By: Anthony Davis

Greetings Brothers and Sisters,

HAPPY 2025!
I hope everyone enjoyed their time off and you are ready for the new year.

On January 20, 2025, we observed Martin Luther King, Jr. Day; honoring one of our nation’s all-time great civil and workers’ rights leaders. King was a champion of working people and labor unions, which he saw as integral to his work in promoting civil rights. In 1968, at the time of his assassination in Memphis, TN, he was supporting striking sanitation workers.
“The labor movement was the principal force that transformed misery and despair into hope and progress.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

A White Shirt Day celebration will be held here at Local 659 on February 11, 2025, at 11 a.m. We will be honoring the workers who participated in the Flint Sit-Down Strike of 1936 and 1937. In the face of anti-union sentiment, brutal working conditions and low wages, the men and women working for General Motors came together to orchestrate a historic sit-in, where they occupied the Flint factory and demanded a seat at the bargaining table with GM.

After 44 days, on February 11, 1937, the sit-in came to a close. For the first time, General Motors agreed to recognize the United Autoworkers Union (UAW) as the official bargaining representative of hourly GM employees, securing pay increases and lunch breaks for all labor workers, and exploding the union membership from 30,000 to 500,000 members in the year following the sit-in.

Following the strike, workers wore white shirts every February 11th to show the laborers and “blue-collar” workers deserve the same respect as their “white-collar” counterparts.

The meaning of White Shirt Day is to celebrate the struggles and accomplishments of workers who have come before us and fought for fairness, dignity, and respect in the workplace. We all know theses struggles still continue today. We must stand together and continue the fight for fairness, dignity, and respect.

We have received multiple calls regarding the Earned Sick Time Act (ESTA). This is what we know so far. On February 21, 2025, the ESTA will replace the Paid Medical Leave Act (PMLA). Our members are currently under a ratified agreement and therefor the changes under the ESTA will not take effect until your respective agreement expires according to Section 12 of the ESTA, which states:
“If an employer’s employees are covered by a collective bargaining agreement in effect on the effective date of this act, this act applies beginning on the stated expiration date in the collective bargaining agreement, notwithstanding any statement in the agreement that it continues in force until a future date or event or the execution of a new collective bargaining agreement”

I want to thank everyone who volunteered or brought the kids out to “Pictures with Santa.” As usual, all the kids had smiles on their faces. Last year, I had said that besides Santa, I would have to say the hot cocoa bar was the next best thing. This year, I think decorating your own cookie may have won.

Remember, no matter who you are, or where you are from, we are all in this together!