Labor & Employment Law

Workers Rally to Make It Right at Rite Aid

Posted on June 23, 2010
      Hundreds of Rite Aid workers and supporters from Pennsylvania, New York and California rallied this morning outside the company?s annual shareholder meeting in Harrisburg, Pa., to demand good jobs and a voice at work. During the rally, Sylvia Estrada and Angel Warner, two workers from Rite Aid’s massive distribution center in Lancaster, Calif...

Behind BP Disaster: Multinational wiith Dismal Safety Record

Posted on June 23, 2010
Rep. George Miller didn’t mince words today when describing  what’s at the core of the  BP/Deepwater Horizon disaster that killed 11 oil rig workers and is poisoning the Gulf and putting tens of thousands people out of work: “A multinational corporation with a dismal safety record in this country...

Social Security Must Pay $100,000 Damages for Violating Worker?s Rights

Posted on June 23, 2010
Saying the Social Security Administration (SSA) flagrantly violated its contract with AFGE and ?trampled upon the rights? of a 14-year worker, an independent arbitrator has ordered the agency to pay her back wages with interest along with $100,000 in compensatory and punitive damages...

Tell Republican Senators: ?Lift the Jobless Aid Blockade?

Posted on June 23, 2010
      It?s time to tell Republican senators we?ve had it with their jobless aid blockade. So far this month, their refusal to extend unemployment insurance (UI) has cost nearly 1 million jobless workers to lose the little they have to survive on...

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

L.A. Schools Approve Resolution to Use CLEAN Carwashes

Posted on June 23, 2010
      Chloe Osmer of the Clean Carwash Campaign in Los Angeles reports on a resolution that is the first in the country by the Los Angeles Unified School District to only use carwashes that agree to respect workers? rights and the environment...

Obama Warns Health Insurers on Rate Hikes

Posted on June 22, 2010
Health insurance companies should not use the new heath care reform law as an “opportunity to enact unjustifiable rate increases,” President Obama warned today at a White House ceremony marking the 90-day anniversary of signing the landmark bill, which he termed “a true patient’s bill of rights...

Hundreds of Labor Activists Taking Part in U.S. Social Forum June 22-26

Posted on June 22, 2010
      While the leaders of the world’s top economies are meeting in Ontario this week, across the border in Detroit, nearly 15,000 grassroots activists and organizers are coming together to share strategies to transform the nation and create lasting economic and environmental change...

Invest in America

Posted on June 22, 2010
      In this cross-post from Huffington Post, Stan Sorscher, legislative director for the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA), explains how we can redesign policies to pull investment into our domestic economy and create good new jobs in local communities...

Union Plus, Princeton Review Offer College Admission Test Help. Good Idea? Tell the NY Times

Posted on June 22, 2010
Union Plus and The Princeton Review have joined forces to provide union members and their families “college readiness educational services” to prepare college-bound students for the SAT and ACT tests and graduate school hopefuls for law, medical, business and other exams...

China?s Currency Announcement: ?Hokum? and ?Charade?

Posted on June 22, 2010
      The Chinese government’s announcement that it will allow its currency, the renminbi (RMB), also known as the yuan, to increase a small amount in value is a step in the right direction. But it is inadequate to address the “dramatic imbalances caused by many years of currency manipulation,” says AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka...

Public Supports Paid Sick Leave

Posted on June 22, 2010
      Three-quarters of Americans say paid sick leave should be a “basic workers’ right” and Congress should pass legislation that guarantees workers paid sick leave, according to a new survey by the Public Welfare Foundation (PWF)...

CWA: Comcast-NBC Merger Bad for Workers and Consumers

Posted on June 21, 2010
    Members of NABET-CWA picket outside the NBC network-owned station in Washington, D.C., during ?Meet the Press? last month.         The proposed merger between cable TV giant Comcast and NBC-Universal (NBCU) would lead to job cuts, reduce competition in the cable industry and restrict consumer access to online video content, a senior leader of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) told lawmakers...

Report: Unions Can Win Battle Against Forced Labor

Posted on June 21, 2010
      The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) last week released a new report showcasing the most successful union strategies in campaigns to eliminate forced labor, child labor and human trafficking. “How to Combat Forced Labor and Trafficking” highlights lobbying, advocacy, raising awareness, offering services and assistance and organizing domestic workers into trade unions...

Republicans to Unemployed: ?Get a Job!?

Posted on June 21, 2010
      As part of Republican obstruction-at-any-cost election year strategy, Senate Republicans last week once again blocked an extension of unemployment insurance (UI) benefits for long-term jobless workers. The UI extension is part of the jobs bill that could help put the unemployed back to work...

World Congress and G-20 Meetings Focus on New Global Economy

Posted on June 21, 2010
      The global union movement’s demand that the world’s economy be restructured and reformed with a focus on workers’ rights will be front and center this week at two meetings in Canada. First, some 1,000 global union leaders, representing 176 million workers from 155 countries and territories, will take part in the Second World Congress of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) from June 21-25...

23,000 California State Workers Reach Tentative Pact?and More Bargaining News

Posted on June 21, 2010
Some 23,000 California state employees reach tentative agreements with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, 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...

Great Labor Arts Exchange Hits the Road

Posted on June 20, 2010
For the first time in more than three decades, the Labor Heritage Foundation took the Great Labor Arts Exchange on the road. This year the Exchange brought its special blend of culture and the arts to Detroit June 18-21. AFSCME Local 25 is hosting the Great Labor Arts Exchange at its offices, 600 West Lafayette in Detroit...

TNG/CWA Member in Colbert Report Investigative Spotlight

Posted on June 19, 2010
      Emilio Gonzalez got a first-hand lesson in improvisational comedy and satire recently from a master of the art: Stephen Colbert. For a segment of the Colbert Report’s phony investigative series, “Who’s Watching the Watchdogs,” Colbert took on the Consumers Union where Gonzalez, a member of The Newspaper Guild/CWA (TNG/CWA) Local 31003, is an appliance testing project leader...

Trumka: Immigration Reform Crucial For New Economy

Posted on June 18, 2010
      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, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka told the City Club of Cleveland today...

Nevada Alliance Members Mobilize Against Angle?s Attack on Social Security, Medicare

Posted on June 18, 2010
Nevada Republican U.S. Senate nominee Sharron Angle made many extremist statements during her primary campaign, and some of the most egregious involve her goal to eliminate Social Security and Medicare and privatize those two vital senior safety nets...

TODAY: Watch Live Webcast as Trumka Speaks on Economy and Immigration

Posted on June 18, 2010
      Watch a live webcast of AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka’s important speech today to The City Club of Cleveland here at noon EDT. In the speech, Trumka will talk about the urgency of immigration reform and how it must be addressed as one of the first steps toward solving the nation’s economic crisis...

Senate Republicans Kill Jobs Bill, Block Jobless Aid

Posted on June 18, 2010
Senate Republicans last night blocked a jobs bill that would have extended unemployment insurance (UI) for long-term jobless workers. Some 250,000 unemployed workers a week are losing their unemployment benefits because they can’t find jobs. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said the Republican’s action to block unemployment benefits for the hardest-hit jobless Americans is an outrage–sadly, it’s simply the latest shame...

UAW Members Rally for Good Jobs Now

Posted on June 18, 2010
    UAW President Bob King, fourth from the right, Metropolitan Detroit AFL-CIO President Saundra Williams and Teamsters President James Hoffa lead a Good Jobs Now! rally in Detroit yesterday.         On his first day in office, UAW President Bob King sent a clear message that the union movement is ready and able to fight as long as necessary to gain economic and social justice for all...

Trio of N.J. Union Members Win City Offices

Posted on June 18, 2010
In special run-off elections this week, three more graduates of the New Jersey AFL-CIO’s Labor Candidates School posted victories. Since it was founded in 1997, 608 alumni of the unique program have won state or local offices, including New Jersey State Senate President Steve Sweeney, a member of Ironworkers Local 399...

Supreme Court Sides with Employers in NLRB Case

Posted on June 17, 2010
In a 5-4 decision today, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) cannot decide cases when it consists of just two board members. For more than two years the NLRB operated as a two-person board with three seats unfilled...

Study: Speculation Tax Would Make Wall Street Pay

Posted on June 17, 2010
The AFL-CIO and the global union movement have been demanding that Wall Street pay for creating the global economic meltdown, in part through a financial speculation tax. Other nations like the United Kingdom already have a similar tax; and France, Germany and other European Union leaders are pushing the United States to enact it; and the idea will be on the agenda at the G-20 summit in Ontario next week...

ILO Takes Big Step Toward Domestic Workers? Rights

Posted on June 17, 2010
    Domestic workers in New York City marched for justice in 2007.         The International Labor Organization (ILO) this week took a giant step forward in the fight to create workplace justice for the millions of housekeepers, nannies and other domestic workers around the world...

CLUW Looks Out for Men?s Health

Posted on June 17, 2010
      The Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW), which has long promoted preventive health care programs for women, wants to make sure that men know about programs available to them. In an e-mail to the group’s e-activists, CLUW says: Because women are often the health gatekeepers of the family, [we] are urging e-activists to help the men in our lives (especially men over 40) learn which preventive screening tests they need to get and when to get them...

Workers Say T-Mobile Makes Mockery of Corporate Responsibility

Posted on June 17, 2010
Workers at T-Mobile USA say the company is making a mockery of its parent’s claims of corporate responsibility. Earlier this week, Deutsche Telekom (DT), the giant German telecom company that owns T-Mobile, patted itself on the back for its “leadership” on environmental matters...

King Elected UAW President

Posted on June 16, 2010
    Bob King         Delegates to the UAW’s Constitutional Convention today overwhelmingly elected Bob King  as president. King has been a UAW vice president since 1998 and has headed the union’s National Ford Department since 2006...

Bloggers, promote your law blog by nominating your blog for inclusion in USLaw.com's Law Blog Directory and RSS Reader. Benefits described.