Labor & Employment Law

Canaries in the Economic Coalmine

Posted on May 24, 2010
      This is a cross-post by Terrance Heath from the Campaign for America’s Future. When the jobs-focused plenary panel at America’s Future Now [1] convenes?with Angela Glover-Blackwell, Rich Trumka, Jared Bernstein, and Bob Herbert?it’s likely they will continue a discussion America desperately needs, and that tea party conservatives want desperately not to hear...

No Silver Bullet in the Fight Against HIV/AIDS

Posted on May 24, 2010
       The following is an excerpt from the latest report by Bernard Pollack, who is taking a leave of absence from the AFL-CIO to travel through Africa, and Danielle Nierenberg. Read the full post and more at their blog, Border Jumpers. In the fight against the spread of HIV/AIDS, there is no silver bullet...

Spirit Airlines Threatens to Close if Pilots Strike?and More Bargaining News

Posted on May 24, 2010
Spirit Airlines is threatening to shut down if its 500 pilots strike, 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...

Warehouse Workers on 60-Mile March for Justice

Posted on May 24, 2010
After 12 weeks of walking picket lines, striking warehouse workers at Shaw’s Supermarkets are taking their fight for justice on a 60-mile march from their warehouse in Methuen, Mass., to a rally at the state House in Boston. The workers, members of United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 791, began their march yesterday and will reach the state House on Thursday...

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Here?s Your Chance to Win a New Bass Fishing Boat

Posted on May 23, 2010
    IUPAT member Lonnie Tinder (right) takes the keys to his new bass boat in 2008.         A lucky union member will soon be casting a fishing line from a brand new bass fishing boat, thanks to a partnership between the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance (USA), the hunting and fishing club for union members and Triton Boats...

Three Union Members Win National Awards for Outstanding Service

Posted on May 22, 2010
Mark Todd and Kimberly Munley Three union members?two police officers and a veteran voice actor?received prestigious national awards for outstanding service in recent days. Tonight, veteran voice actor Sheldon Smith will receive the Howard Keel award, presented by the Screen Actors (SAG)...

Is the Applesauce King a Greedy Corporate Despot?

Posted on May 21, 2010
Dr. Pepper Snapple (DPS), the food and drink conglomerate that owns Mott’s of applesauce and apple juice fame, made $550 million in profits last year and paid its CEO, Larry Young, $6.5 million in total compensation–double what he earned in 2007...

Opposition Growing Against Arizona Anti-Immigrant Law

Posted on May 21, 2010
      From the courtroom to the basketball court, opposition to Arizona’s anti-immigrant law is growing rapidly across a broad cross-section of Americans. Meanwhile, many of the arguments the law’s supporters are using are beginning to crumble...

Employers Must Post Workers? Rights Info

Posted on May 21, 2010
A just-published Department of Labor rule ensures that workers employed by contractors and subcontractors to the federal government will now know their rights under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). The new rule requires employers to post notices–where workers can see them–that list their rights, including the right to join unions...

Chicago Nurses Vote to Join National Nurses United

Posted on May 21, 2010
Some 1,300 registered nurses at the University of Chicago Medical Center (UCMC) are the newest members of the National Nurses United (NNU).  The UCMC nurses voted last night to join the nation’s largest RN union. The nurses say their top priorities are critical patient safety changes at the medical center, including improved patient staffing and an end to scheduling practices that undermine patient care conditions...

Union Workers Skilled for Clean Energy Jobs

Posted on May 21, 2010
       Clean energy manufacturing jobs are the future of the American economy and unions are in the forefront of the movement to make sure these jobs are good jobs. Union members already have many of the skills in electrical, welding, plumbing and other trades to build clean energy resources that will be needed to move to a green economy...

Wall Street Reform Passes Senate: Conference with House is Chance to Strengthen

Posted on May 21, 2010
Three weeks after more than 15,000 people marched on Wall Street and just days after thousands more marched on K Street demanding Wall Street reform, the Senate last night (59-39) passed legislation to rein-in Wall Street Big Banks’ reckless behavior that crashed the economy...

U.S. Trade Reps in China Need to Ask: What Will Make America Strong?

Posted on May 21, 2010
      When U.S. trade reps meet with their counterparts in China next week for the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue, they should keep in mind this frightening fact: Last year, the biggest single U.S. export to China was $7.6 billion of paper and scrap metal, while China?s number one export to the United States was $46 billion of computer equipment...

Twin Cities Nurses Vote to Strike

Posted on May 20, 2010
Workday Minnesota editor Barb Kucera reports on the strike vote by 12,000 Twin City nurses. Amid chants of ?Safe Patient Care,? members of the Minnesota Nurses Association announced they have authorized a strike of Twin Cities hospitals?the largest nursing walkout in U...

879 Frontier Flight Attendants Join AFA-CWA

Posted on May 20, 2010
    Frontier flight attendants, from left, Kim Mayne-Sasser, Emilio Trevino, Erika Schweitzer and John Warner came to Washington, D.C. for the vote count.         A strong majority of the 879 flight attendants at Frontier Airlines today voted to join the Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA-CWA)...

Study: Wealth Gap Between Blacks, Whites Quadrupled

Posted on May 20, 2010
      A disturbing new study shows African American families have fewer economic resources to fall back on during this economic crisis than do white families, mainly due to discrimination and tax policies that favor the rich. The study by the Institute on Assets and Social Policy at Brandeis University reveals that the wealth gap between blacks and whites has more than quadrupled over the course of a generation from $20,000 to $95,000...

Real Issue Behind Immigration: Corporate Race to the Bottom

Posted on May 20, 2010
The ongoing debate about immigration never seems to effectively address the real problem-our collective national addiction to cheap labor and low wages, says Mark Ayers, president of the AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Department (BCTD). In a column on BCTD’s website, Ayers says the enactment of Arizona’s anti-immigrant law has revived efforts to pass comprehensive immigration reform at the national level...

Gov. Trashes Trailer Offer from Texas AFL-CIO, Prefers Mansion

Posted on May 20, 2010
      Years ago, when I moved into a three-bedroom trailer in Ohio, it felt like moving on up to me. But then again, I wasn’t coming from a nearly $10,000-a-month, five-bedroom, seven-bath mansion with pecan-wood floors, a gourmet kitchen, three dining rooms and a swimming pool for which  taxpayers were footing the bill...

Red Cross Mismanagement Puts Blood Supply at Risk

Posted on May 19, 2010
The federal government must step up enforcement of rules protecting the nation’s blood supply and force the Red Cross to drastically improve its blood safety practices, several groups said today. During a press conference in Washington, D.C., this morning, leaders of the AFL-CIO, the Workers Committee for Blood Safety, the National Consumers League, the Committee of Ten Thousand and the Hemophilia Federation of America called on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to increase enforcement action with the Red Cross and ensure the safety of the nation’s blood supply...

Airlines Fight Fair Election Rules

Posted on May 19, 2010
Several of the nation’s major airlines–including Delta–are mounting a huge legal battle against a new federal regulation that makes union elections for air and rail workers more fair and democratic. The Air Transport Association and 10 of the airline industry group’s members filed suit in federal district court to block the National Mediation Board’s (NMB) May 10 ruling that says air and rail union elections must be decided by a majority of votes cast...

Workers Protest Mexican President?s Anti-Worker Policies

Posted on May 19, 2010
            Some 160 members of the United Steelworkers (USW), union staff and supporters from around Washington, D.C., today protested Mexican President Felipe Calderon’s visit to the nation’s capital and condemned his government’s repression of workers’ rights in Mexico...

Small Business Group, HCAN Blast WellPoint CEO Pay, Consumer Rate Hikes

Posted on May 19, 2010
The CEO and board of directors of health insurance giant WellPoint faced tough questions about the company’s excessive rate hikes, its campaign to kill health care reform and executive pay from shareholders?including small business owners?at its annual board meeting yesterday...

Progressive Dem Faces Off with Tea Party Candidate in Kentucky

Posted on May 19, 2010
      Bill Londrigan, president of the Kentucky State AFL-CIO, says he can count 2,500 reasons why he’ll vote for Democrat Jack Conway for the U.S. Senate. The National Right to Work Committee gave Republican Rand Paul $2,500. Conway will face Paul in the Nov...

Immigrant Students Fight for the American DREAM

Posted on May 19, 2010
       Just as young workers and students were the energy of the civil rights movement in the 1960s, immigrant students are becoming a strong force in the drive for comprehensive immigration reform that will allow them to pursue the American Dream...

Working Families Force Arkansas Runoff, Boost Critz to Pa. Win

Posted on May 19, 2010
In a Pennsylvania special congressional election yesterday, working family voters pushed hard and played a big role in electing Democrat Mark Critz over a Republican who staked a large part of his campaign on overturning health care reform. In the Arkansas U...

Live From Massey Protest

Posted on May 18, 2010
      We’re heading to Massey Energy Co.’s shareholder meeting this morning and will live Tweet (hashtag #firemassey) the march and rally to protest the company’s shameful safety record and demand that CEO Donald Blankenship be held accountable and the three board members up for re-election be ousted...

Survey: Small Business Owners Say Unions Good for Business

Posted on May 18, 2010
      Despite U.S. Chamber of Commerce propaganda, the nation’s small business owners recognize the value of employees forming a union, according to a new survey by Americans Rights at Work (ARAW). The survey was released yesterday, the same day the Chamber opened its annual small business summit...

Act Now: Tell House to Pass Badly Needed Jobs Bill

Posted on May 18, 2010
The U.S. House is poised to vote this week on a multibillion-dollar package of aid to states that would help America’s workers, promote U.S. jobs and provide a much-needed additional lift to our economy. Plus: The bill would make Wall Street pay for it...

K Street Marchers Sent Strong Message: Pass Wall Street Reform Now!

Posted on May 18, 2010
         The 3,000 marchers at yesterday’s Showdown on K Street included a cross-section of union members, community activists and allies from across the country?with some traveling from as far away as Minnesota to take the battle to K Street, where Wall Street’s highly paid lobbyists scheme to stop Wall Street reform...

March on Massey Calls for Blankenship To Go

Posted on May 18, 2010
    UMWA President Cecil Roberts and AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker lead the march to Massey shareholders meeting.         More than 1,000 Mine Workers (UMWA) and other union members and allies marched to the doors of Massey Energy Co...

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