Bob Batz Jr.

Feb 4, 2025 | unionprogress.com | Bob Batz Jr.

Proponents of raising in-home care workers’ hourly pay to stem a critical lack of such workers across Pennsylvania held a virtual statewide rally Monday titled “Time for $20!”Many in-home care workers aren’t even paid $15 an hour, which is the starting point sought by a bill that was co-sponsored last year by Democratic state Rep. Jessica Benham of the South Side, serving District 36, with Republican state Rep. Jason Ortitay, of District 46 in Allegheny and Washington counties.

Feb 3, 2025 | unionprogress.com | Bob Batz Jr.

Your favorite Mexican restaurant may not be open Monday. Several immigrant-owned Pittsburgh-area business are closing as part of a national “Day Without Immigrants.” The action is being organized to spotlight the importance of immigrants to American communities and the economy. Not only are businesses encouraged to close it they can as a show of solidarity, but people also are encouraged to not make purchases for the day.

Jan 21, 2025 | unionprogress.com | Bob Batz Jr.

If you’re a fan of Groundhog Day but wish it weren’t mostly just a repeat of the same thing every single Feb. 2, or a replay of the movie, you might want to celebrate this season with the new album and new vision for the holiday by Edwin Everhart and friends.

Dec 2, 2024 | unionprogress.com | Bob Batz Jr.

Backyard Docs Film Festival, which bills itself as Pennsylvania’s largest documentary film festival, opens Dec. 5, with a showing of “Union.” The Sundance Award-winning work by Brett Story and Stephen Maing follows a group of Amazon workers as they face off against one of the planet’s most powerful companies, launching an unprecedented campaign to unionize their warehouse in Staten Island, New York.

Nov 14, 2024 | unionprogress.com | Bob Batz Jr.

The bargaining committee representing striking members of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh and its lawyer met with a lawyer and a manager of the journalists’ employer, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, for a rare bargaining session on Wednesday afternoon at the Omni William Penn Hotel, Downtown. No progress appears to have been made, from the session’s start just after 1 p.m. to the end just before 3 p.m. The last bargaining session with the journalists in April 2023 also accomplished little.