First Vice President Tony White and Secretary/Treasurer Mindy Grimes-Festge welcome state representative Kevin Chambliss who gives update on House Bills 835 and 947, which would allow for employers to intimidate workers who wish to join union and undermine union strength. Visit the UTD Legislative Action page to stand up for workers' right and public education by contacting your elected representatives. 

On this day in history, March 9, Dr. Antonia Novello was appointed Surgeon General of the United States in 1990. She was the first woman—and the first Hispanic—ever to hold that office. One of her most visible and effective campaigns was against tobacco industry advertising aimed at children, especially evident in posters and billboard advertisements that featured the cartoon character "Joe Camel." 

A vote on whether to form a union at the e-commerce giant’s warehouse in Bessemer, Ala., has become a labor showdown, drawing the attention of N.F.L. players, and the White House.

Players from the National Football League were among the first to voice their support. Then came Stacey Abrams, the Democratic star who helped turn Georgia blue in the 2020 election.

The actor Danny Glover traveled to Bessemer, Ala., for a news conference last week, where he invoked the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s pro-union leanings in urging workers at Amazon’s warehouse there to organize. Tina Fey has weighed in, and so has Senator Bernie Sanders.

And on Sunday, President Biden issued a resounding declaration of solidarity with the workers now voting on whether to form a union at Amazon’s Bessemer warehouse, without mentioning the company by name. Posted to his official Twitter account, his video was one of the most forceful statements in support of unionizing by an American president in recent memory.

“Every worker should have a free and fair choice to join a union,” Mr. Biden said.

Amazon Workers’ Union Drive Reaches Far Beyond Alabama (New York Times, March 2)

Further, Rep. Chambliss says that HB1 has "license to kill" contained within bill. Chambliss sent a strongly-worded statement calling the measure “the scariest piece of legislation that I have seen in my life.”