Labor Day 2024 Recap

Over the course of Labor Day weekend, Team Texas AFL-CIO headed to TEN cities across the state to celebrate the accomplishments of Texas workers past, present, and future.

“Union membership in Texas has increased three years in a row,” Texas AFL-CIO President Rick Levy said. “Union popularity in the U.S. is at a high not seen in 60 years, with a Gallup poll finding 70 percent of Americans have positive views about the role of unions in lifting up working people.”

“That is why even in Texas, which has a long history of suppression of labor unions and where state laws provide almost none of the benefits of a union contract, we are seeing unprecedented organizing in tech jobs, non-profits, retail work, restaurants and health care to go with our traditional membership in the building trades, public sector and communications. The stage is set for working people to improve their lives by speaking up together – not only through organizing their workplace, but by making their voice heard at the ballot box. In this crucial election year, Texas labor is ready to elect candidates up and down the ballot who will fight for working Texans.”

This past year, groundbreaking organizing has spread across Texas – historically one of the toughest states in the U.S. to organize. Workers in Fort Worth unionized the first HomeGoods store in the state. AscensionSeton Medical Center nurses in Austin secured their first contract after two picket lines drew broad community support. Just in recent weeks:

• In Abilene, not historically a major union outpost, workers at the International Rescue Committee won recognition from management after joining Office and Professional Employees International Union Local 277, alongside their Dallas counterparts;
• Workers at RAICES, an immigration nonprofit, won their first contract at offices across the state;
• 2,500 workers at a Marshall’s distribution center in El Paso unionized with UNITE HERE;
• Workers at a Spec’s warehouse, the state’s largest wine and liquor distributor, won their union election in Dallas;
• A Starbucks store in Arlington joined nearly a couple dozen other Texas stores as the number of unionized Starbucks marches nationally toward the 500 mark;
• Sixty workers at Blizzard Entertainment in Austin joined the Communications Workers of America.

  From nurses to pipefitters, electricians to nonprofit workers, working people in Texas are taking their power back. At the same time, the Texas AFL-CIO is engaged in the uphill fight for public policies that provide workers a fair shot at better livelihoods and we continue to assist union across the state as they engage in the everyday work of a union on matters like contract negotiations and maintenance, apprenticeships, community service and community advocacy.