Labor & Employment Law

Biden to Executive Council: We Need A Middle Class

Posted on March 01, 2010
Vice President Joe Biden spoke to members of the AFL-CIO Executive Council who are meeting in Orlando March 1-3. In his second visit to the AFL-CIO Executive Council in 13 months, Vice President Joe Biden outlined plans to shore up America's faltering middle class with jobs, tax policy and workers' rights protections...

Toyota NUMMI Closure Would Kill Jobs, Destroy Communities

Posted on March 01, 2010
      (This is an excerpted cross-post from the California Labor Federation.) By Rebecca Greenberg For more than 25 years, thousands of workers in northern California have committed their lives to producing high-quality Toyotas at the Bay Area’s New United Motor Manufacturing Inc...

Economic Crisis Hitting Young Workers Hard

Posted on March 01, 2010
  Since the current recession began in December 2007, some 1.3 million young workers have left the workforce, while the participation rate of workers ages 55 and older increased, according to a new report by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI)...

Community, Labor Unite with IUE-CWA at Whirlpool Rally

Posted on February 28, 2010
CWA Vice President Seth Rosen (left) and IUE-CWA Division President Jim Clark joined union members and community supporters in solidarity with workers at Whirlpool. When more than 5,500 workers, community and religious activists from at least six states converged in front of the Whirlpool plant in Evansville, Ind...

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Thousands Tell Whirlpool: Keep It Made in America

Posted on February 28, 2010
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka (far right) rallies with workers at the Whirlpool plant in Evansville, Ind. More than 5,000 workers, community and religious activists from at least six states converged in front of the Whirlpool plant in Evansville, Ind...

IBEW Team Makes Super Bowl Work

Posted on February 28, 2010
Super Bowl XLIV was the most watched show in TV history. But before the New Orleans Saints and the Indianapolis Colts took the field, a different kind of team was behind the scenes, making sure the game was seen around the world. More than 500 broadcast technicians, all members of the Electrical Workers (IBEW), were in the stands, on the field, behind cameras and in the control room to make the Super Bowl work...

NASA Workers Launch Effort to Save Jobs

Posted on February 27, 2010
Workers, small business owners, elected officials and community activists today launched a national campaign to save as many as 7,000 jobs at NASA and thousands more in central Florida. The Obama administration, in an effort to balance the federal budget, has proposed outsourcing most of the program that includes lunar landers, moon bases, and the replacement for space shuttle to other governments and private companies...

Thousands Tell Whirlpool: Keep It Made in America

Posted on February 27, 2010
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka (far right) rallies with workers at the Whirlpool plant in Evansville, Ind. More than 5,000 workers, community and religious activists from at least six states converged in front of the Whirlpool plant in Evansville, Ind...

Writers Guild Honors the Best of the Year

Posted on February 27, 2010
    Alan Zweibel         The Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) and Writers Guild of America, West earlier this month honored the year’s best writers for film, television, radio, news, promotional material and video games during simultaneous ceremonies in New York and Los Angeles...

Thousands Tell Whirlpool: Keep It Made in America

Posted on February 26, 2010
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka (far right) rallies with workers at the Whirlpool plant in Evansville, Ind. Nearly 5,000 workers, community and religious activists from at least six states converged in front of the Whirlpool plant in Evansville, Ind...

Without Manufacturing Base, Nation?s Future Threatened

Posted on February 26, 2010
United Steelworkers (USW) President Leo W. Gerard recently sat down for a Q&A session with Richard McCormack, editor and publisher of Manufacturing & Technology News. McCormack, an expert in economic competitiveness and globalization, is editor of the new book, Manufacturing A Better Future for America, for which he wrote the first chapter, “The Plight of American Manufacturing...

Holt Baker: ?We Have to Be Bold to Turn Economy Around?

Posted on February 26, 2010
    Stacey Clark tells a South Carolina town hall meeting what life is like when you’re unemployed.          Steve Stallone is president of International Labor Communications Association and secretary/editor of the California Media Workers Guild, TNG-CWA Local 39521...

Bunning to Jobless Workers: ?Tough Sh*t?

Posted on February 26, 2010
Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) has a message for the 1.2 million jobless workers who will lose their unemployment insurance (UI) benefits and COBRA health coverage in March when the two programs expire Feb. 28. “Tough sh*t” Bunning has single-handily blocked a vote on a 30-day extension by being the only senator to oppose a unanimous consent motion to vote on the bill which was passed earlier by the House...

California Investigating 7 Health Insurers for Denying Claims, Hiking Rates

Posted on February 26, 2010
California has launched an investigation into possible illegal premium increases and denial of claims by the state’s seven largest health insurance companies. Yesterday, state Attorney General Jerry Brown issued subpoenas for detailed financial records and other information  records to Aetna Health, Anthem Blue Cross, CIGNA, Health Net, Blue Shield of California, Kaiser Permanente and PacifiCare...

Ohio Workers Demand Good Jobs Now

Posted on February 26, 2010
      Ohio AFL-CIO President Joe Rugola addresses Jobs Now rally in Columbus.         More than 100 working people marched from to the state capitol in Columbus, Ohio, yesterday to call on lawmakers to focus on creating jobs and making Wall Street pay for the economic crisis it created...

Breaking: IUE-CWA Files Charges Against Whirlpool

Posted on February 25, 2010
IUE-CWA Local 808 today filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against Whirlpool, alleging the company interfered with workers’ rights by threatening employees if they participate in a rally tomorrow to protest a plant closing...

Whirlpool Exec?s Letter Strengthens Workers? Resolve

Posted on February 25, 2010
    All generations understand the message to save American jobs.         Whirlpool executive Paul Coburn’s memo warning Whirlpool workers not to participate in a rally tomorrow to save their jobs has only made the workers more determined than ever to fight the company’s decision to lay off 1,100 workers and send jobs to Mexico when U...

L.A. Unions Send Caravan of Food, Hope to Locked-Out Rio Tinto Miners

Posted on February 25, 2010
      Several hundred Southern California union members rallied at a Dodger Stadium parking lot yesterday before sending off a caravan carrying more than $30,000 worth of food and other supplies for locked-out borax miners at Rio Tinto’s Boron, Calif...

Firing of Central Falls, R.I., Teachers ?Illegal, Unjust, Disgraceful?

Posted on February 25, 2010
In the middle of the worst jobs crisis since the Great Depression, more than 90 dedicated professional educators find themselves put out into the street. On Feb. 23, the Central Falls, R.I., school trustees fired the entire teaching staff of Central Falls High School, supposedly because of declining test scores at the school, which is located in Rhode Island’s smallest and poorest city...

Join Today?s Virtual March on Congress for Health Care Now

Posted on February 24, 2010
      Today you can join in a million-person march for health care in Washington, D.C., without traipsing through our leftover snow banks. Our friends at MoveOn, Health Care for America Now! (HCAN) and other groups are staging a virtual march on the nation’s capital to tell Congress it’s time to stop stalling and pass real health care reform...

Breaking: Whirlpool Warns Workers to Skip Friday Rally

Posted on February 24, 2010
    Thousands of people signed petitions calling on Whirlpool to keep jobs in America.         In an internal newsletter at Whirlpool Corp.’s Evansville, Ind., plant, Paul Coburn, vice president of Whirlpool’s Evansville Division, says the decision to close the plant and kill 1,100 jobs will not be reconsidered and warns workers about attending a Friday rally protesting the shutdown: …these negative activities will only ham­per employees when they look for future jobs…...

Senate OKs Jobs Bill: Reid Promises More on the Way, Including UI Extension

Posted on February 24, 2010
The U.S. Senate this morning passed (70-28) a jobs bill that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) promises “is not the only jobs bill or the last jobs bill we will bring to the floor.” The next step likely will be a 30-day extension of unemployment insurance (UI) benefits and COBRA health care subsidies for unemployed workers...

Locked-Out Vancouver Airport Workers Return to Work

Posted on February 24, 2010
Some 300 food, beverage and concession workers employed by HMSHost at Vancouver International Airport will return to work over the next two days after the company agreed to lift a lockout during mediation. The workers, members of UNITEHERE! Local 40, were locked out Feb...

BAC?s Flynn, AFSCME?s Lucy Announce Retirements

Posted on February 24, 2010
Two major union leaders announced their retirement this week. On Monday, the Bricklayers (BAC) Executive Council elected James Boland as the union’s new president succeeding John Flynn, who retired after more than 10 years. Boland previously served as BAC’s secretary-treasurer...

Umps Make Right Call, Vote for OPEIU Affiliation

Posted on February 24, 2010
      No arguing with the umpire on this call. The 215-member Association of Minor League Umpires (AMLU) voted by 91 percent to affiliate with the Office and Professional Employees (OPEIU). AMLU President Shaun Francis says the umpires’ decision: “is the next step in a progression toward improving the lives and working conditions of some of the hardest working and most underappreciated people in the game...

AFSCME Members Rally to Save Public Services

Posted on February 24, 2010
    AFSCME members in Washington State lobbied lawmakers to preserve state services.         While state and local governments and school districts across the country struggle with budget deficits, AFSCME members are standing up to tell their elected representatives that raising revenues is the best solution to a budget crisis instead of cutting critical public services just when they are needed the most...

Time Is Now for TSO Bargaining Rights

Posted on February 23, 2010
      Hundreds of workers braved the cold Washington, D.C., weather today to send a message to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA): Give transportation security officers (TSOs) who protect the flying public the opportunity to protect themselves with the right to bargain a union contract...

Share Your Job Crisis Story, Connect with Activists at Our New Good Jobs Now! Site

Posted on February 23, 2010
      Good Jobs Now!, the AFL-CIO’s new interactive website, gives workers, people who have lost their jobs and activists a chance to take action, share their stories, find resources and, most importantly, be part of a grassroots movement to help the nation climb out of its 10-million jobs hole created by the recession...

Shuler: Youths, Unions Together Can Change the Nation

Posted on February 23, 2010
    Delegates to the USAS national conference sing “Solidarity Forever.”         Saying today’s young workers are the “guinea pigs of the new normal economy,” AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler called for a new national economic strategy that addresses the real needs of young people in the workforce and creates good jobs that provide the security and prosperity previous generations enjoyed...

Senate?s ?First Step? Jobs Bill Moves to Vote

Posted on February 23, 2010
The U.S. Senate cleared the way last night for a vote this week on a jobs bill that must be just the first step in closing the nation’s staggering 10 million jobs deficit created by years of Wall Street recklessness and failed Bush-era economic policies...

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