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Tuesday, December 24, 2024

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American Airlines is boarding flights again, and the FAA lifts its nationwide ground-stop; Santa Cruz, CA wharf collapses in storm, tossing three people into water; Toxic 'forever chemicals' taint rural CA wells. Has Ohio lost its battleground state status? Opponents of factory farms regroup after mixed election results.

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Biden commutes the sentences of most federal death row inmates, the House Ethics Committee says former Rep. Gaetz may have committed statutory rape, and the national archivist won't certify the ERA without congressional approval.

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Rural folks could soon be shut out of loans for natural disasters if Project 2025 has its way, Taos, New Mexico weighs options for its housing shortage, and the top states providing America's Christmas trees revealed.

KY labor unions want next administration to support PRO Act

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Monday, November 4, 2024   

Labor groups in Kentucky and across the nation are pushing for the next administration to pass the Protecting the Right to Organize, or PRO, Act.

The legislation would reform existing labor laws to clamp down on union-busting tactics, and strengthen workers' rights during organizing and bargaining with their employer.

Bowling Green resident Tim O'Hara is the former president of United AutoWorkers 1112, based in Youngstown Ohio.

He said he's seen the impact of anti-labor policies, after the General Motor's Lordstown Complex - where he worked for more than four decades - closed its doors in 2019.

He said he believes the PRO Act will help strengthen unions and update outdated labor laws.

"Unions always face uphill battles whenever they try to organize a workplace," said O'Hara. "I mean, there's always the companies against them. A lot of times there's laws that are against them. So it's always an uphill battle."

Union membership is increasing in the Commonwealth. Last year 8.8% of Kentucky workers were union members, compared with 7.9% in 2022, according to federal data.

On many state ballots this week, voters will decide on labor issues - including whether or not Uber, Lyft and other gig drivers can join unions - along with tipped worker pay policies, minimum wage policies, and sick leave policies.

O'Hara said he believes the Biden-Harris administration has been supportive of unions.

"We've seen, the UAW and most other major unions are strongly for Kamala Harris," said O'Hara. "She's the only candidate that's going to support unions and union workers."

In 2024, seven in 10 Americans approve of labor unions, near a 60-year high, according to a recent Gallup poll.




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Juana Valle's well is one of 20 sites tested in California's San Joaquin Valley and Central Coast regions in the first round of preliminary sampling by University of California-Berkeley researchers and the Community Water Center. The results showed 96 parts per trillion of total PFAS in her water, including 32 parts per trillion of PFOS - both considered potentially hazardous amounts. (Hannah Norman/KFF Health News)

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By Hannah Norman for KFF Health News.Broadcast version by Suzanne Potter for California News Service reporting for the KFF Health News-Public News Ser…


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Animal rights organizers are regrouping after mixed results at the ballot box in November. A measure targeting factory farms passed in Berkeley but …

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Farmers in Nebraska and across the nation might not be in panic mode anymore thanks to another extension of the Farm Bill but they still want Congress…


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