Labor & Employment Law

Trumka Tells Deficit Commission Job Growth Best Answer to Debt

Posted on June 30, 2010
Social Security is not the cause of the nation?s budget deficit, and stronger economic and job growth spurred by stimulus spending now is the best path to reducing and stabilizing the national debt, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka told the federal budget deficit commission today...

90 Students Graduate from National Labor College

Posted on June 30, 2010
Doug Swanson, a teacher from Wisconsin, spent 12 years working to earn a college degree while coping with his wife’s illness and three job changes that required moving to two different states. Deborah Thiri, a Burmese refugee now living in Los Angeles, spent years in Thai refugee camps before she was able to come to the United States and get an education...

Workers to Senate Republicans: Stop Political Games with Jobless, State Aid

Posted on June 30, 2010
Four times this year, Republican senators have blocked bills to keep alive extended unemployment insurance benefits for long-term jobless workers?most recently last week, when they blocked a bill that also contained desperately needed aid for states facing huge budget shortfalls...

New Mine and Workplace Safety Legislation on Horizon

Posted on June 29, 2010
Stronger enforcement tools, tougher penalties and broader workers? rights are at the center of soon-to-be introduced workplace safety legislation. The bill?s crafters say they were spurred by the deadly Massey Energy Upper Big Branch explosion that killed 29 coal miners; the Tesoro refinery blast that claimed the lives of seven Washington State workers; the BP oil rig blast that killed 11, the Connecticut Kleen Energy Systems explosion where six workers died and other recent workplace disasters...

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Fair Wage Program Ignites Fox News Hysteria

Posted on June 29, 2010
It seems like Fox News, always on the ball, just discovered the ?We Can Help? outreach initiative the Labor Department launched in early April to inform workers about their pay rights and put a stop to wage theft. Faux News is now ranting against the department’s efforts to enforce the nation?s wage and hour laws...

Sharan Burrow Becomes First Woman to Lead ITUC

Posted on June 29, 2010
    Guy Ryder and Sharan Burrow at the G-20 labor summit at AFL-CIO headquarters in April.         Delegates to the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) Congress in Vancouver late last week made history by electing Sharan Burrow as general secretary...

AFL-CIO ?Strongly Opposes? Korea-U.S. Trade Agreement

Posted on June 29, 2010
    Workers in South Korea last year protested the proposed trade deal with the United States.         AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka repeated our strong opposition to the South Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA) in its current form...

Union Plus Awards $150K in Scholarships

Posted on June 28, 2010
Brianna Pang Brian Delfs Some 121 union members and union family members have been awarded $150,000 in scholarships, ranging from $500 to $4,000, by the 2010 Union Plus Scholarship Program. Says Union Plus President Leslie Tolf: “During these challenging economic times, with college tuition rising and many working families struggling just to get by, we?re pleased to be helping some of the labor movement?s most promising students achieve their college dreams...

AFL-CIO, UAW Back Honda Strikers in China

Posted on June 28, 2010
America?s workers today called on Honda to accept the demands of striking workers at its factories in China to improve wages and job promotion through ?genuine and continuous collective bargaining with representatives of its front-line workers.” In a joint statement, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and UAW President Bob King said: The workers and consumers of America and the world will be watching Honda and other employers to ensure that Honda and other Chinese employers comply with core international labor rights, obey Chinese and international labor laws and bargain in good faith...

Court Upholds Democratic Election Rules Rail for Air, Rail Workers

Posted on June 28, 2010
A federal court upheld new democratic voting procedures for workers in the airline and rail industries who want to form unions. Earlier this year, the National Mediation Board (NMB) issued a new rule that says air and rail union elections must be decided by a majority of votes cast...

Byrd Spent Career ?Unabashedly? on Working Families? Side

Posted on June 28, 2010
Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.) 92, who died this morning after serving more than 58 years in Congress, ?was unabashedly and unapologetically on the side of working families,? says AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. “As Majority Leader, he helped lead the fight against the Republican filibuster of labor law reform in the 1970s...

Mine Blast Probe Moves Forward, Massey Energy Sues MSHA over Ventilation Rules

Posted on June 28, 2010
Massey Energy’s Upper Big Branch coal mine, where 29 West Virginia miners were killed in an April 5 explosion, is now safe enough for Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) investigators to begin their underground inspection of the mine. Both MSHA and the West Virginia Office of Miners? Health, Safety and Training will conduct the underground investigation to try to determine the exact causes of the explosion...

Social Forum Focuses on Workers? Issues

Posted on June 28, 2010
Workers? issues were the focus of  five days of  marches, rallies and workshops at the U.S. Social Forum in Detroit, which ended over the weekend. Grassroots activists and progressives from across the country came together to build new alliances, create new strategies and put new energy into the movement to turn around the American economy...

12,000 Minnesota Nurses Give Strike Notice

Posted on June 28, 2010
       Some 12,000 nurses in the Twin Cities could be out on strike soon after the July 4 holiday. Members of the Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) filed notice June 25 they will strike if there is no contract settlement by July 6 in contract talks with 14 hospitals...

6,000 Steelworkers Win Strong Pact at Alcoa?and More Bargaining News

Posted on June 28, 2010
Some 6,000 members of the United Steelworkers negotiated a strong contract at Alcoa workplaces nationwide, and more news from the “Bargaining Digest Weekly.” The AFL-CIO Collective Bargaining Department delivers daily, bargaining-related news and research resources to more than 1,200 subscribers...

Philly Activists Tell Deficit Commission: ?Hands Off Social Security?

Posted on June 28, 2010
      Yael Foa, AFL-CIO senior field representative for the Northeast Region, joined activists in Philadelphia for the America Speaks town hall, to forestall possible moves by the deficit commission to cut Social Security. More than 30 union and community activists took part in the America Speaks town hall meeting Saturday in Philadelphia, holding signs and distributing fliers to get our message out to town hall participants and pedestrians walking by: Social Security isn’t causing the nation’s budget deficit, cutting entitlement and safety net programs will make matters worse, and the best way to reduce the deficit is to invest in the jobs programs and get America back to work...

Union Members Can Save on New iPhone 4 Wireless Service

Posted on June 27, 2010
Union members who purchase a new iPhone 4 from AT&T can save $198 over their two-year contract on a basic monthly service and data plan (450 minutes and 200MB of data) with the Union Plus AT&T discount. Members who buy higher rate plans can save even more...

Be a Working Family Voice in Today?s National Budget Debate

Posted on June 26, 2010
      This morning, you can make your voice heard at a national town hall meeting for the public to discuss how to address the nation?s budget, fiscal future and economic recovery. Working families need to take part in the discussion to make sure our views aren?t drowned out by deficit hysterics who have Social Security and Medicare in their crosshairs...

We?re Back!

Posted on June 25, 2010
Due to a tech snafu following an upgrade on the AFL-CIO Now blog, readers were not able to post comments here over the past day and a half. The comment function should be working now. If you have any difficulties, please let me know details at: blognews@aflcio...

House/Senate Conference OKs Wall Street Reform Bill, Full Votes Next Week

Posted on June 25, 2010
After an all-night session, U.S. House and Senate negotiators this morning agreed on a Wall Street reform bill that imposes tough new rules on the way Wall Street and Big Banks do business, including how they handle derivatives. Derivatives are the complex and risky financial products developed by Wall Street and Big Banks that were at the heart of the financial collapse...

Unions Back New Plan to Battle Intellectual Property Pirates

Posted on June 25, 2010
Intellectual property theft?anything from pirated copies of Hollywood blockbusters and popular music to counterfeit brand-name airplane parts?steals American jobs and hurts the economy. This week, the Obama administration outlined a new strategy to stem the global flood of pirated property...

Millionaires Killing Jobs

Posted on June 25, 2010
Today, 1.2 million jobless workers lose their extended unemployment insurance (UI) because some Senate millionaires think a $300 a week unemployment check will make people too lazy to look for a job. This group also is pushing to reduce the nation’s budget deficit rather than use short-term spending to create desperately needed jobs for the nation’s 26 million unemployed or underemployed workers...

U.S. Social Forum: Union-Faith Group Partnership Must Be Two-Way Street

Posted on June 25, 2010
      Helen Gonzales on the AFL-CIO staff is attending the U.S. Social Forum June 22?26 in Detroit. She reports from a workshop on the importance of faith, labor and community alliances. The global economic crisis has created a unique opportunity for the faith community and the union movement to work together to change the culture of greed and create a more just society, panelists said at a U...

Republicans ?Scrooge? Workers, Kill Long-Term Jobless Help

Posted on June 25, 2010
      Republican partisan politics won?and working families lost?again last night when Senate Republicans for the fourth time this year blocked a bill that would revive the extended unemployment insurance (UI) benefits program that is the last lifeline for millions of jobless workers...

Bring a Working Family?s Voice to Deficit Commission Debate

Posted on June 24, 2010
There?s a national town hall meeting this weekend?at brick and mortar sites in dozens of cities and also online?to discuss ways to address the nation?s budget, fiscal future and economic recovery. The meetings begin Saturday, June 26, at 11:30 a.m. EDT...

Poll: Manufacturing Key to Making Economy Strong Again

Posted on June 24, 2010
       A majority of the U.S. public believes the nation’s economy is no longer the strongest economy in the world and we need an aggressive national manufacturing strategy to regain our pre-eminent position, according to a new bipartisan poll released today...

U.S. Social Forum: Marchers Demand ?Money for Jobs, Not Banks?

Posted on June 24, 2010
      Devon Whitham on the AFL-CIO staff is attending the U.S. Social Forum in Detroit. She reports on yesterday?s “Money for Jobs, Not for Banks” march. Thousands of community, religious and labor activists from across the country marched through the streets of Detroit yesterday calling for urgent action to save and create jobs, extend jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed, stop foreclosures and preserve public services...

St. Louis Electrical Workers Seek to Protect Quality Standards

Posted on June 24, 2010
AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Department (BCTD) unions are urging St. Louis Carpenters Local 57 to stop performing electrical work the Electrical Workers (IBEW) union says undercuts union standards of quality, safety and wages. IBEW members are trained in five-year apprenticeships that certify them as master electricians...

Financial Reform Must Maintain Strong Rules on Risky Derivatives

Posted on June 24, 2010
U.S. House and Senate negotiators are expected today to put the finishing touches on a financial reform conference report that melds each chamber?s previously passed reform bills. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka warned lawmakers today any move to weaken provisions governing derivatives would be ?a gift to Wall Street...

Trumka?s Speech on Immigration Available Now in Video Excerpts

Posted on June 24, 2010
       Now available: three video excerpts of AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka?s June 18 speech on immigration before the City Club of Cleveland. Check them out at the AFL-CIO YouTube page here. During the speech, Trumka made the case that the United States needs a new economic strategy to replace the failed model of the past 30 years?one that focuses on developing a workforce with world-class skills and world-class rights and trade policies that serve the interests of the American people...

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