Labor & Employment Law

Anti-Union Rep Admits His Group Opposes Majority Rule

Posted on March 11, 2010
    The vice president for one of the nation’s most anti-union, anti-worker organizations showed what we knew all along: Those fighting workers and their unions oppose the democratic process.  During a hearing yesterday on a House bill to expand bargaining rights for the police and firefighters, Rep...

Get Set for March Actions to Make Wall Street Pay

Posted on March 11, 2010
The union movement and our allies are taking our fight for good jobs now to the biggest Wall Street banks whose reckless greed has gone a long way to wreck the U.S. economy and kill American jobs. From March 15-26, working people will hold rallies and demonstrations at branches of the Big Six Wall Street banks?Bank of America, Chase, Citigroup, Wachovia-Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley?across the country...

New Legislation Would Create 1 Million Jobs

Posted on March 10, 2010
Members of Congress and a bipartisan group of mayors today announced new legislation they say will create or save up to 1 million public- and private-sector jobs. Jobs saved would include those such as firefighters, police and teachers and others whose jobs are in jeopardy because of local government budget cuts...

Insurance Victims Tell Congress: Pass Health Care Reform Now

Posted on March 10, 2010
    A panel of 24 victims of insurance industry abuse and their families told their heart-rending stories directly to members of Congress this morning and asked the lawmakers to listen to the American people and pass health care reform that works for us, not Big Insurance...

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Central Falls Superintendent Stalling on Talks With Teachers

Posted on March 10, 2010
Less than a week after agreeing to negotiate with fired teachers at Central Falls (R.I.) High School and their union, the school superintendent is delaying the talks. In a statement, Jane Sessums, president of the Central Falls Teachers Union, an AFT affiliate, urged Superintendent Frances Gallo to “resume negotiations with the teachers union and to accept (Rhode Island Education) Commissioner Deborah Gist’s offer to provide impartial mediation...

Sweeney: ?Working People Want Action on Creating New Jobs?

Posted on March 10, 2010
The nation’s political leaders have a choice: They can strike out on a new economic course for America that will turn around the nation’s economy or they can give in to political paralysis and yield to the demands of the financial and corporate elites...

Stimulus $$ Is Out There?300 Pennsylvania Union Leaders Find Out How to Get It

Posted on March 10, 2010
Pennsylvania AFL-CIO President William George leads a discussion on tapping into economic recovery funds with union leaders from across the state.   Yael Foa, AFL-CIO senior field representative for the Northeast Region, sends us this report on union efforts in Pennsylvania to tap into federal economic recovery funds to create jobs across the state...

Lesson for Vanderbilt Students: Solidarity Scares U.S. Employers

Posted on March 10, 2010
Warning to college students: Joining in solidarity with low-wage workers on your campus can be hazardous to your freedom of speech. At Vanderbilt University, members of Vanderbilt Students of Nonviolence recently met with campus workers to talk about working conditions for the lowest-paid employees and hammer out concrete actions all could take to make Vanderbilt a safer and more just place to work and learn...

Thousands Tell Big Insurance: Blocking Health Care Reform Is a Crime

Posted on March 09, 2010
AFSCME members declaring the Ritz-Carlton a crime scene. AFSCME President Gerald McEntee to Congress: "You better take our side before we arrest you!" Thousands of union members, community activists, religious leaders and others turned out in Washington, D...

Live: March and Rally at Big Health Insurance Meeting

Posted on March 09, 2010
Today, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka is leading a large union contingent from the AFL-CIO and AFSCME buildings to participate in a mass rally at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Washington, D.C., during the meeting of the big insurance industry front group, the America?s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP)...

Today: We Tell Health Insurers Stop the Hikes, Back Reform

Posted on March 09, 2010
Today, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka is leading a large union contingent in a march from the AFL-CIO and AFSCME buildings to a mass rally at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Washington, D.C., during the meeting of the big insurance industry front group, the America?s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP)...

Workplaces Must Adapt to Greater Role of Women In Workforce

Posted on March 08, 2010
A new Center for American Progress (CAP) report released in time for International Women’s Day today offers practical solutions to help America’s workers and families meet the dual demands of work and family. (Read the full report here.) The report, “Our Working Nation: How Working Women Are Reshaping America’s Families and Economy and What It Means for Policymakers,” calls for: Updating basic labor standards to recognize that most workers also have family responsibilities and need predictable and flexible workplace schedules,access to paid family and medical leave the right to paid sick days...

30,000 CWA Members Ratify Contract with AT&T?and More Bargaining News

Posted on March 08, 2010
Some 30,000 Communications Workers of America members ratify a contract with AT&T, 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...

International Women?s Day, March 8: Time to Recommit to Equal Rights

Posted on March 07, 2010
Women make up more than half the American workforce and are approaching half of union members. On International Women’s Day, March 8, the AFL-CIO is recommitting itself to continue the struggle for equal rights, dignity and respect for all working women...

Egyptian Workers To Receive Meany-Kirkland Award

Posted on March 06, 2010
Striking Egyptian property tax collectors demonstrate in downtown Cairo in 2007.   Angered by severe economic pressures and frustrated by inadequate representation, Egyptian workers started to take to the streets in a wave of strikes and other public protests in the early 2000s...

250-Mile ?March For Califiornia?s Future? Begins

Posted on March 05, 2010
A diverse group of California public employees today began a 48-day "March for California's Future." The march, sponsored by the California Federation of Teachers (CFT), AFSCME and a coalition of labor, education and faith groups, began in Bakersfield...

Report: New Communications Technology = Good, Green Jobs

Posted on March 05, 2010
New communication technologies can be a key part of making our economy more energy-efficient and help create good jobs in the future, according to a new report. "Networking the Green Economy: How Broadband and Related Technologies Can Build a Green Economic Future," illustrates how a highly-networked economy with smart buildings, smart grids, teleconferencing and digital education will reduce carbon dioxide emissions and retain good, green jobs...

Comcast Repair Techs Choose IBEW

Posted on March 05, 2010
Installation repair technicians at Comcast in Fairfield, N.J., withstood a strong anti-union campaign by the employer and voted last week to join Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 827. The vote, which was administered by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), signals a change in the way the company’s installation repair technicians are standing up for their rights on the job, said Local 827 Organizing Chair Jason D’Errico: The win is groundbreaking for these workers...

California Students Rise Up Against Massive Education Cuts

Posted on March 05, 2010
    Californians by the tens of thousands spoke as one yesterday demanding the primacy of public education in the state’s budget. Up and down the state, students held scores of demonstrations, rallies, marches and teach-ins at governmental centers, universities, community colleges, high schools and elementary schools...

Executive Council: Piracy Costs Good Jobs

Posted on March 05, 2010
The AFL-CIO Executive Council unanimously endorsed the entertainment industry unions’ campaign to stop the theft of intellectual property, often called piracy. The council noted that each year, digital theft of sound recordings costs the U.S. economy $12...

Jobless Rate Remains at 9.7 Percent, Long-Term Unemployment a Crisis

Posted on March 05, 2010
The jobless rate remained at 9.7 percent, with 36,000 jobs lost in February, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports today. The biggest hit came in construction, where employment fell by 64,000. Manufacturing remained steady but 18,000 jobs were lost in the information industry...

NUMMI Closing Highlights Need for U.S. Manufacturing Policy

Posted on March 04, 2010
Closing the New United Motors Manufacturing Inc. automotive plant in California will eliminate 25,000 jobs in the state and cost taxpayers $2.3 billion to replace the jobs lost, according to a March 3 report by University of California professor Harley Shaiken...

Tell Big Insurance: We?re Sick of It

Posted on March 04, 2010
When the heads of the nation's insurance companies come to Washington, D.C., next week to plot strategies for killing real health care reform, they'll be greeted by thousands of union members, community, health care and religious activists with one message: Stop...

Executive Council Supports Aid to Chile, Haiti and Backs Mexican Workers

Posted on March 04, 2010
    Fire Fighters members of Fairfax County (Va.) Urban Search and Rescue conduct a rescue operation at the Montana Hotel in Port-au-Prince.         The AFL-CIO Executive Council yesterday called on the world community to provide quick, no strings attached aid to Chile after the massive earthquake Feb...

14 Union Supporters Fired at E-Z Pass, Take Action Now

Posted on March 04, 2010
This just in from the Communications Workers of America (CWA): One by one, 14 union supporters at the E-Z Pass administrative center in New York got a call from their boss on Monday asking them to “come into my office.” Then, one by one, all union supporters were told that their services were no longer needed...

Delta Flight Attendants Release ?OUR Song? Video

Posted on March 04, 2010
Delta flight attendants are spreading the message about their effort to form a union with the Flight Attendants-CWA via their own music video. “OUR Song,” which stands for Opportunity, Unity, Respect, was written and recorded by Jarrod Anderson, a Delta flight attendant, based in Minneapolis...

Central Falls Superintendent Agrees to Resume Talks with Teachers

Posted on March 04, 2010
The school superintendent who last week fired all teachers at Central Falls (R.I.) High School has agreed to resume bargaining and include the union in all discussions on a comprehensive education plan that will help students and teachers succeed. The move followed a nationwide public outcry, with thousands signing an online petition to tell school officials the students deserve better and they should work with teachers to build on improvements at the high school...

Detroit School Official?s Unilateral Order Puts Office Workers Near Poverty Line

Posted on March 04, 2010
In the middle of contract negotiations, the emergency financial manager for the Detroit Public Schools is unilaterally imposing a 10 percent wage cut for school office workers and will require employees to pay 10 percent of health care premiums. The move by Robert Bobb, who recently received an $81,000 raise, will push office employees’ average salary to barely 15 percent above the poverty level for a family of four and below the poverty level for a family of five...

Bunning Put a Face on Obstructionist, Mean-Spirited Republican Party

Posted on March 04, 2010
Sen. Jim Bunning, the Kentucky Republican who single-handedly delayed unemployment benefits for 400,000 desperate Americans and forced an unnecessary furlough of another 2,000, should be a figure regarded with wonderment. The awesome power he held in his hands! The utter disregard for vulnerable Americans he exhibited while wielding it! Bunning is a Republican Superhero...

At Orlando Forum, Residents Hard-Hit by Jobs Crisis Share Their Hardships

Posted on March 01, 2010
Yesenia Garcia, a college student with $17,000 in debt and two years left, wonders how she can ever achieve the American dream if she can’t afford to finish her education. On the heels of huge jobs rallies in Evansville, Ind., and at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida this weekend, a packed local Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) union hall heard from workers and community leaders in the Orlando area discuss the economic struggles area residents face...

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