Labor & Employment Law

?States of Denial? Tracks State Lawmakers? Attacks on Workers

Posted on February 09, 2011
Across the country, state politicians are in ?States of Denial.? Instead of creating jobs and solving the problems of middle-class working families, newly elected Republican legislators and governors are pushing legislation to cut good jobs and benefits, lower wages, threaten job safety and weaken unions...

Activists Rally at White House for Democracy in Egypt

Posted on February 09, 2011
    Union members and Egyptian American activists rally outside the White House.          As Egyptian flags snapped in the frigid wind, nearly 100 Egyptian American and other activists?including more than 50 union members?rallied last night in front of the White House to support the Egyptian people’s ongoing struggle for freedom and democracy...

Ohio Lawmakers Play Political Games Instead of Focusing on Jobs

Posted on February 08, 2011
       With state unemployment at 9.6 percent last month, Ohio legislators should be working overtime to fix the jobs crisis. Instead, the majority leadership in the Ohio Senate is playing partisan politics. Ohio State Senate Assistant Majority Leader Shannon Jones has introduced a bill to take away public service workers? right to collective bargaining–a right they’ve had for 27 years...

Labor College Introduces Three New Online Courses

Posted on February 08, 2011
The National Labor College (NLC) has launched three new fully online bachelor?s degree programs in Construction Management, Emergency Readiness and Response Management and Business Administration. These new programs offer union members the convenience and flexibility of online study...

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Day of Action: Workers, Activists Call for Democracy in Egypt

Posted on February 08, 2011
    Egyptians protest at Tahrir Square in Cairo.          Union members from all parts of the world today joined with community activists in a Day of Action for Democracy in Egypt. In actions outside Egyptian embassies and government buildings, they pressed their governments to demand a democratic transition in Egypt and guarantee that those responsible for the violent repression of peaceful demonstrations be brought to justice...

Protestors Demand Chase Respect Workers, Homeowners

Posted on February 08, 2011
    Peggy Ortega-Camacho and Brendan Griffith from the New York City Central Labor Council hold a banner in front of JPMorgan Chase headquarters last week.          Across the country late last week, hundreds of union members, religious leaders, community activists, farm workers and victims of bank home foreclosures protested at 200 JPMorgan Chase branches to demand the bank respect the basic human rights of people to have decent places to live and work...

Looking for a Job? Website Can Help

Posted on February 07, 2011
  Looking for a job but don?t know what you want to do or where there?s a job that fits your skills? Check out the U.S. Labor Department?s new online tool.  The My Next Move website, launched late last week,  provides  job seekers with information on more than 900 occupations, as well as local job openings and training opportunities, in a simple, user-friendly format...

Good Jobs, Green Jobs Conference: How to Build Sustainable Economy with Good Jobs

Posted on February 07, 2011
      Thousands of labor, environmental, business and community representatives will discuss the best ways to build a sustainable economy that creates good green jobs across the country at the 2011 Good Jobs, Green Jobs National Conference Feb...

IAM Ratifies Agreement with Alaska Airlines?and More Bargaining News

Posted on February 07, 2011
The Machinists ratified a new three-year contract with Alaska Airlines?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 1,300 subscribers...

Union Rep. Aaron Rodgers Is Super Bowl MVP

Posted on February 07, 2011
Aaron Rodgers Just a week after Natalie Portman and Melissa Leo gave shout outs to their union at the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards, two more high-profile union members were in the spotlight. On Super Bowl Sunday, Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers, the Packers? team rep...

Dean Baker: Debts Should Be Honored, Except for Working People

Posted on February 06, 2011
    Dean Baker          If you work for a living, then you expect to be paid what you are owed and on time. But if some members of Congress have their way, public employees will be denied the pensions they worked years to earn. In a Point of View column at the AFL-CIO website, Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), says certain members of Congress are working overtime to draft a law allowing states to declare bankruptcy...

Tough Trek for 7-Ton Mother Jones and Friends

Posted on February 05, 2011
    Hardy Williams (L) and Benny Adair          Three flat tires couldn’t keep Machinists (IAM) Benny Adair and Hardy Williams from completing their monumental task?and Adair swears, ?With all the trouble we had, not a single cussword was said...

Bargaining Rights Finally a Reality for TSOs

Posted on February 04, 2011
        After a nine-year battle to gain a voice in the workplace, more than 40,000 transportation security officers (TSOs) finally can become union members and bargain for a contract. In a major victory for working people, John Pistole, administrator of the Transportation Security Administration, today announced that he has decided to grant partial collective bargaining rights to the TSA workforce...

Jobs Crisis Hits People of Color Hard

Posted on February 04, 2011
      While it is good news that the national unemployment rate dropped to 9 percent in January, it is important that we look deeper into the statistics to find the real story of this recession. There is a depression in communities of color. The unemployment rate for African Americans overall is 15...

What Do Packers and Steelers Have in Common?

Posted on February 04, 2011
  What do the Green Bay Packers and the Pittsburgh Steelers have in common–besides playing in the Super Bowl Sunday? Both teams are named after the major manufacturing industry in their towns. Both cities were built on manufacturing and enjoy a loyal following built on the middle-class, blue-collar jobs supported by these industries...

Learn Online Organizing Strategies at Organizing 2.0 Conference, Feb. 13

Posted on February 04, 2011
       This is a guest blog from Charles Lenchner and Elana Levin, co-founders of Organizing 2.0. Levin also serves as director of communications for the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE). Organizing 2.0 is an annual training conference in New York City for union movement organizers and social justice activists...

Feb. 8: International Day of Action for Democracy in Egypt

Posted on February 04, 2011
  Trade unions around the world will join a Day of Action for Democracy in Egypt on Feb. 8. Union members are joining with community and human rights groups to organize rallies at Egyptian embassies. They will continue to press their governments to demand democratic transition in Egypt and to ensure that those responsible for the violent repression of peaceful demonstrations are brought to justice...

Pennsylvania Supreme Court Upholds PLAs

Posted on February 04, 2011
This is a cross-post from the Electrical Workers (IBEW.) The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has affirmed a lower court?s ruling upholding project labor agreements (PLAs) on state-funded construction projects. A group of nonunion contractors sued the state’s Department of General Services in an attempt to halt the renovation of the SCI Graterford prison using PLAs, arguing that the agreement discriminated against nonunion workers...

Last Super Bowl? Block the Lockout

Posted on February 04, 2011
If you are a football fan, savor Sunday?s Super Bowl, because when the Packers and Steelers leave the field that may be the last game in a long time. The National Football League (NFL) owners say they will lock out the players next season unless they agree to outrageous givebacks...

Missouri Republicans Oppose So-Called Right to Work

Posted on February 04, 2011
      Cathy Sherwin, AFL-CIO Field Communications staffer in Missouri, sends us this latest report. Can Republicans oppose “right to work for less“? Absolutely. Here?s some proof from Jefferson County, Mo. The Jefferson County Republican Central Committee recently unanimously approved a resolution condemning “right to work” proposals being pushed by a handful of state senators, notably Missouri Senate President Pro-Tem Rob Mayer...

Unemployment Rate Down, But Only 36,000 Jobs Created

Posted on February 04, 2011
       Punxsutawney Phil may have predicted an early Spring on Groundhog Day, but the thaw in the jobs market is still far away.  The U.S. Labor Department reported today that the country created only 36,000 jobs in January–not nearly enough to keep up with the growth in the workforce...

Rand Paul Attacks Flight Attendants? Safety

Posted on February 03, 2011
With some 280,000 jobs at stake in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reauthorization bill, you?d think Senate lawmakers would be working together to get those jobs in the pipeline as soon as possible. Not. First Republicans used the bill as vehicle for their near pathological obsession to repeal health care reform...

Labor?s Next Gen Moves Forward with Young Worker Advisory Council

Posted on February 03, 2011
       Nora Frederickson, AFL-CIO Media fellow, sends us this report on the first Young Worker Advisory Council meeting. The union movement?s young workers are getting ready to shake things up. Working off of the short- and long-term goals laid out at last summer?s Next Up Summit, the brand-new Young Worker Advisory Council met in Washington, D...

Government Must Spend to Create Jobs

Posted on February 03, 2011
       Three years after the Great Recession officially began, nearly 27 million U.S. workers either are jobless or in need of full-time work. At the sluggish rate the economy is creating jobs, it will take up to a decade or more before pre-recession levels of unemployment are restored, according to a new report...

Global Unions Demand End to Egyptian Violence

Posted on February 03, 2011
  The global union movement is demanding Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak immediately stop the violence being organized by his regime against peaceful demonstrators, including children and thousands of trade unionists. Sharan Burrow, general secretary off the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), which includes the AFL-CIO, said: The Egyptian president and government must listen to the legitimate demands of the massive number of peaceful demonstrators...

Trumka, Chamber?s Donohue Will Call for Transportation Jobs Bill at Senate Hearing

Posted on February 03, 2011
Check this out. Next week, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Thomas Donohue will make a rare joint appearance to promote jobs legislation. They will appear Feb. 16 before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee at 10 a...

Health Care Repeal Fails in Senate

Posted on February 03, 2011
      The Senate last night rejected a Republican move to repeal the health care reform law. Maybe now they will focus on the nation?s most pressing need?JOBS. Says AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, ?Republicans celebrated Groundhog Day by once again popping their heads up and rehashing old health care battles...

With Paintbrush and a Classroom, a Union Painter Gives Back

Posted on February 03, 2011
       Nora Frederickson, AFL-CIO Media fellow, sends us this profile of a union member who gives back to his community in a big way. Eric Howard, a painter from Hialea, Fla., knows what it?s like to dream of a better life. Growing up in inner city Miami in a working-class family, Howard worked odd jobs after school and learned from his family how to make do...

TWU Video Highlights Union Members as They Follow King?s Legacy of Service

Posted on February 02, 2011
   The Transport Workers (TWU) have produced a moving video (left) of the AFL-CIO’s annual  King Day celebration held last month in Cincinnati. The conference brought together a diverse group of more than 400 union members from across  the country for education, service and activism...

State of Working America: Middle Class Lost Out Over Last 30 Years

Posted on February 02, 2011
The economy has changed significantly over the past 30 years, but those changes have not made life better for  low- and middle-income Americans. In the latest edition of ?The State of Working America,? Economic Policy Institute (EPI) economists point out that while the American workforce is larger, more diverse, and better educated than ever before, income growth has been slow and inequality has grown...

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