Best Candidates for Working People, 2018: Julie Blaha .

This November's elections are shaping up to be among the most consequential in recent U.S. history. Throughout the summer and fall, we are taking a look at the best candidates for working people. Today, we feature Minnesota state auditor candidate Julie Blaha.

Here are some of the key reasons why Blaha is one of the best candidates for working people in 2018:

• As secretary-treasurer of the Minnesota AFL-CIO and former president of Anoka-Hennepin Education Minnesota (an affiliate of AFT), she worked across the state to help improve working conditions, increase the minimum wage and expand paid sick and family leave.

• She worked with her town's economic development authority to help people have a voice in their local government and attract businesses that create jobs.

• Blaha has a long track record as a union treasurer of making sure that members had clear, accurate financial information.

• As a former public school educator, Blaha knows that government functions best with accurate data. As the state's auditor, she will be dedicated to the highest-quality and most accurate data. 

• As a math teacher, she not only educated students, but worked with parents and the governor's school finance task force to help make sure students and teachers got the resources they need and deserve.

• As auditor, she will continue the state's tradition of high-quality government and will maintain high standards of transparency and honesty.

• She served as treasurer of a multi million dollar organization and union negotiator, giving her the experience to lead quality governmental operations that can help the state achieve higher credit ratings, more grant opportunities and greater efficiency. 

• Blaha will partner with newly-elected state and local officials to make sure those leaders have the education and information necessary to successfully serve the people of Minnesota.

• She has built a reputation as an honest broker, a bridge builder and a policy innovator who will be a trusted source of concrete, unbiased context and information to allow Minnesota's government to function at its best.

To learn more about Blaha, visit her website.

Kenneth Quinnell Tue, 10/09/2018 - 10:17

Tags: Elections 2018

Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month: The Working People Weekly List AFL-CIO

Every week, we bring you a roundup of the top news and commentary about issues and events important to working families. Here’s this week’s Working People Weekly List.

National Hispanic Heritage Month Profiles: Esther López: "Throughout National Hispanic Heritage Month, the AFL-CIO will be profiling labor leaders and activists to spotlight the diverse contributions Hispanics and Latinos have contributed to our movement. Today's profile features Esther López."

National Hispanic Heritage Month Profiles: Ernesto Galarza: "Throughout National Hispanic Heritage Month, the AFL-CIO will be profiling labor leaders and activists to spotlight the diverse contributions Hispanics and Latinos have contributed to our movement. Today's profile features Ernesto Galarza."

Oklahoma Union Organizers and Activists 'Training Up' to Win: "Twenty-five energetic and dedicated union member activists and staff, mostly from Oklahoma, came together this past week to 'train up' on fundamental organizing principles critical to winning internal and external union organizing campaigns. The three-day training was held at the Oklahoma AFL-CIO in Oklahoma City. It was great to have so many energetic and committed organizers share their experiences about the work they are doing to organize working people. And this was a fun training!"

Best Candidates for Working People, 2018: David Garcia: "This November's elections are shaping up to be among the most consequential in recent U.S. history. Throughout the summer and fall, we are taking a look at the best candidates for working people. Today, we feature Arizona gubernatorial candidate David Garcia."

Improving Patient Safety: Worker Wins: "Our latest roundup of worker wins begins with nurses across the country winning new contracts and includes numerous examples of working people organizing, bargaining and mobilizing for a better life."

Support Locked-Out Boilermakers in Montana: "The labor movement supports members of the Boilermakers (IBB) working at Imerys Talc in Three Forks, Montana, who have been unfairly locked out while fighting against an anti-worker contract proposal. These hardworking Americans and their families have been without a paycheck or employer-provided health insurance for 62 days."

NAFTA Renegotiation: We’re Not Done Yet: "So, you may have heard that the North American Free Trade Agreement has been renegotiated. It’s definitely good that the three NAFTA countries (the United States, Canada and Mexico) are finally looking to change the NAFTA rules that have cost good jobs, made it harder to negotiate better wages, polluted our environment and generally left working people behind all across North America."

One Job Should Be Enough: "Weeks after more than 8,300 UNITE HERE members at Marriott hotels across the country voted to authorize strikes, management has still failed to resolve key contract issues, including workplace safety, job protections and a living wage. Ready to fight for their fundamental economic rights, workers are prepared to walk out without notice in San Francisco, San Diego, Oakland and San Jose, California; Oahu and Maui, Hawaii; Boston; Seattle and Detroit."

Best Candidates for Working People, 2018: Ben Jealous: "​​​​​​​This November's elections are shaping up to be among the most consequential in recent U.S. history. Throughout the summer and fall, we are taking a look at the best candidates for working people. Today, we feature Maryland gubernatorial candidate Ben Jealous."

After Prop A Win, UFCW Local 655 Looks to the Future: "When working Missourians overwhelmingly defeated 'right to work' in August, they landed a gut punch to corporate interests that reverberated across the country."

A NAFTA Deal Should Create Jobs, Protect Our Environment and Safeguard Democracy: "While there are too many details that still need to be worked out before working people make a final judgment on a deal, here is a brief analysis on the trade deal text released late last night (we'll call it 'NAFTA 2018' for clarity). Working families want the United States, Canada and Mexico to go back to the table and finish a deal that creates good, high-wage jobs, protects our environment and safeguards our democracy."

Kenneth Quinnell Fri, 10/05/2018 - 12:52

Economy Gains 134,000 Jobs in September; Unemployment Down Slightly to 3.7%

The U.S. economy gained 134,000 jobs in September, and unemployment was down slightly to 3.7%, according to figures released this morning by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Continued slow wage growth means the Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee is premature in raising interest rates.

In response to the September job numbers, AFL-CIO Chief Economist William Spriggs tweeted:

Labor force participation stayed flat at 62.7% (same as August) as wage gains remained modest at only 2.8% over last September. Slow wage growth, despite recent boosts in output, means higher productivity growth and falling unit labor costs. So much for the tax cuts. @AFLCIO pic.twitter.com/xavQ8QWRni

— William E. Spriggs (@WSpriggs) October 5, 2018

 

Continued slow wage growth, only 2.8% over the year, means the @federalreserve is being premature in increasing interest rates. The productivity gains of the last two quarters are once again going to the bosses not the workers. Falling labor share increases inequality. @AFLCIO

— William E. Spriggs (@WSpriggs) October 5, 2018

 

Employment gains were in higher wage industries, manufacturing leading the way, while jobs losses were in lower wage in retail trade, leisure and hospitality and other services. This makes slow wage growth difficult to explain. @AFLCIO pic.twitter.com/QnFdpZYlvV

— William E. Spriggs (@WSpriggs) October 5, 2018

 

While the official unemployment rate fell to 3.7% the broader measure of labor market slack (U-6) including part-timers seeking full-time work and discouraged workers ticked up a tiny bit from 7.4 to 7.5% because of part-timers seeking full-time work @AFLCIO pic.twitter.com/dqdk1uXRsB

— William E. Spriggs (@WSpriggs) October 5, 2018

 

Little discussed, low-wage growth has not slowed labor force participation growth for Latinos, the employment-to-population rate for Latinos is higher than for whites. This alsoreflects differences in the age profile of the younger Latino population compared to whites. @AFLCIO pic.twitter.com/E4RJuaVfDQ

— William E. Spriggs (@WSpriggs) October 5, 2018

 

In NOT a good sign, the share of unemployed workers that have been looking over 26 weeks has been rising. #JobsReport @AFLCIO combined with the increase in part-timers seeking full-time work, 3.7% unemployment is not so rosy. pic.twitter.com/GjBvrWkFHV

— William E. Spriggs (@WSpriggs) October 5, 2018

 

Another, it is NOT good, despite continued economic growth, public investment continues to lag. The loss of local government jobs, including in education, is a bad sign for long term economic growth. @AFLCIO @OECDeconomy @AFTunion @AFSCME #JobsReport pic.twitter.com/gtZzZAi97H

— William E. Spriggs (@WSpriggs) October 5, 2018

 

The drop in September of Local Government Employment, slows the recovery of public investment. This makes people less well off--fewer public services at the level where the delivery is felt. #JobsReport @AFTunion @AFSCME @AFLCIO pic.twitter.com/Q5YQPKvQ1p

— William E. Spriggs (@WSpriggs) October 5, 2018

Last month's biggest job gains were in professional and business services (54,000), health care (26,000), transportation and warehousing (24,000), construction (23,000), manufacturing (18,000) and mining (6,000). Employment in leisure and hospitality declined over the month (-17,000). Employment showed little or no change over the month in other major industries, including wholesale trade, retail trade, information, financial activities and government. 

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rate for adult women (3.3%) and blacks (6.0%) declined, while the rate for Asians (3.5%) increased. The jobless rates for teenagers (12.8%), Hispanics (4.5%), adult men (3.4%) and whites (3.3%) showed little or no change in September.

The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) was essentially unchanged in September and accounted for 22.9% of the unemployed.

 

Kenneth Quinnell Fri, 10/05/2018 - 10:51

National Hispanic Heritage Month Profiles: Esther López UFCW

Throughout National Hispanic Heritage Month, the AFL-CIO will be profiling labor leaders and activists to spotlight the diverse contributions Hispanics and Latinos have contributed to our movement. Today's profile features Esther López.

López first connected with the labor movement in high school. Because she was bilingual, she volunteered to register Latino voters and get them to the polls. From there, she never turned back.

As her post-school career progressed, she began to play an active role in improving labor conditions in Illinois. She served as deputy chief of staff for the state's Department of Labor before going on to lead the department.

In November 2006, López joined the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) as director of the Civil Rights and Community Action Department. She served on the front lines of battles against voter suppression, ending exploitation of refugees, expanding opportunities for women and pursuing LGBTQ equality, including overseeing the launch of UFCW's LGBTQ constituency group, OUTreach. She created the UFCW's Union Citizenship Action Network (UCAN), which focused on helping union members get on the path to ctizenship. She is recognized as a national leader on immigration reform and civil, human and labor rights.

López has helped transform the UFCW into a more diverse union. She developed and administered two diversity surveys that helped UFCW leadership become more reflective of the union's membership.

In 2016, López was elected to the position of international secretary-treasurer for UFCW, and she was re-elected at the union's 2018 convention in Las Vegas. She also currently serves on the national boards of the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, Jobs With Justice, the Center for Community Change, the National Consumers League and Labor Council for Latin American Advancement.

Kenneth Quinnell Fri, 10/05/2018 - 08:51

In Minnesota and Across the Country, Organizing Power Begets Political Power Minnesota AFL-CIO

As the midterms rapidly approach, politics is at the top of minds across the labor movement. And as a seemingly endless stream of news flows from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail, it can be easy to lose sight of anything else. But organizers have been quick to point out that our electoral strength in November depends on our organizing strength year-round.

Minnesota AFL-CIO Organizing/Growth Director Todd Dahlstrom says it’s never been more important to focus on bolstering membership.

"If we do the internal organizing first, the politics will follow. And for a long time, I think that we've been trying to do the politics and then the organizing," Dahlstrom said. "We need to build a strong union affinity on the front end before we really can start talking about politics."

He says the key lies in having conversations on the shop floor about kitchen table economics—the critical issues facing workers every day, like wages, health care and retirement security. To that end, the Minnesota AFL-CIO has worked with locals across the state to revamp their worksite organizing programs and try experimental new strategies.

"One thing that's unique to unions that most other organizations don't have—we have worksites," Dahlstrom said. "We have access to worksites. We have access to workers. We just need to go talk to those workers."

When Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) Local 22 faced a contract fight with a bakery in St. Cloud, local organizers tapped into a prime opportunity to build solidarity. Bonded by a common struggle, members started showing up to unit meetings in droves and began feeling invested in their union. They ultimately won the fight, coming out of that victory stronger than ever.

Meanwhile, the Twin Cities public workers of Laborers (LIUNA) Local 363 were grappling with the new challenges posed by the Supreme Court’s union-busting decision in Janus v. AFSCME. Tasked with collecting hundreds of recommitment cards, the local's leadership turned to its members to mobilize.

Forming a 10-person organizing committee, shop stewards from across the local took the lead. They set goals, engaged their union brothers and sisters and learned from each other as they debriefed each week.

"I was really intimidated at first," said Caitlin Brunette, a Local 363 member and steward in the Saint Paul Parks & Recreation Department. "But going to these meetings every week really helped me, because I got to ask other people what they were saying—what was effective, what was working."

Over the course of 10 weeks, they steadily built a mountain of signed cards, including 85 from former fee-payers.

Asked how other locals might find similar success, Brunette encouraged stewards to form a member-led organizing committee—and to stay committed.

"That was essential," said Brunette, herself a single mom who has never missed a meeting. "Meet every week. Stay consistent. Make it a top priority of yours."

For his part, Dahlstrom urged union leaders to focus on the fundamentals.

"We just gotta get back to what we're good at," he said. "We are good at talking to workers at the worksites and finding issues that workers will rally around. And we just need to get back to doing that—having those shop floor discussions and finding out what workers really want to fight for and then picking those fights."

Kenneth Quinnell Fri, 10/05/2018 - 07:58

Oklahoma Union Organizers and Activists 'Training Up' to Win AFL-CIO

Twenty-five energetic and dedicated union member activists and staff, mostly from Oklahoma, came together this past week to "train up" on fundamental organizing principles critical to winning internal and external union organizing campaigns. The three-day training was held at the Oklahoma AFL-CIO in Oklahoma City. It was great to have so many energetic and committed organizers share their experiences about the work they are doing to organize working people. And this was a fun training!

This three-day training focused primarily on having the right organizing conversation with members and potential members, identifying and developing workplace leaders who can win, and why we map out our workplaces. Organizers who attended the training came from the Ironworkers, Communications Workers of America (CWA), United Steelworkers (USW), AFT, Office and Professional Employees (OPEIU), Transport Workers (TWU), Electrical Workers (IBEW) and the Machinists (IAM); and although most were from Oklahoma, organizers also traveled from Arkansas, Texas and Maryland to attend the training.  

I would like to thank Oklahoma AFL-CIO President Jimmy Curry for partnering with the Organizing Institute to host this training. I also want to send a very special shout out to Oklahoma AFL-CIO Communications Director Debra Wojtek for putting in the work and getting the word out to affiliates in the state about this training. This was the second training the Oklahoma AFL-CIO and the Organizing Institute put on (the first was in August 2012), and we look forward to working with the Oklahoma AFL-CIO on scheduling more trainings in the not-too-distant future.  

We also would like to thank organizers Trentice Hamm (IBEW), Jesse Hensley (SMART), Troy Johnson (IBEW), Chubbs McCrory (IAM), Jerry Sims (IBT) and Joe Smith (IBEW) for taking time away from their campaigns and their families to serve as teaching fellows with us.  

Lastly, big shoutouts to Organizing Institute Senior Trainer Patricia Recinos, who led this training, and OI Administrator Camille West-Eversley for making it a success!

Be sure to check our website at aflcio.org/oi for information about upcoming three-day trainings, advanced organizer workshops and clinics.

Stay strong, and we hope to see you at an upcoming Organizing Institute training!

This guest post is from Patrick Scott, who works for AFL-CIO's Organizing Institute.

Kenneth Quinnell Thu, 10/04/2018 - 11:26

Best Candidates for Working People, 2018: David Garcia AFL-CIO

This November's elections are shaping up to be among the most consequential in recent U.S. history. Throughout the summer and fall, we are taking a look at the best candidates for working people. Today, we feature Arizona gubernatorial candidate David Garcia.

Here are some of the key reasons why Garcia is one of the best candidates for working people in 2018:

• He favors an economic strategy that encourages the use of local businesses for public contracts and focuses on the entire state, not just urban areas.

• Garcia wants to focus on creating jobs in growth industries, including aerospace, biosciences, cybersecurity, energy, defense, optics and photonics.

• He supports universal community college to develop the state's high-skilled workforce and to attract new companies to the state.

• Garcia wants to invest in sustainable agriculture and value-added practices, such as craft breweries, vineyards and farmers' markets.

• He will remove barriers to expansion of high-speed digital infrastructure, the lack of which disproportionately harms rural and tribal communities.

• Garcia wants to invest in a clean energy economy, particularly solar, that will create thousands of jobs.

• As an educator, administrator and education policy analyst, he supports expanding access to early education, affordable child care and after-school programs.

• Garcia supports the right of Dreamers to live, work and study here without fear and opposes family separation policies.

• He will push for equal pay legislation to level the playing field for working women.

• Garcia will issue an executive order prohibiting state employers and contractors from discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender expression.

• He supports legislation that protects LGBTQ Arizonans from discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations.

• Garcia supports Medicare for all.

• He supports automatic voter registration, which would modernize the state's electoral system, save taxpayers' money, increase electoral accuracy and improve voter participation.

• While serving in the Army, he received the Army Achievement Medal and the Humanitarian Award for fighting wildfires in Yellowstone National Park.

To learn more about Garcia, visit his website.

Kenneth Quinnell Thu, 10/04/2018 - 09:06

Tags: Elections 2018

Improving Patient Safety: Worker Wins

Our latest roundup of worker wins begins with nurses across the country winning new contracts and includes numerous examples of working people organizing, bargaining and mobilizing for a better life.

New Contract for More Than 14,000 California Nurses Includes Improved Protections from Violence and Harassment: Registered nurses at the University of California, members of the California Nurses Association (an affiliate of National Nurses United/NNU) voted overwhelmingly to ratify a new five-year contract. The contract covers more than 14,000 registered nurses at more than a dozen locations. "We are so proud to ratify this historic contract for all registered nurses at UC. Nurses stood together in solidarity and fought back over 60 takeaways that would have directly affected our ability to care for our patients," said Megan Norman, RN, UC Davis. "We won new language addressing infectious disease and hazardous substances as well as stronger protections around workplace violence and sexual harassment."

11,000 VA Nurses Ratify New Contract: More than 11,000 registered nurses at 23 hospitals run by the Department of Veterans Affairs, who are represented by the National Nurses Organizing Committee/NNU, voted to ratify a new three-year contract that features workplace violence protections, infectious disease training and emergency preparedness information. "I am very excited about the workplace safety provisions that will improve the safety of our nurses and protect them from violence and injury," said Irma Westmoreland, registered nurse and National Nurses United board member.

Maine Nurses Win Increased Workplace Safety in New Contract: Neatly 900 members of the Maine State Nurses Association (part of the NNOC/NNU) who work at the Eastern Maine Medical Center (EMMC) ratified a new contract. "This new agreement sets a new bar for quality care and patient safety at our hospital," said Dawn Caron, bargaining team member and chief union steward for the nurses at EMMC. "When we began this process back in February, we set out to protect the role of our charge nurses and all of the other safe patient care provisions of our contract. The nurses at EMMC are proud to announce that today, we have done exactly that."

Disneyland Resort Workers Approve Contract with Wage Raise and Bonus: After more than a year and a half of negotiations, Disneyland Resort hotel workers approved a new contract that includes nearly $2 an hour in higher wages and the payment of $1,000 employee bonuses originally announced in January. UNITE HERE Local 11 represents the more than 2,700 hotel workers at Disney covered by the new contract.

UFCW Members at Four Roses Distillery Reach Agreement to End Strike: In September, members of United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 10D who work at the Four Roses distillery in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, won a new agreement after a strike that lasted nearly two weeks. "We're one big, happy, dysfunctional family around here," Local 10D President Jeff Royalty said. "You know, just like brothers and sisters, you'll have some hard feelings from time to time, but they're short-lived."

Columbia Postdoctoral Researchers Win Right to Form Union: The National Labor Relations Board ruled that postdoctoral researchers at Columbia can form a union. Official elections are being held this week to determine whether or not the Columbia Postdoctoral Workers become members of the UAW. "We are very excited that the NLRB finally issued the decision that Columbia’s postdoctoral workers can unionize despite the university’s efforts to undermine us," said Alvaro Cuesta-Dominguez, a member of the postdoctoral worker organizing committee and a second-year postdoc researcher. "We look forward to the opportunity to really have our voices heard."

Federal Judge Sides with FLOC, Rejects Anti-Union North Carolina Law: U.S. District Judge Loretta Biggs ruled that a North Carolina law limiting union organizing for farmworkers was unconstitutional. "North Carolina’s law is clearly designed to make it harder, if not impossible, for the state’s only farmworkers union to advocate for sorely needed protections against exploitation and bad working conditions," said Brian Hauss, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union.

New York Port Authority Workers Win Wage Increase: After a long fight, working people at the New York Port Authority represented by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union/UFCW (RWDSU/UFCW) and UNITE HERE won an increase to a minimum wage of $19 per hour by 2023. The new agreement includes nearly 5,000 catering workers that were excluded from the previous policy. The proposal could impact tens of thousands of workers at other area airports, as well.

ExpressJet Pilots Overwhelmingly Approve New Contract: United Express pilots at ExpressJet Airlines, represented by the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), have won a new contract that increases pilot pay. More than 90% of those who voted supported the new three-year deal.

Kenneth Quinnell Wed, 10/03/2018 - 13:20

Support Locked-Out Boilermakers in Montana IBB

The labor movement supports members of the Boilermakers (IBB) working at Imerys Talc in Three Forks, Montana, who have been unfairly locked out while fighting against an anti-worker contract proposal. These hardworking Americans and their families have been without a paycheck or employer-provided health insurance for 62 days.

The Three Forks plant is French-owned Imerys’ most profitable site, generating more than $1 million in profit per month. But Imerys locked out its workers—who make up 13% of the town’s workforce—after proposing a contract that gutted health care for new retirees, seniority and the current defined contribution 401(k) plan; reduced overtime pay; and froze the pension plan.

“I grew up in Three Forks. Worked for the talc mill for 38 years....I’ve given this job the best years of my life,” Randy Tocci said. “This plant has always made a profit and yet that’s not good enough for Imerys, and I don’t understand why.”

Add your name to support the locked-out Montana Boilermakers.

Watch this video to learn more:

 

Kenneth Quinnell Wed, 10/03/2018 - 11:13

NAFTA Renegotiation: We’re Not Done Yet

So, you may have heard that the North American Free Trade Agreement has been renegotiated. It’s definitely good that the three NAFTA countries (the United States, Canada and Mexico) are finally looking to change the NAFTA rules that have cost good jobs, made it harder to negotiate better wages, polluted our environment and generally left working people behind all across North America.

But we’re the ones who have worked for 25 years to take the trade policy rule book out of the hands of greedy CEOs. We’re the ones who forced the architects of these pro-corporate trade rules to admit they’ve been ignoring working people. We’re the ones who forced this renegotiation to happen. And we’re the ones who get to say when it is over.

Well, it ain’t over. We don’t know if there will be effective enforcement tools to penalize labor violations. We don’t know if the auto content rules will really create good new jobs and prevent more outsourcing. Just saying negotiations are over doesn’t make it so.  

Just like this chicken isn’t fully cooked, NAFTA renegotiation isn’t over. Just like the Atlanta Falcons didn’t win the 2017 Super Bowl despite leading for 59 minutes, NAFTA renegotiation isn’t over. Just like we don’t know what happened to John Connor after he traveled to the future in the last episode of "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles," NAFTA renegotiation isn’t over.

Working families need more than promises. We need new trade rules that will bring higher wages and better jobs. We want NAFTA results, not NAFTA slogans. This is far from over.

So if NAFTA renegotiation isn’t over, what do we do now? We do what we always do when we are not willing to put up with the way things are: We fight. Click here to send your member of Congress an email telling him or her to keep fighting for better trade rules for hardworking families.

To find out how else you can help, text TRADE to 235246.  

Click here to share this video on your Facebook page. Tell your Facebook friends to get involved, too.

Kenneth Quinnell Wed, 10/03/2018 - 09:32

Tags: NAFTA

One Job Should Be Enough UNITE HERE

Weeks after more than 8,300 UNITE HERE members at Marriott hotels across the country voted to authorize strikes, management has still failed to resolve key contract issues, including workplace safety, job protections and a living wage. Ready to fight for their fundamental economic rights, workers are prepared to walk out without notice in San Francisco, San Diego, Oakland and San Jose, California; Oahu and Maui, Hawaii; Boston; Seattle and Detroit.

"8,300 UNITE HERE members have the courage and the power to take on the biggest hotel company in the world and are willing to fight to transform jobs they can’t survive on into careers where they can support their families with dignity," said UNITE HERE International President D. Taylor last week as strike headquarters opened across the country.

Workers have been in negotiations with Marriott for months, yet management has refused to ensure that one job is enough to sustain a family.

Marriott is the largest and richest hotel employer in the world, earning $22.8 billion in revenue last year and touting a total worth of $45 billion.

Find out more about this fight, and show your solidarity here!

Kenneth Quinnell Tue, 10/02/2018 - 13:58

Best Candidates for Working People, 2018: Ben Jealous AFL-CIO

This November's elections are shaping up to be among the most consequential in recent U.S. history. Throughout the summer and fall, we are taking a look at the best candidates for working people. Today, we feature Maryland gubernatorial candidate Ben Jealous.

Here are some of the key reasons why Jealous is one of the best candidates for working people in 2018:

• Jealous is committed to building a stronger union movement in Maryland. Unions have been a part of his work since he was 20 years old, when he worked at the AFL-CIO headquarters in Washington, D.C., and he will be proud to continue that work as governor.
• As a former member of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) who was raised by two AFSCME members, he believes working families deserve a pathway to the American Dream and the labor movement provides that pathway.
• He will raise the state's minimum wage to $15 an hour and tie it to the median wage.
• Jealous will expand prevailing wage laws to ensure that Maryland’s construction workers have more opportunities to earn good wages and benefits.
• He supports implementing a "Medicare-for-All" system and wants to lower prescription drug costs.
• Jealous wants to make community college free for every Marylander and make all four-year public institutions debt-free for Marylanders.
• He believes that project labor agreements/community workforce agreements for state-funded projects ensure work is completed by skilled trades, projects are cost-effective, and they require contractors to be affiliated with state-registered apprenticeships and provide medical benefits to their workers.
• Jealous believes that Maryland needs to move toward cleaner energy responsibly by training workers for new jobs and ensuring wage and benefit standards are maintained or improved. 
• He proposed to raise teacher pay by 29%.
• Jealous wants to hire more people at retirement facilities to combat elder abuse.
• He will gradually eliminate the sub-minimum wage for tipped workers.
• Jealous wants to create a statewide program that provides young people with summer employment.
• He wants to "ban the box" for private-sector jobs and develop new incentives to train and hire the formerly incarcerated.
• Jealous will increase technical assistance to farmers and expand rural broadband.
• He will implement a transportation plan that improves infrastructure and helps brings workers and jobs together.
• Jealous favors legalizing marijuana for adult use and wants to strengthen diversity requirements for licensing in the marijuana industry.
• In 2013, he was named Marylander of the Year for his efforts to pass the Maryland DREAM Act.
• He supports protecting Dreamers and providing them with a pathway to citizenship.

To learn more about Jealous, visit his website.

Kenneth Quinnell Mon, 10/01/2018 - 11:08

Tags: Elections 2018

National Hispanic Heritage Month Profiles: Ernesto Galarza Mitu

Throughout National Hispanic Heritage Month, the AFL-CIO will be profiling labor leaders and activists to spotlight the diverse contributions Hispanics and Latinos have contributed to our movement. Today's profile features Ernesto Galarza.

Ernesto Galarza was born in Jalcocotán, Nayarit, Mexico, in 1905 and immigrated to California with his family after the Mexican Revolution began. As a youth, he assisted his family during harvest season, gathering his first experience as a farm worker. Because he had learned English in school, other Mexican migrant workers asked him to speak to management about polluted drinking water, providing him with his first experience in organizing and activism.

Galarza attended Occidental College on a scholarship and worked summers as a farm laborer and cannery worker. After graduation, he attended Stanford University and earned a master's degree in history and political science. He continued his graduate studies while on a fellowship at Columbia University, where several of his research reports were published. 

Because of his experiences and education, he began to focus his efforts on improving the living conditions of working-class Latinos. This led to him being hired by the Pan American Union (later the Organization of American States) as a research associate. When the union created a Division of Labor and Social Information, Galarza was chosen to lead it. 

In the late 1940s, he was recruited by the National Farm Labor Union, which later became the United Farm Workers, to be director of research and education. Over the next several years, he helped direct numerous strikes and fought back against "right to work" laws. He became a leading figure in exposing abuse of Mexican American workers in government. 

In the ensuing years, Galarza became a leading writer on the plight of Mexican and Mexican American workers and the abuse of farm workers. During his career, he wrote more than 100 publications and was a professor at the University of Notre Dame, San Jose State University, University of California, San Diego, and University of California, Santa Cruz. 

As an activist, scholar and organizer, it is hard to overstate the impact Galarza had on working-class Mexican American families and our broader culture.

Kenneth Quinnell Mon, 10/01/2018 - 09:48

After Prop A Win, UFCW Local 655 Looks to the Future UFCW Local 655

When working Missourians overwhelmingly defeated "right to work" last month, they landed a gut punch to corporate interests that reverberated across the country.

The New York Times declared that unions have the wind at our back. The Wall Street Journal warned CEOs that unions are on the attack.

They were right. But our work didn't end on election bight. As United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) President Marc Perrone recently wrote, "At some point soon, America’s hardworking families will cast politics aside and say enough is enough with the economic struggles they have had to endure."

Just weeks later, unions in Missouri are capitalizing on momentum from the landslide victory, which captured more than two-thirds of the vote.

Members of UFCW Local 655 played an integral part in a field program that visited 1,000 worksites, knocked on 800,000 doors and dialed 1 million phones. Now, Local 655 President David Cook is mobilizing those members for the political and organizing battles ahead.

"The upside of the Prop A fight is that it gave us an opportunity to be conscious of who we're seeing a lot—who's really getting involved," said Local 655 Communications Director Collin Reischman. "Now, we've got a great group of people to mobilize when we want to take an action."

After identifying key volunteers in the months-long campaign, Local 655 has compiled a list of hundreds of motivated members eager to serve their union family. After leading the fight against Prop A, they are ready to step up for lobby days, labor rallies and major field efforts heading into November.

But even as member excitement grows, union leaders aren’t sitting on their laurels. This surge in grassroots energy comes as UFCW locals nationwide are taking steps to modernize and strengthen their member outreach.

"The minute we say, 'We know,' then we’re not open for education," said UFCW Assistant National Organizing Director Miles Anderson, emphasizing the need for flexibility and openness to new ideas.

Local 655 is taking that guidance to heart—and leading the way.

"Unions need to figure the world out, or they're going to be left behind. It can't just be fliers in the workplace," said Reischman, pointing to an ambitious digitization effort spearheaded by President Cook. "Our union reps can walk into any store with an iPad and pull up that store and see who's working right now. The overarching goal was to make it so that every single member of our union signed an app because they met one of our union reps and talked to them when they signed it. The first conversation about the union should be with us—not with the company."

Reischman offered some simple advice to other locals: Always be willing to evolve, and don't be afraid to try something new.

"You're going to try some new stuff, and occasionally it's going to fail. And that's OK. Just try the new thing."

Kenneth Quinnell Mon, 10/01/2018 - 08:33

NAFTA Deal Should Create Jobs, Protect Our Environment and Safeguard Democracy

AFL-CIO Trade Policy Specialist Celeste Drake’s first take on the recently released North American Free Trade Agreement text:

While there are too many details that still need to be worked out before working people make a final judgment on a deal, here is a brief analysis on the trade deal text released late last night (we'll call it "NAFTA 2018" for clarity). Working families want the United States, Canada and Mexico to go back to the table and finish a deal that creates good, high-wage jobs, protects our environment and safeguards our democracy.

• The original NAFTA favors outsourcers over workers, creating special privileges for global companies at the cost of good jobs, high wages and our democracy. Whether it is in need of renegotiation isn’t in doubt. It’s required for the good of working families across North America.

• Unfortunately, we have been presented with an unfinished text to review. In some places, the text is still in draft form, in other places, important terms remain bracketed (unresolved) and in some cases, including with respect to the government procurement schedules, there is no text to review. 

• The bottom line is that we simply do not have enough information at this time to know whether NAFTA 2018 is in the economic interests of the United States.

• The Good: Improved labor rules, including detailed obligations to eradicate Mexico’s protection contracts, in the main body of the text; a meaningful reduction (but not an elimination) of unjustifiable special rights for foreign investors; and generally stronger content rules to prevent non-NAFTA countries from “free riding” on NAFTA tariff reductions.

• The Bad: NAFTA 2018 moves backward from the original NAFTA in many areas important to working families, including with respect to “good regulatory practices” (code for using this trade agreement to attack important consumer, health, safety and environmental protections), financial services (providing new tools for Wall Street to attack efforts to rein in its continuing abuses), affordable medicines (extending monopolies for brand-name pharmaceuticals at the expense of affordability), and privacy of personal data.  

• The Unknown: The many unanswered questions include whether, when and how Mexico will enact and implement labor law reform; whether, when and how labor monitoring and enforcement tools will be included in the agreement and any associated legislation; what the final auto rule of origin looks like; and whether Buy American will be strengthened or weakened.   

• Canada is the United States’ closest trading partner. Many of the AFL-CIO's member unions are "international unions" meaning they have Canadian members, just as U.S. families, businesses and industrial production span the U.S.-Canadian border.

• The effect of NAFTA 2018 on manufacturing is unknown at this time, because of the lack of specific text on a number of important issues, the lack of effective currency disciplines, the uncertainty about what steps Mexico will take to implement its constitutional and NAFTA 2018 commitments to promote labor rights, and what implementing, monitoring and enforcement infrastructure and resources will be provided. Additional information is needed vis-à-vis rules of origin provisions before we can perform a more robust evaluation.

• On labor, despite progress, more work remains to be done. Mexico must follow through on its labor law reforms. In addition, we will continue to engage with the administration and Congress on implementing, monitoring and enforcement measures to buttress the provisions in the agreement and to secure sufficient mandatory funding to provide technical assistance, where needed, and capacity building to help new unions form and budding unions to stand up.

• NAFTA 2018 is poised to drive up the price of medicines for working families and retirees. Rather than learning from the mistakes of prior trade rules that have increased the price of medicines in developing countries and that made the Trans-Pacific Partnership so deeply unpopular, NAFTA 2018 incorporates nearly wholesale the wish list of big pharmaceutical companies, with respect to intellectual property rights and drug pricing provisions. Measured against the status quo, public health is likely to be harmed, the prices on drugs and medical devices are likely to increase and life-saving medicines could be increasingly out of the reach of those most in need.

• The currency provision is inadequate. Only the reporting requirements are enforceable—not any obligation to refrain from competitive devaluation. Importantly, the provision does not establish a united NAFTA front to combat currency manipulation and misalignment by non-NAFTA parties. In short, the currency rules do not set a strong marker for China or other non-NAFTA partners with a history of currency manipulation and misalignment.

• The renegotiation of NAFTA is not over. U.S. Trade Representative Robert E. Lighthizer has made a good start and incorporated some labor's advice, and there is still much work to do. Therefore, we are glad that Canada and the U.S. reached a last minute deal, but we need to review the new text to understand the effects on working families. America's unions will continue to work to improve the rules of trade to benefit our members and all working families of North America.  

Kenneth Quinnell Mon, 10/01/2018 - 07:40

Tags: NAFTA

The Best Candidates for Working People: The Working People Weekly List

Every week, we bring you a roundup of the top news and commentary about issues and events important to working families. Here’s this week’s Working People Weekly List.

Best Candidates for Working People, 2018: "This November's elections are shaping up to be among the most consequential in recent U.S. history. Throughout the summer and fall, we are taking a look at the best candidates for working people. Here are the candidates we've covered so far!"

​Regulating from Below: How Front-Line Bank Workers Can Help Fix the Financial Industry: "Ten years after risky practices at our largest banks wreaked havoc on the global economy, we face a financial sector that, despite some reforms, remains broken in fundamental ways."

Best Candidates for Working People, 2018: Justin Nelson: "This November's elections are shaping up to be among the most consequential in recent U.S. history. Throughout the summer and fall, we are taking a look at the best candidates for working people. Today, we feature Texas attorney general candidate Justin Nelson."

National Hispanic Heritage Month Profiles: Dora Cervantes: "Throughout National Hispanic Heritage Month, the AFL-CIO will be profiling labor leaders and activists to spotlight the diverse contributions Hispanics and Latinos have contributed to our movement. Today's profile covers Dora Cervantes."

Best Candidates for Working People, 2018: Fred Hubbell: "This November's elections are shaping up to be among the most consequential in recent U.S. history. Throughout the summer and fall, we are taking a look at the best candidates for working people. Today, we feature Iowa gubernatorial candidate Fred Hubbell."

Best Candidates for Working People, 2018: Steve Sisolak: "This November's elections are shaping up to be among the most consequential in recent U.S. history. Throughout the summer and fall, we are taking a look at the best candidates for working people. Today, we feature Nevada gubernatorial candidate Steve Sisolak."

Everyone Needs an ‘Equity Card’: "The younger people in my life introduce me to songs they consider vintage but that are completely new to me. The Dead Kennedys, for example, are alive and well on my most recent playlist. And just this morning I heard, for the first time, 'Work Bitch,' by Britney Spears. As I listened to her sing 'Bring it on/ring the alarm/don’t stop now/just be the champion,' I added, in my best BritBrit voice, 'and get a labor union, get some collective bargaining.' (This is what it is like to ride in the car with me.)"

You Can Be Fired for Not Showing Up to Work During a Hurricane: "Ahead of a natural disaster like Hurricane Florence, politicians and safety officials tell the public to evacuate early and not wait until conditions get bad. We all know that you can lose your home and your belongings, but politicians never talk about the fact that during a disaster, many people can lose their jobs as well."

What's Up with NAFTA, Anyway? Some Frequently Asked Questions: "I’ve been getting so many questions about NAFTA, I thought I’d answer a few for everyone."

Kenneth Quinnell Mon, 10/01/2018 - 07:31

Best Candidates for Working People, 2018: Michelle Lujan Grisham AFL-CIO

This November's elections are shaping up to be among the most consequential in recent U.S. history. Throughout the summer and fall, we are taking a look at the best candidates for working people. Today, we feature Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico, who is running for governor.

Here are some of the key reasons why Grisham is one of the best candidates for working people in 2018:

• She wants to bring together unions, businesses, universities and community leaders to help coordinate development in industries that have potential for real growth.

• Grisham wants to create centers of excellence at universities that will help bring industries to the state and create jobs.

• She wants to invest money to accelerate the state's development of a green energy workforce.

• She will invest in the state's Permanent School Fund to expand early childhood classrooms, creating jobs for teachers and educational assistants.

• Grisham wants to fast-track investments in the state's infrastructure, including modernization for water and transport systems and expanded broadband access.

• She wants to expand investments in apprenticeships, internships, workforce development and online learning opportunities.

• Grisham will pursue a comprehensive plan to attract foreign development investment in the state.

• She wants to put more money in classrooms and expand career technical education programs.

• She wants to invest in universal pre-kindergarten.

• Grisham wants to increase pay for teachers, administrators and education personnel. She also wants to improve programs for preparation, mentoring and high-quality professional development.

• She wants to establish a skills training program that focuses on the current and future needs of employers and trains working people to meet those needs.

• Grisham wants to improve child care access by linking it to workforce development programs.

• She wants to create programs that will help reduce debt for young workers.

• She will fight against gender discrimination and harassment in the workplace.

• Grisham will be diligent in enforcing equal pay for women in state agencies and vendors.

To learn more about Grisham, visit her website.

Kenneth Quinnell Fri, 09/28/2018 - 08:10

Tags: Elections 2018

#BelieveSurvivors AFL-CIO

As Dr. Christine Blasey Ford shared her story with the Senate Judiciary Committee today, working women and men across the country are demanding that justice be served. Willfully disregarding Brett Kavanaugh’s egregious record and alleged behavior, Senate Republicans are sprinting to place him on the highest court in the land. We’re fighting back, demanding a nominee that meets the standard we should expect from the Supreme Court.

Brett Kavanaugh poses a fundamental threat to the integrity of the Supreme Court, and the Senate has a responsibility to reject his nomination.

Kavanaugh was hand-picked to advance the demands of a few corporate interests. We are refusing to allow those elites to further infiltrate and undermine our public institutions.

What’s more, to place our rights and freedoms in the hands of an accused sexual predator would represent a stunning betrayal of working people.

Americans across the country are coming forward in solidarity with Dr. Ford and all survivors of sexual assault. Be a part of this fight, and make your voice heard. Call your senators at 1-844-899-9913. Tell them to believe survivors—and to reject Brett Kavanaugh.

Kenneth Quinnell Thu, 09/27/2018 - 14:41

​Regulating from Below: How Front-Line Bank Workers Can Help Fix the Financial Industry

Ten years after risky practices at our largest banks wreaked havoc on the global economy, we face a financial sector that, despite some reforms, remains broken in fundamental ways.

Wall Street has beat back many of the kinds of structural changes that happened after the Great Depression, and the reforms that have happened in the United States are rapidly being undermined by the Donald Trump administration. Banking scandals still abound—from Wells Fargo to Santander to Bank of America to Deutsche Bank. Consumers are encouraged to take on more debt than they can bear. Trust in the banking system remains dreadfully low while opacity of the financial system is near an all-time high.

In the wake of the 2008 crash, there was a renewed intensity by regulators and central banks to stop the bleeding caused by the banks’ irresponsible behavior, but that coordination has slipped away while power in the sector has concentrated in the hands of fewer and fewer banks and corporations.

The public is right to sound the alarm.

Strengthening oversight of the financial system is necessary. Regulations are the guardrails that keep our global banking system from veering off course and into crisis. But while these rules are critical, they are stronger when paired with unions.

Unionization in the financial sector—the norm in nearly all advanced economies, except for the United States—provides a way to “strengthen financial regulation” from the ground up. Unions are a countervailing force against the worst tendencies of the financial sector, in part by guaranteeing that pay schemes are not driven by the extreme sales pressure and unfair performance metrics.

UNI Global Union has worked with finance unions around the world for many years to develop the best practices in this area, and many unions have negotiated what are called “sales and advice” clauses in their agreements to stop predatory Wells Fargo- and Santander-esque practices. In Italy, unions have a national, sector-wide agreement to rein in the high-pressure sales goals that harmed millions of consumers in the United States.

The Nordic unions provide another example. The Nordic Financial Unions have input into nearly all aspects of banks’ changing business practices and financial regulation through dialogue with global authorities. This cooperation exists because management sees the long-term benefit of partnering with unions for the bank, for workers and for consumers.  

Dialogue and partnership are especially important as banks that were “too big to fail” have grown even bigger. Through a cycle of constant mergers and acquisitions, global financial institutions have gotten bigger, more powerful and harder to regulate. Worker voices must be integrated into corporate governance of financial institutions to provide a backstop against abuses.

The importance of workers’ involvement in finding solutions to problems in our financial system cannot be stressed enough, given that executive decisions at systemically important banks easily affect the economy and our daily lives. This inclusion relies on an environment and culture in which workers are managed through respect and not fear, with protection against unfair dismissal and retaliation, will foster the trust and security required for workers to speak out against egregious practices  

Several large banks taking steps in the right direction by signing agreements with UNI to ensure that bank workers have the right to organize without the opposition and hostility common in the United States.   

Most recently BNP Paribas signed a Global Agreement with UNI that goes beyond the right to organize and also sets standards on paid maternity leave and insurance for its 200,000 employees around the world. 

In the United States, there are virtually no front-line bank employees protected by the kinds of collective bargaining agreements that have helped pump the breaks on abuses in other countries.

That is why U.S. bank workers have joined together to collectively speak out against questionable practices—exposing those that are risky, detrimental and fraudulent—and succeeded in challenging some of the industry’s vilest practices.

UNI Global Union-Finance and affiliates, such as the CONTRAF-CUT (Brazil), the NFU, La Bancaria (Argentina), the Communications Workers of America (CWA), along with the Committee for Better Banks, also have launched a global campaign for “regulation from below.” It puts workers’ voices and workers’ rights at the forefront of creating a healthier world financial system.

We know that “regulations from above” can and do work. In the U.S., Glass-Steagall, Dodd-Frank and the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau have curbed banks’ ability to game the system and hurt working people.

A multinational coalition of bank workers standing together to help fix the financial industry can help re-ignite the global approach needed to bring trust to our banking system.

Banks and other large financial institutions must act responsibly and be accountable when they do not. Governments must have their feet held to the fire to enforce, enhance and defend protections against unethical banking practices.

That’s something that workers united, and unafraid to speak out, are well positioned to do.

This post comes on the heels of a new report, authored by UNI Finance and the AFL-CIO, with support by Friedrich Ebert Stiftung New York, titled Tipping the Balance: Collective Action by Finance Workers Creates ‘Regulation from Below.

Kenneth Quinnell Thu, 09/27/2018 - 10:06

Best Candidates for Working People, 2018: Justin Nelson AFL-CIO

This November's elections are shaping up to be among the most consequential in recent U.S. history. Throughout the summer and fall, we are taking a look at the best candidates for working people. Today, we feature Texas attorney general candidate Justin Nelson.

Here are some of the key reasons why Nelson is one of the best candidates for working people in 2018:

• As the son of a former teacher and a labor lawyer, he understands the value of working people's right to organize. 

• He founded "One Nation One Vote," a nonprofit dedicated to making our electoral process more fair and democratic.

• Nelson has authored briefs before the Supreme Court challenging gerrymandering.

• He will fight to make sure Texans have access to health care that doesn't discriminate because of gender, age or pre-existing conditions.

• Nelson will withdraw Texas from the state's lawsuit to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. He will shift the focus of enforcement to criminals who actually threaten our safety.

• He will fully enforce the Texas Constitution's promise that all students receive an education.

• Nelson wants to make sure that every teacher in Texas receives the support they need and will fight back against attacks on the public school system.

• He will fight against dark money in politics and defend the Texas Ethics Commission.

• Nelson will fight against predatory payday lenders that target working families.

• He will use the full force of the law to punish businesses that take advantage of working families during natural disasters like Hurricane Harvey.

• Nelson will crack down on Medicare and Medicaid scammers and fraud, working to prevent unscrupulous companies and individuals from taking advantage of the sick and elderly.

To learn more about Justin Nelson, visit his website.

Kenneth Quinnell Thu, 09/27/2018 - 08:50

Tags: Elections 2018