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Press Releases

APALA Management and Staff Union Ratifies Groundbreaking Union Contract!

9/7/2022

 
For Immediate Release:
​Contact: Katie Moy Mostris, katie@apala.org

APALA Management and Staff Union Ratifies Groundbreaking Union Contract! 

Washington, DC - APALA is proud to reach an agreement with OPEIU Local 2 to ratify the organization’s first staff union contract. The contract includes pay increases and guaranteed raises; alternatives to carceral practices in the workplace; added protections and benefits for LGBTQ, immigrant workers, and workers of color; and so much more. 

The staff union was voluntarily recognized in the last months of 2020. They join the growing movement of nonprofit and staff union workers who are organizing their workplaces. It is noteworthy that all members of the union are Asian American, the racial group with the lowest rates of unionization. APALA is the first of the six constituency groups affiliated with the AFL-CIO to have unionized staff. This contract will increase all bargaining unit member salaries by $10,000 and guarantees 5% salary increases each year of the contract moving staff forward in line with rising inflation. 

Vivian Chang (APALA Civic Engagement & Racial Justice Director) and Kristina Romines (APALA Economic Justice & Capacity Building Director), OPEIU Local 2 and members of the bargaining committee, “We are incredibly proud of our first contract and the groundbreaking language we implemented to make APALA a better workplace for all workers. Every worker needs a union, including employees at non-profits or in offices, and we are proud to be a part of our OPEIU family.”

APALA National Executive Board Secretary and Management’s Chief Negotiator Sandra Engle, UAW said, “The bottom line is non-profits have to practice what we preach. We are proud to settle our first contract with our dedicated staff and look forward to continuing to collaborate to create a more democratic workplace. We hope our contract serves as a model to other employers negotiating their first agreement on how to incorporate our values and protect our most vulnerable workers.”

Some of the highlights of ways the contract protects marginalized identities include:
  • implements a 32-hour workweek for all staff;
  • Provides the bargaining unit $500 total per year in financial assistance for new bargaining-unit employees and/or interns who request it for purposes of purchasing business casual or traditional business attire.
  • Institutes a gender non-specific dress code and prioritizes venues that provide gender-neutral restrooms and/or private bathrooms that provide greater degrees of privacy;
  • Calls for a gender equity audit and assessment of division of labor (e.g. pattern of note taking by a specific gender); 
  • Provides up to $1,000 to any employee who is seeking immigration, citizenship, or visa assistance; prohibits APALA from sharing employee information with ICE nor facilitating the deportation or detention of any employee; and provides employees paid working days to attend immigration proceedings related to the employee and/or the employee’s family (family as defined by the employee);
  • Requires an annual training for all staff and board members on mental health accommodations using a framework of disability justice, nonviolent communication; learning and communication styles;
  • Creates a remediation process that prioritizes understanding, acknowledging harm and the needs that result from harm, and developing agreements that increase trust and safety, rather than focus solely on legalistic processes when it comes to addressing conduct issues;
  • Requires APALA to review partnerships and investments with the purpose of divesting from fossil fuels, policing and prisons;

The Management team included board members Sandra Engle, Jason Chan, Tiffany Hsieh, and Executive Director Alvina Yeh. The Bargaining Committee included OPEIU union representatives Juanita Bowman and Jessica Maiorca, and APALA staff Vivian Chang, Michelle Loo, Kristina Romines, and Maggie Tsai. 

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Founded in 1992, the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA), AFL-CIO, is the first and only national organization of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) workers, most of whom are union members and our allies, building power for AAPI workers and communities.

APALA Decries Myanmar’s Unjust Execution of Pro-Democracy Activists

8/3/2022

 
For Immediate Release: August 3rd, 2022
Contact: Katie Moy Mostris, katie@apala.org

APALA Decries Myanmar’s Unjust Execution of Pro-Democracy Activists

APALA decries Myanmar’s Military for their recent unjust execution of four pro-democracy activists. These executions are the first reported judicial executions by the junta in decades. APALA represents AAPI workers across the U.S., including Burmese workers, and has previously condemned the military’s use of force to undermine democracy, advocated for the BURMA Act in Congress, and appealed for the urgent assistance of the U.S. Department of State regarding the safety and security of a high-profile Burmese union leader who has fled the country with his young family.

Myanmar has executed four activists, including two pro-democracy leaders allegedly charged under counter-terrorism laws. Their names were Phyo Zeya Thaw, Ko Jimmy, Hla Myo Aung, and Aung Thura Zaw. Little information is public or has been provided to the family as trials for all four were conducted behind closed doors, and the government had refused to share when or how the activists were executed. These executions come after the country’s military violently seized power early last year (2021). 

APALA Texas Chapter Leader and SIU Appointee Shwe Aung states, “The junta is attempting to intimidate and instill fear in the people of Burma. With 76 other political prisoners currently detained and many movement leaders fleeing for their lives in exile like my brother, these executions are a disturbing and heinous warning to all in Burma. We will continue to stand with activists to fight for democracy and self-determination while urging the U.S. government and other allies of democracy to take action. Now Burmese people are determined to end the military regime and urge you all to help by supporting the movement.”
​

Follow US Campaign for Burma for more updates on Facebook (@uscampaignforburma), Instagram (us.campaign.for.burma), and Twitter (USCB).

Reproductive Justice is a Worker’s Right: APALA Condemns U.S. Supreme Court Decision Overturning Roe v Wade

6/24/2022

 

For Immediate Release: June 24th, 2022

Contact: Katie Moy Mostris, katie@apala.org

Reproductive Justice is a Worker’s Right: APALA Condemns U.S. Supreme Court Decision Overturning Roe v Wade

Washington, DC - Today, the United States Supreme Court issued a ruling on Dobbs v Jackson’s Women Health Organization, overturning Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark decision which established a constitutional right to abortion. Effective today,  nearly 40 million women, girls, transgender, and gender-nonconforming people in 26 states will lose access to to abortion, a vital form of healthcare. APALA, as the first and only national organization for Asian American and Pacific Islander workers, condemns this decision and stands ready to join the fight for reproductive justice.

The resulting abortion ban disproportionately impacts AAPI access to abortion. Sixty-six percent of Asian Americans and 30 percent of Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders speak a language other than English at home and experience difficulties in accessing health care due to language barriers. In addition, a third of AAPI pregnancies end in abortion, underlining the necessity of this care in our community. In 2019, APALA passed a resolution on bodily autonomy and sexual and reproductive health that reaffirms our belief that “every that individual have a fundamental right to make personal reproductive health decisions free from coercion, discrimination, and stigma.”

The violence of patriarchy obscures the root cause of this issue which is to control the bodily autonomy and family making decisions of working people. Bodily autonomy is essential to our freedom and is a working a class issue. APALA will continue to stand in solidarity with people of color and other marginalized groups fighting for this freedom. As the Movement for Black Lives wrote in their statement, “Black women, girls, transgender, and gender-nonconforming people have been subjected to a long history of reproductive control rooted in the brutal legacy of enslavement—and denying access to safe, legal abortion and gender-affirming health services is a continuation of that troubling history.” APALA stands in solidarity with the Movement for Black Lives and recognizes the disproportionate impact this decision has on our black and brown siblings. 

Jessica Tang, APALA National Treasurer and President of the Boston Teachers Union Local 66, said: “This ruling removes access to vital healthcare services, putting the health of women across the country at risk. In my journey to building my family, I was devastated to face choices that no expecting pregnant person wants to make. Due to a rare fetal anomoly that took a turn for the worse in my third trimester and medical complications resulting from this, I had to travel thousands of miles out of state to get a late term abortion. Access is already very limited, and I was lucky to have the ability and access to safe healthcare treatment, but under this ruling, many millions of families will be cut off from the treatment they need and it will become even more difficult for those who find themselves in situations like this. It is an economic justice issue and it is a health care issue, and our country has now gone backwards.”

Alvina Yeh, APALA Executive Director, said: “As a mother and someone who had an ectopic pregnancy that put my life in danger, I am grateful that I was given safe, legal options to terminate the pregnancy. Abortion access shouldn’t depend on how much you money you have or where you live. Yet, for too many, abortion is already too difficult to access. The Supreme Court’s opinion confirms our worst fears: the control of our bodies at the hands of the state. Reproductive justice is a worker’s right issue.”
​

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Founded in 1992, the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA), AFL-CIO, is the first and only national organization of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) workers, most of whom are union members and our allies, building power for AAPI workers and communities.
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Founded in 1992, the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA), AFL-CIO, is the first and only national organization of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) workers, most of whom are union members and our allies, building power for AAPI workers and communities.
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