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OPEIU Local 2 executive board member Caniesha Seldon has been elected to serve a one-year term as co-chair of the AFL-CIO Young Workers Advisory Council (YWAC).  YWAC was founded in 2009 and is comprised of 35 young workers from various AFL-CIO affiliates across the United States.  It was created as a way to develop dialogue among young workers who are active in the labor movement, with the hopes of creating resources and programs that make it easier for young workers to become more involved.  Council members mentor, train, and develop young worker group leaders and publicly represent the AFL-CIO’s NextUp program across the country.  

Unions in New York State gained 58,000 members last year, a reversal of the decline recorded between 2013 and 2014, according to new federal data. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported last week the ranks of private-sector and government unions in the state totaled 2 million, up 3 percent from a year earlier. Union membership has fluctuated in recent years.

There was a decline of 6,000 members between 2013 and 2014, and an increase of 145,000 between 2012 and 2013. The latter was the first increase since 2007. However, union membership remains below its recent high of 2.1 million in 2005. The expansion of union rolls coincided with an increase in the number of people employed in New York State. The total workforce statewide grew by 189,000 people last year, or 2.3 percent over 2014.

Dear Editor: I am happy Kevin Scofield is glad to remain employed at Menards during hard times, though he hardly offers spirited details and talks vaguely of policies he does not like. Unfortunately, Menards denies their employees the right to speak openly regarding company employment policies and decisions with which they may disagree.

For instance, Menards has created a no-gossiping policy at the workplace. The company’s “Team Member Pay Merit Review Eligibility Notice” lists reasons managers can cite to deny employees merit pay increases — including gossiping. Menards' gossiping ban violates the National Labor Relations Act as it unjustly penalizes any employee who complains, to another employee, about working conditions.

The Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU), AFL-CIO, has endorsed Shaun Francis for the New York State Senate, 43rd District.

“Shaun has dedicated his post-baseball career to serving the needs of working people,” said OPEIU President Richard Lanigan. “He has the experience and proven dedication that makes him the right candidate to represent working families in New York and ensure their interests are protected in Albany.” Lanigan pledged OPEIU will mobilize its members in the 43rd District to help ensure that Francis is elected.

David versus Goliath comparisons leap to the journalist's pen whenever an average person fights for rights against the controlling richest .01 percent. It's a popular truism. But sometimes it's dead right. Such is the case of an unknown union organizer who likes to work computer and phone out of a coffee shop near his Manhattan home in a state that doesn't even have one of John Menard Jr.'s 280 Big Box home improvement stores.