Labor & Employment Law

Trumka Takes on the ?Neoliberalism? that Broke U.S. Economy

Posted on December 17, 2009
       In Tuesday?s live Web chat, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka talked about what we need to do to fix our economy in both the short term and the long term?and touched on a vital, too-infrequently discussed issue: the need to end the stranglehold neoliberal economic thinking has on our politics...

Trumka: Senate Health Care Bill Must Change to Be Real Reform

Posted on December 17, 2009
The health care bill being considered by the U.S. Senate is inadequate and too tilted toward the insurance industry, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said today. In recent days, as the Senate has debated health care reform, small numbers of senators have held health care hostage by threatening to block a vote...

Trade and Climate Policy Cannot Be Separated

Posted on December 17, 2009
    Roxanne Brown, USW assistant legislative director       Roxanne Brown, assistant legislative director of the United Steelworkers (USW), is taking part in climate change talks in Copenhagen, Denmark, where 40 U.S. union members are part of a 400-member global union movement delegation led by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC)...

Shuler to White House: Let?s Revive Manufacturing

Posted on December 17, 2009
AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler joined Vice President Joe Biden and other leaders at yesterday’s meeting of the White House Middle Class Task Force. The topic: restoring our crippled manufacturing sector. The White House Middle Class Task Force yesterday issued a framework detailing the challenges facing manufacturing, and Shuler delivered a message to the White House that fixing manufacturing must be a priority in building a stronger economy...

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Utility Workers Unveil New Energy Policy in Copenhagen

Posted on December 16, 2009
    Utility Workers President Michael Langford, right, and U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu at the climate change summit in Copenhagen.         Utility Workers (UWUA) Secretary-Treasurer Gary Ruffner and Bob Baugh, executive director of the AFL-CIO Industrial Union Council, write about a meeting with U...

Trumka Answers Your Questions, Lays Out Economic Vision

Posted on December 16, 2009
       In a great live Web discussion yesterday, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka answered a wide range of questions on the nation’s economic crisis, setting out a vision for short-term job creation and long-term progress toward a fairer economy...

25th Anniversary of Free South Africa Movement: Solidarity Works

Posted on December 16, 2009
The union movement played a big role in the struggle to end apartheid in South Africa. In marches, political action and direct action, the Free South Africa Movement in the United States proved that international worker solidarity works. And its ripple effects impact not only workers-but each person on our planet...

Thinking Globally, Acting Domestically in Copenhagen

Posted on December 15, 2009
Bob Baugh, executive director of the AFL-CIO Industrial Union Council and co-chair of the AFL-CIO Energy Task Force, sends us this report from the climate change talks in Copenhagen, Denmark, where 40 U.S. union members are part of a 400-member global union movement delegation led by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC)...

Trumka: Live Webcast on Jobs Crisis Today

Posted on December 15, 2009
      At 4 p.m. EST today, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka will host a live conversation and answer your questions about the jobs crisis and the way forward. More than 5,500 people have voted already on more than 150 questions working people submitted for Trumka, on subjects like green jobs, training, trade and addressing unemployment in distressed areas...

Live Coverage of ?Open for Questions?

Posted on December 15, 2009
    Seth Michaels is posting live from Washington, D.C. In a live Web chat from the AFL-CIO starting at 4 p.m. EST, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka will answer questions on the jobs crisis that you submitted and voted on. Watch it live here, and we’ll cover the conversation on Twitter...

Transportation Workers Face ?Undemocratic Process? When Seeking Union

Posted on December 15, 2009
      If a worker in the airline or rail industry doesn’t cast a ballot in a union election, under the rules of the Railway Labor Act (RLA) that nonaction is automatically counted as a “no” vote. Last week, the National Mediation Board (NMB) held a hearing on a proposed new rule that would stop the automatic “veto by silence” and permit a majority of workers who actually vote to decide the union election...

Union Members Keep Focused on a Just Transition to Green Economy

Posted on December 15, 2009
AFT Vice President Dick Iannuzzi writes about the importance of a just transition to a green economy. Iannuzzi is attending climate change talks in Copenhagen, Denmark, where 40 U.S. union members are part of a 400-member global union movement delegation led by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC)...

Do You Know Where the Plane You?re Traveling in Has Been Repaired?

Posted on December 15, 2009
      When you step aboard a flight on a U.S. airplane, you probably assume that plane’s major maintenance work has been performed by certified mechanics at the one of the carrier’s U.S. hangers. That’s not necessarily so. The nation’s major airlines now send more than 20 percent of their planes to repair stations in developing counties, including those in central America, Africa and Asia for major maintenance, including, complete overhauls where the aircraft is stripped to the bare metal then put back together...

Immigration Reform Bill Protects All Workers

Posted on December 15, 2009
The AFL-CIO is backing comprehensive immigration reform legislation introduced today, which provides a long overdue and sensible approach to immigration reform and protects the interests of all workers?foreign and U.S.-born. Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill...

Hundreds Rally in Washington State for Health Care Reform

Posted on December 15, 2009
        More than 600 people rallied in Seattle this weekend as part of a statewide push for health care reform. Union members, religious leaders, community activists and elected leaders came together for the rally. Jacqueline Hix, one of the speakers at the rally, told how she was hurt by our broken health care system: My family and I were the status quo...

Cast Your Vote for ?Scrooge of the Year?

Posted on December 14, 2009
It’s the holiday season and time once again to say “bah humbug” to the most cold-hearted and greedy CEOs, corporations and politicians who exemplify the spirit of Ebenezer Scrooge. This is the 10th year that Jobs with Justice (JwJ) has “honored” the person or group that has done the most to “scrooge” workers...

To Create Jobs, Let?s Help Small Business, Not Just Big Banks

Posted on December 14, 2009
      When our banking system was in crisis last year, Congress acted with lightning speed to bail out banks?but although Wall Street and the banksters have seen a recovery, working families are still facing a crisis of disappearing jobs. One of the best ways to make sure our economy is creating new jobs is to take funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) and rather than using them to just bail out the big banks, direct the funds to their intended purpose: restoring lending and credit to put people to work and our economy on the right track...

Judge Blocks ACORN Funding Ban

Posted on December 14, 2009
    AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker         A federal judge has blocked U.S. officials from enforcing a funding ban on the community action group ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. At the same time, an independent investigation shows the organization did not engage in illegal activities...

Worker Center, Washington State Fed Join Forces to Help Immigrant Workers

Posted on December 14, 2009
Casa Latina?a worker center that serves all workers, including immigrant workers?is affiliating with the Washington State Labor Council to encourage closer cooperation in the fight for immigrant workers’ rights. Seattle-based Casa Latina is the 11th worker center to join the AFL-CIO under a program we launched in 2006 that enables state and local bodies of the AFL-CIO and neighboring workers’ centers to establish formal ties and work together to meet the needs of America’s workers...

Religious Leaders, Union Members Remember Those Who Died Without Health Care

Posted on December 14, 2009
      California Labor Federation communications organizer Rebecca Greenberg reports on a vigil by San Francisco union members and the faith community that highlighted the nation’s broken health care system. While holiday shoppers bustled joyously around San Francisco’s busy Union Square shopping district Friday night, a diverse group of religious leaders and health care advocates stood in stark contrast as they quietly gathered in the center of the square to solemnly commemorate the 45,000 Americans who lost their lives this year because they didn’t have health insurance...

Pratt & Whitney Ships 1,000 Jobs Overseas Despite State Incentives?and More Bargaining News

Posted on December 14, 2009
Pratt & Whitney ships jobs overseas despite incentives, 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...

Copenhagen: Negotiating One Word at a Time

Posted on December 14, 2009
Bob Baugh, executive director of the AFL-CIO Industrial Union Council and co-chair of the AFL-CIO Energy Task Force, sends us this report from the second day at the climate change talks in Copenhagen, Denmark, where 40 U.S. union members are part of a 400-member global union movement delegation led by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC)...

Labor College Partners with Native Workers

Posted on December 13, 2009
The National Labor College (NLC) is expanding educational opportunities to a new group of workers. The college signed an agreement with the College of Menominee Nation, a Native American tribal college with two campuses in Wisconsin. The agreement makes it easier for students attending the tribal college to transfer up to 90 credits toward one of six labor studies majors at NLC...

Get Last-Minute Gifts at The Union Shop Online?

Posted on December 12, 2009
There are only 12 shopping days left before Christmas and if you’re still looking for that special gift and want to support America’s workers at the same time, check out AFL-CIO’s The Union Shop OnlineTM for your one-stop holiday shopping...

Copenhagen: Negotiating One Word at a Time

Posted on December 12, 2009
Bob Baugh, executive director of the AFL-CIO Industrial Union Council and co-chair of the AFL-CIO Energy Task Force, sends us this report from the second day at the climate change talks in Copenhagen, Denmark, where 40 U.S. union members are part of a 400-member global union movement delegation led by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC)...

U.S. Voices Support for Just Transition to Green Economy

Posted on December 11, 2009
Bob Baugh, executive director of the AFL-CIO Industrial Union Council and co-chair of the AFL-CIO Energy Task Force, sends us this report from the second day at the climate change talks in Copenhagen, Denmark, where 40 U.S. union members are part of a 400-member global union movement delegation led by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC)...

House Passes Tough Financial Reform Bill

Posted on December 11, 2009
The U.S. House of Representatives today took a big step toward reforming the risky and reckless practices on Wall Street that created the global financial crisis. By a 223-202 margin, lawmakers passed the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009 (H...

Delivering Letters?and a Message to Congress on Health Care

Posted on December 11, 2009
    Gloria Kortum and Mark Whetstone of AFGE delivered hundreds of letters in support of health care reform to their senator, Ben Nelson.         This week, union leaders and activists visited more than 100 members of Congress to deliver thousands of letters from union members with a simple message: Pass real health care reform now-without a new tax on workers’ benefits...

Union: Wendy?s Robs Bakery Workers of Hard-Earned Health Care, Pensions

Posted on December 11, 2009
Wendy’s New Bakery Co., part of the Wendy’s/Arby’s Group fast-food chain, has illegally implemented concessionary contract terms proposed in bargaining at its Zanesville, Ohio, plant, according to federal unfair labor practice charges filed yesterday by Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) Local 57...

A Call to Arms for Civil Rights Activists

Posted on December 11, 2009
       In this cross-post from the United Steelworkers (USW) website, USW Vice President Fred Redmond challenges civil rights activists to volunteer to help fill the needs of those communities hit hard by the recession. Nationally, activists will come together for a day of service during the annual AFL-CIO Martin Luther King Jr...

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