Staff at a Starbucks location in downtown Iowa City voted to unionize but so far, no contract talks are scheduled. The workers gathered last month with labor organizers to mark their decision. The store joins more than 360 Starbucks locations nationwide where workers have voted to join a union. .
Federal student loan payments resume this month after a three-year pause, but people in public service have until the end of the year to benefit from recent repayment reforms. The Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program will forgive the remainder of your federal student loan after you have worked for a public agency or certain nonprofits for 10 years and made 120 payments. Jessica Saint-Paul, a physician assistant, public health educator and member of the American Federation of Teachers Local 1521, helps run student loan clinics for her union. .
Thousands of U.S. auto workers remain on strike, and the walkout is being felt in Minnesota. A rally was scheduled this morning in the Twin Cities suburb of Plymouth, where the car company Stellantis has a parts distribution center. .
Most of the news about the automotive industry this month is focused on the United Auto Workers strike against the Big Three automakers, but the story is different in rural West Tennessee. A huge battery and vehicle manufacturing campus is being built in Stanton, with an expected economic impact of $5.6 billion. The nearly 6-square-mile Ford BlueOval City campus is expected to create 6,000 new local jobs. .