked off the job on this past Friday. They’ve been hoping for more than a year now to organize with the help of the Laborers’ International Union of North America, commonly known as LiUNA, but Didlake has repeatedly refused to recognize their efforts and negotiate with the workers.

News

Airport Workers Threatening Holiday Season Strike

By ARLnow.com

Published November 29, 2016 at 3:05PM

The union leading the charge, 32BJ SEIU, says that wheelchair attendants, skycaps, baggage handlers, checkpoint agents and cabin cleaners at the airports “earn as little as $6.75 an hour plus unreliable tips.”

The strike was authorized during a rally at National Airport today.

News

Contract Groundskeepers at Arlington Nat’l Cemetery May Strike

By ARLnow.com

Published May 23, 2016 at 1:30PM | Updated May 23, 2016 at 4:14PM

The workers have faced eight months of delay in seeking a new contract with “modest” pay increases and a paid sick leave option, according to their union, the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LiUNA). The workers are employed by Davey Tree Expert Co. and Greenleaf Services Inc., which have contracts with the cemetery, LiUNA says.

The union issued the following press release this afternoon.

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Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Published June 19, 2015 at 9:15AM

Janitors to Rally with Candidates in Ballston — About 150 part-time janitors will rally in Ballston this afternoon for a new union contract. The rally is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. in front of the National Science Foundation at 4201 Wilson Blvd. Democratic County Board candidates Katie Cristol and Christian Dorsey are expected to attend the rally to lend their support, according to a press release from the 32BJ SEIU union.

Arlington Man Killed in D.C. Pedestrian Crash — An Arlington man, 31-year-old George Mina, has died several days after being struck by a car on Wisconsin Avenue NW in D.C. Mina, a pediatric phlebotomist, was struck by the driver of a Jaguar while crossing Wisconsin at Veazy Street NW on June 10. A rally for pedestrian safety was held in the area last night, with advocates calling for D.C. to implement pedestrian safety measures currently in use in Arlington. [NBC Washington]

News

Firefighters on Current Staffing Level: ‘Dangerously Inadequate’

By Ethan Rothstein

Published May 29, 2014 at 5:05PM | Updated May 29, 2014 at 5:24PM

File photo

This morning, the Arlington Professional Firefighters and Paramedics Association (the IAFF Local 2800) issued a long, detailed statement on the need to staff Tower 104, which serves the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor, and Rescue 109, which serves Pentagon City and Columbia Pike, with four firefighters, as opposed to their current three-person staffs.

“Tower 104 and Rescue 109, with an ever-rising response area population, massive increase in high-rise square footage, terrorism threat, and other changing factors, require adequate staffing to safely and effectively carry out our assignments,” the Local 2800 writes. “The current staffing of three firefighters is woefully and dangerously inadequate.”

News

Arlington GOP, Green Party, Unions Join Forces

By ARLnow.com

Published February 26, 2010 at 1:03AM | Updated April 22, 2010 at 12:45PM

A coalition of unlikely allies is pushing for a major change in the structure of Arlington’s government. On Wednesday, the Arlington Republican Party voted to join the Green Party, the police union, and the firefighters and paramedics union, in petitioning for changes to county leadership.

The proposed change would shift power away from the (unelected) county manager. Instead, more responsibility would lie with the county board, which would be elected by districts rather than at-large. Republicans hope this might result in the first Republican board member in more than 10 years. The Greens see a similar glimmer of hope for reversing electoral futility.