Labor & Employment Law

Big Bankers Howl?and Other Tidbits

Posted on January 15, 2010
Finally, some good news on the jobs front. The Council of Economic Advisers announced that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has now created or saved between 1.5 million and 2 million jobs. The economic recovery package also added several percentage points to the growth of the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP)...

Health Care Tax: Union Leaders Outline Big Improvements for All Working Families

Posted on January 14, 2010
      Following two days of intense negotiations at the White House, union leaders believe they are on the verge of winning significant improvements for working families in the pending health care reform legislation.  In a conference call this afternoon with leaders from AFL-CIO unions, Change to Win unions and the National Education Association (NEA), AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka told reporters the final health care bill he expects to emerge is ”a milestone...

AFL-CIO Calls on Unions, U.S. to Assist Haitians

Posted on January 14, 2010
      The AFL-CIO today called for the United States and the entire international community, including the global union movement, to “do our utmost to aid our Haitian sisters and brothers in their moment of extraordinary need.” You can help Haitian workers in distress by donating to the AFL-CIO Solidarity Center’s Earthquake Relief for Haitian Workers’ Campaign...

Labor College Plans New Online Education Service

Posted on January 14, 2010
      The National Labor College (NLC) today announced plans to enhance its online education service to bring high-quality degree programs to union members and their families. Tentatively named the College for Working Families, the program will combine the advantages of online learning with the resources of unions to provide programs specifically suited to the needs and interests of union members...

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Proposed Commission Is Fast Track to Cutting Social Security, Medicare

Posted on January 14, 2010
      Next week, the U.S. Senate will vote on legislation that a few years down the road could slash Social Security and Medicare benefits without any further debate or consideration by Congress. The so-called Entitlement Reform Commission is the creation of Sen...

Massachusetts Working Families Gearing Up GOTV for Coakley

Posted on January 14, 2010
    U.S. Senate candidate Martha Coakley addresses Massachusetts AFL-CIO members.         Working families in Massachusetts are mobilizing for a huge get-out-the-working family-vote drive for Tuesday’s special U.S. Senate election where Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley is running for the seat left vacant by Sen...

King Day Celebration to Focus on Economic Justice

Posted on January 14, 2010
      This Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend, more than 400 union activists will remind the nation that without economic justice, King’s vision is unfulfilled. During the annual AFL-CIO King Day celebration in Greensboro, N.C., Jan...

Union Members Mobilizing to Help Haiti

Posted on January 14, 2010
The union movement is mobilizing its members to provide assistance and calling for a massive global relief effort. You can help Haitian workers in distress by donating to the Solidarity Center’s Earthquake Relief for Haitian Workers’ Campaign...

TODAY: National Call-In Blitz for Health Care Reform

Posted on January 13, 2010
      Today is the AFL-CIO National Call-In Blitz for health care reform.  Call 1-877-3-AFLCIO (1-877-323-5246) toll-free and urge your representative to support working families by voting for health care reform that: ? Does NOT tax our health care benefits; ? Requires employers to pay their fair share; and ? Reduces health care costs?the best way to do this is with a public health insurance option...

TSA Security Officers at Minn./St. Paul Airport Join AFGE

Posted on January 13, 2010
      Workday Minnesota editor Barb Kucera reports on the latest victory for Transportation Security Officers (TSOs) who are fighting to win a union voice and collective bargaining rights at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). For more information on their campaign, visit AFGE’s TSA website here...

Big Insurance Funds Chamber of Commerce to Kill Health Care Reform

Posted on January 13, 2010
      The nation’s biggest health insurers have been funneling money quietly to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to air lie-filled, scare-mongering commercials about health care reform. Like Capt. Renault, who discovered there was gambling going on at Rick’s Café Américain in Casablanca, we are: “Shocked, shocked…...

Fire Fighters Take Action on Haitian Disaster

Posted on January 13, 2010
The death toll from yesterday’s devastating earthquake in Haiti reportedly is reaching into the hundreds of thousands, and union members continue to respond to the crisis as they did in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the recent tsunamis...

Nurses, Donut Workers Join AFL-CIO Unions

Posted on January 13, 2010
      Nurses in Connecticut and Dunkin’ Donuts bakery workers in Illinois recently voted for a voice at work and formed unions with AFT and the Office and Professional Employees (OPEIU). Both groups of workers had to fight against the type of employer intimidation, harassment and other anti-worker tactics that the Employee Free Choice Act would eliminate...

Nurses Issue Urgent Call for Help in Haiti

Posted on January 13, 2010
National Nurses United (NNU) issued an urgent call last night through its nationwide disaster relief network to recruit nurse volunteers to assist residents of earthquake-devastated Haiti. Thousands are feared dead after the impoverished island nation was rocked by a 7...

Remember: National Call-In Blitz for Health Care Reform Jan. 13

Posted on January 12, 2010
      Remember to take part tomorrow in the AFL-CIO National Call-In Blitz for health care reform and make your voice heard. Call 1-877-3-AFLCIO (1-877-323-5246) toll-free and urge your representative to support working families by voting for health care reform that: ? Does NOT tax our health care benefits; ? Requires employers to pay their fair share; and ? Reduces health care costs?the best way to do this is with a public health insurance option...

In Trade, Too Often, the Victim Is Blamed

Posted on January 12, 2010
A screwy thing happened after the United Steelworkers (USW) and eight domestic steel producers won their trade case late in December against Chinese manufacturers of the steel pipe that’s used for oil and gas drilling.   Instead of describing it as an important victory for U...

Illegally Fired Workers Must Get Jobs, Pay Back

Posted on January 12, 2010
Nearly 150 workers at a Michigan auto parts manufacturer could be getting their jobs back?along with back pay?after a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) administrative law judge (ALJ) ruled they were illegally fired. In early 2008, the workers, members of UAW Local 822, were in negotiations for a new contract with Douglas Autotech Corp...

Jobs, Anyone?

Posted on January 12, 2010
      When will the lawmakers in Washington, D.C., figure out that putting America’s unemployed workers back to work means there actually needs to be jobs available? And that means creating them. The AFL-CIO’s five-point jobs plan includes job-creating measures, such as rebuilding the nation’s roads, schools and infrastructure, and lending Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) funds directly to small and medium-sized businesses via community banks...

Building Trades Backs Local Hire Drive for Tennessee VW Plant

Posted on January 12, 2010
      Volkswagen is building a $1 billion auto plant near Chattanooga, Tenn., after being lured there with a $565 million incentive package of taxpayer money. But, according to grassroots group “Volunteers for Local Hire,” many of the jobs building the facility are going to out-of-state and even out-of-country workers...

Be a Facebook Friend of TSA Workers

Posted on January 12, 2010
For more than eight years, the 40,000 uniformed officers at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) have fought to win back the collective bargaining rights the Bush administration stole away from them. You have the chance to join in their fight without even moving from your computer keyboard...

AFT President Proposes New Path Forward in Education

Posted on January 12, 2010
AFT President Randi Weingarten today proposed a “new path forward” in building quality schools in our changing world. Speaking at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., this morning, Weingarten said if America is going to thrive in the 21st century, our entire approach to education must change...

New Journalism, New Organizing Strategies for Freelancers

Posted on January 12, 2010
Steve Stallone, International Labor Communications Association (ILCA) president and editor of Ralph, the publication of the California Media Workers Guild, describes how members of The Newspaper Guild-Communications Workers of America (TNG-CWA) are experimenting with innovative programs to strengthen the newspaper trade and their jobs as print communicators...

John Sweeney Named Harvard Fellow

Posted on January 12, 2010
      AFL-CIO President Emeritus John Sweeney has been named a resident fellow for the spring term at Harvard?s Institute of Politics. When Sweeney retired as AFL-CIO president in September, he vowed to become a “union warrior at large,” and now he will share his more than 50-years experience in the U...

Trumka: Washington Lacks Political Courage to Fix Nation?s Jobs Crisis

Posted on January 11, 2010
      Today’s economic crisis and the decline of the nation’s middle class “cries out for political courage,” AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said in a major address on the economy and jobs crisis at the National Press Club in Washington, D...

Tell Congress: Don?t Tax Working Families? Health Care Benefits

Posted on January 11, 2010
      Today, union leaders are meeting with President Obama to discuss the next step in health care reform legislation, especially the tax on workers’ health care benefits in the Senate bill. On Wednesday, you can join the fight to pass health care reform that works for working families as part of the AFL-CIO’s National Call-In Blitz to the U...

Report: Immigration Reform Would Boost Economy

Posted on January 11, 2010
       A new report shows that comprehensive immigration reform would help American workers and the U.S. economy. Reform that offers a path to citizenship for currently unauthorized workers and enforces workers’ rights would raise the “wage floor” for the entire U...

Saints? Drew Brees Speaks out for NFL Players?and More Bargaining News

Posted on January 11, 2010
      Drew Brees, quarterback of the New Orleans Saints, speaks out on behalf of the NFL Players Association, 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...

Looking for Labor-Themed Films? Check This Out

Posted on January 10, 2010
      You probably won’t find many of these films on the shelves of your local video store. But there are now two new sources to track down labor films?from a four-minute short experimental film about undocumented immigrants who died while trapped inside a tractor trailer in Texas to blockbusters like “Norma Rae” and ”The Grapes of Wrath...

Help Honor Mother Jones with a Commemorative Stamp

Posted on January 09, 2010
    This silk screen by Rupert Garcia is possible artwork for a Mother Jones stamp.         Mickey Mouse, Mickey Mantle and Mickey Rooney have been honored with commemorative stamps by the U.S. Postal Service. So have obscure diplomats, comic book heroes, authors, architects, motorcycles and love birds...

L.A. Hotel Worker Rally Caps off Trumka?s California Jobs and Justice Tour

Posted on January 08, 2010
At a rally last night in front of the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka told a cheering crowd of about 1,000 members of UNITEHERE! Local 11 and supporters from the unions of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor: It’s time to take on the Hyatt Hotel Corporation! The rally, filled with hundreds of people and chanting drums so loud they echoed off high rise buildings, wrapped up his jobs and hotel worker justice swing through California...

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