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Exciting news! Union Plus’s new hearing partner Start Hearing has a free online hearing test you can take from the comfort of your home. Based on your results, you can schedule a no-obligation hearing consultation. Don’t miss special moments this summer, take the first step to better hearing today.
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OPEIU STATEMENT ON RECENT MURDERS OF LORENZO SALGADO ARAUJO AND JOAN SEBASTIAN DURAN GUERRERO BY ICE AGENTS: ICE IS KILLING WORKING PEOPLE
OPEIU condemns the murders of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo and Joan Sebastian Duran Guerrero at the hands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
Operating with impunity, ICE continues to inflict lethal violence on the vulnerable and spread terror in our communities. Their recent actions in Houston, Texas, and Biddeford, Maine, are not an anomaly. These murders are part and parcel of the agency’s ongoing campaign to inflict maximum damage on immigrants across the country, undermine democracy and strip away the freedoms they fraudulently claim to uphold.
Our thoughts are with Lorenzo and Joan’s loved ones and with all immigrants facing authoritarian violence at the hands of ICE.
We can and must abolish ICE.
JD Vance Just Called Millions Of People’s Jobs ‘Fake.’ Union Organizers Would Like A Word.
During a podcast episode of “The Way I Heard It with Mike Rowe” promoting his new book last week, Vance repeatedly contrasted blue-collar and white-collar work while discussing the Trump administration’s push to revive trade jobs and manufacturing.
Celebrating Independence on America’s 250th Birthday
To Our OPEIU Family:
Happy Fourth of July!
This weekend we celebrate our nation’s founding as a democracy free from foreign rule and recommit ourselves to the vision of true freedom that spurred our founding revolution.
Americans continue to believe in the ideas that inspired our founders to fight for freedom from tyranny 250 years ago. But the fight must continue.
Despite the perseverance of this just vision, powerful forces in our country replicate the behaviors that spurred early Americans to action. Our government denies workers a voice through anti-union legislation. They launch wars around the world evoking our nation’s shameful genocide of Native Americans. And they undermine democracy to further consolidate power and wealth for the elite.
As we enjoy this summer weekend and celebrate the optimism, diversity and innovation that make our country so special, let us recommit to the uncompromising resistance that made Independence Day possible in the first place.
In solidarity,
Team OPEIU
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BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP IS NON-NEGOTIABLE
OPEIU applauds today’s Supreme Court decision in Trump v. Barbara to uphold birthright citizenship. Under the United States Constitution, everyone born in the United States is a citizen at birth.
President Trump’s efforts to undermine this foundational right are part and parcel of his overall strategy to divide, demonize and otherize non-white people to further his xenophobic agenda. While millions still live in fear of the president’s radical immigration agenda — one we are combatting in coalition with the entire labor movement — this court ruling provides significant relief and clarity for working people whose citizenship was left in doubt by the president’s shameful, and now voided, executive order.
Nurses at UF Health Shands Hospital Ratify Contract with Historic Financial Package
Gainesville, FL — The Shands Nurses Union, Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) Local 713/Florida Nurses Association, voted to ratify a new three-year contract with UF Health Shands Hospital yesterday covering approximately 3,000 registered nurses. The contract includes $18.3 million in wage and other compensation improvements and $3.3 million to ensure no health insurance premium increases in 2027, among other key improvements.
The contract, bargained over five days, covers 2,952 bedside RNs responsible for making Shands a top Florida hospital. The nurses prioritized demands that would enable them to live comfortably in the community they serve and have access to affordable healthcare to the quality of what they deliver.
“This agreement delivers meaningful improvements for the nurses we represent and builds on the strong foundation they have established over the years,” said Marsha Martin, RN, president of The Shands Nurses Union. “Today’s ratification is a testament to what nurses can accomplish when they stand together.”
The Shands Nurses Union doubled its dues-paying members as they developed their collective power throughout bargaining. As a result, nurses will receive a pay increase of $1 to $4 per hour and annual merit-based wage increases of 3.8 percent on average. Nurses achieved a wage re-opener clause allowing for new negotiations in spring 2027.
The contract also continues to strengthen grievance procedures and solidify nurses’ voice in workplace issues impacting nurses. “While our work is never finished, this contract positions us to achieve even more in the future,” Martin added. “As we continue to grow our membership and strengthen our union, we will be even better positioned to advocate for our profession, our patients and every nurse we represent.”
The Shands Nurses Union will continue to build on this victory through strengthening their numbers with the goal of achieving even closer to what they deserve in the next contract.
Tell Your Senators: Faster Labor Contracts Now!
Newly organized workers are waiting an average 458 days to secure their first contract, with many taking even longer as employers drag out the process thanks to lax labor laws. That’s unacceptable.
Tell your lawmakers it is time to stand with working people and make it easier to get a first contract.
There is bipartisan support in Washington, D.C., to add meaningful leverage for workers in their first contract fights and ensure they get the protections of a union contract in months, not years. The Faster Labor Contracts Act (H.R. 5408; S.R. 844) would create an enforceable timeline for bargaining a first contract. If negotiations are going well, the parties can choose to continue bargaining as normal. If negotiations stall, this bill would refer the dispute to mediation and, ultimately, binding arbitration. A first contract could be settled within a few months.
The good news is the Faster Labor Contracts Act just passed…
AFL-CIO Condemns Supreme Court Decision to End TPS for Immigrant Workers
AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler issued the following statement in response to today’s Supreme Court decision allowing the Trump administration to terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) protections:
Today’s decision is a devastating blow to working families and the stability of our economy. We stand proudly with the valued members of our unions and communities with TPS as we continue the long-term fight for justice.
By allowing the Trump administration to disregard the law, the court has put the lives and livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of workers at risk. TPS holders from Haiti, Syria and other countries came here fleeing danger, instability and crisis. They have built lives here, joined unions, and become integral to our workplaces and economy.
Let’s be clear about who pays the price for this decision: working people. It’s not just wrong—it is a recipe for economic disaster that will create chaos in workplaces, disrupt key industries, and make it…
Hawai’i Nurses Association/OPEIU Local 50 President Rose Agas-Yuu and OPEIU Local 40 President Dina Carlisle address the 30th AFL-CIO Convention
Hawai’i Nurses Association/OPEIU Local 50 President Rose Agas-Yuu and OPEIU Local 40 President Dina Carlisle address the 30th AFL-CIO Convention on the bravery and commitment shown by nurses across the United States. OPEIU represents more than 25,000 nurses and healthcare workers throughout the country.