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

Enjoy the Best of Oktoberfest with Ethical Brews and Bites AFL-CIO

The salt will be plentiful and the steins will be full. Get ready for the bubbly, savory and salty sensations of Oktoberfest! The much-loved holiday officially lasts from Sept. 22 to Oct. 7 in Munich, but here in the United States, some of us choose to feast on the ’fest into November. And this Friday is National Drink Beer Day! Regardless of the calendar, Labor 411 has the seasonal and ethical brews to make your celebration that much more delicious. When you buy the products made by these manufacturers who treat their workers fairly, you’ll be supporting good middle-class jobs.

Seasonal Beer

• Dundee Oktoberfest
• Goose Island Oktoberfest
• Leinenkugel’s Oktoberfest
• Mad River Brewer’s Secret
• Mendocino Brewing Engine 45 Pumpkin Ale
• Samuel Adams Octoberfest
• Samuel Adams Pumpkin Batch
• Schell’s
• Shock Top Pumpkin Wheat
• Stegmaier Pumpkin Ale
• Stegmaier Oktoberfest

Bratwurst

• Boar’s Head
• Koegel’s
• Saag’s
• Wenzel’s Farm Sausage

Sauerkraut

• Claussen
• Thumann’s
• Vlasic

Mustard

• French’s
• Gulden’s
• Heinz
• Thumann’s

Pretzels

• Rold Gold
• Snyders of Berlin

This post originally appeared at Labor 411.

Kenneth Quinnell Thu, 09/27/2018 - 07:43

National Hispanic Heritage Month Profiles: Dora Cervantes IAM

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.

In nearly 30 years in the labor movement, Cervantes has participated in nearly every aspect of the fight for the rights of working people, and she has a distinguished career that is still going stronger than ever. Cervantes joined the labor movement in 1989, when she became a reservations agent for Southwest Airlines in Houston. Before long, she was an active member of Machinists (IAM) Local 2198, serving as an organizer, shop steward, recording secretary and then vice president.

After a decade of dedicated service, she was chosen to serve as an apprentice organizer for Air Transport District 142 and then became a general chairperson for the district the following year. Tom Buffenbarger, then-IAM international president, later appointed her to serve on IAM's 2002 Blue Ribbon Commission. In the following years, she served as a special representative in the Transportation Department of the IAM Grand Lodge and then Grand Lodge representative.

In 2012, Cervantes was chosen to serve as assistant secretary to then-IAM General Secretary-Treasurer Robert Roach Jr. The next year, she became the first Hispanic woman to serve as a general vice president for IAM. In 2015, she became IAM's 12th general secretary-treasurer, the first woman to direct the union's finances. She continues in this capacity today.

She also serves as a national board member for the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, is an active member of the Coalition of Labor Union Women, is a member of United Against Human Trafficking and is a trustee for the National IAM Benefit Trust Fund and the IAM National 401(k) Plan.

Cervantes holds a bachelor of arts degree in labor studies from the National Labor College and helps teach the Spanish leadership series for the William W. Winpisinger Education and Technology Center and the IAM-Aviation High School Partnership Program.

Cervantes spoke to IAM's ViewPoints program in 2015:

Kenneth Quinnell Tue, 09/25/2018 - 12:29

Best Candidates for Working People, 2018: Fred Hubbell 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 Iowa gubernatorial candidate Fred Hubbell.

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

• He wants to end tax giveaways for big corporations and use the money to grow local businesses, including expanding broadband across the state.

• As interim director for the state's Department of Economic Development, he prioritized investments that created good returns for the state's workforce.

• Hubbell wants to invest in wind and solar energy to create new jobs.

• He wants trade partnerships with other states and countries that will expand markets for goods grown on Iowa farms.

• Hubbell wants to simplify the state's tax code and lower rates for working families and small businesses.

• Not only is he a dues-paying union member, his daughter and son-in-law are, too. These experiences have taught him that expanding the right to collective bargaining is the right thing to do.

• He would restore workers' compensation laws so that Iowans who are hurt on the job have the protections they deserve.

• Hubbell favors full and consistent education funding so that teachers have the resources they need to educate Iowa's children.

• He wants to make higher education more accessible and affordable in order to create a more skilled workforce.

• Hubbell will work with employers to create public-private partnerships with high schools and community colleges to equip working people with the skills that meet the needs of local employers.

• He wants the state to have a stronger focus on job training and apprenticeship programs.

• Hubbell will fight to reverse Iowa's Medicaid privatization efforts.

• He has fought to provide funding for more mental health professionals in Iowa.

• Hubbell wants Iowa to be a partner with veterans as they transition back to civilian life. He would do this through investment in programs that expand training and education opportunities, increase access to capital investment and connect veterans to good-paying jobs.

• As chair of the Iowa Power Fund, he led efforts to make the state a leading producer of clean energy, creating jobs in the process. 

To learn more about Hubbell, visit his website.

Kenneth Quinnell Tue, 09/25/2018 - 11:25

Tags: Elections 2018

Best Candidates for Working People, 2018: Steve Sisolak 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 Nevada gubernatorial candidate Steve Sisolak.

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

• As a former member of the Nevada Board of Regents, Sisolak was a champion for students and parents who fought for increased education funding.

• He will fight for higher teacher salaries and reduced class sizes.

• Sisolak wants to expand job training and vocational education in Nevada so more students graduate high school with career options. This includes promoting partnerships between technical training programs and employers.

• He will invest in clean technology. As Clark County commissioner, he helped recruit a solar manufacturer to the state, creating good-paying jobs.

• Sisolak will work to diversify the state's economy by bringing in new industries while also supporting Nevada's homegrown businesses.

• He will fight against the use of public funding for private schools.

• Sisolak wants to reduce the amount of debt students carry with them after they graduate college.

• He will support veterans and military families by supporting programs such as child care; K-12 education; science, technology, engineering and mathematics (or STEM) initiatives; and high school apprenticeships.

• Sisolak supports the state's health care exchange and will fight against any attempts to roll back Medicaid expansion.

• He believes both public and private employees have the right to collectively bargain.

• Sisolak will protect defined-benefit plans like the Public Employees' Retirement System of Nevada.

To learn more about Sisolak, visit his website.

Kenneth Quinnell Mon, 09/24/2018 - 11:17

Tags: Elections 2018

Everyone Needs an ‘Equity Card’ Harmony Gerber

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.)

The movie "9 to 5" came out when I was in sixth grade. It was a hit, even in West Texas. The decade that was the '80s was full of "Work Bitch" songs—beats to sweat off the toxic stress of the union-busting Ronald Reagan era. But no "Eye of the Tiger" could compare with the thrill of the fight that Dolly Parton, Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda carried out together on screen. I had overheard grown women around me shaking their heads with a kind of laughter mixed with wistful, delayed revenge. When I saw the movie with friends in the theater, my laughter was mixed with dread. Is this what work looks like for grown women? Are there really bosses who actually pull this sort of crap with women? No wonder my mother and her friends wanted a labor union.

When looking up more about Tomlin, the first news item to pop up was her recent interview with Shalini Dore for Variety, a source for "the Business of Entertainment" (Aug. 24, 2018). Tomlin recently has received yet another Emmy nomination for the TV series "Grace and Frankie." Right off the bat, Tomlin brings up her Equity card. Dore’s first question is about the first time Variety noted Tomlin’s work (in 1964) and Tomlin’s immediate response is "I got my Equity card then." Three sentences later, she repeats "It was terrific to get my Equity card." Yes, it was fantastic to be mentioned in Variety in 1964, but Tomlin impresses on Dore and Variety readers that this was the year she became part of the Actors’ Equity (AEA), a labor union that represents people working in live theater performance. She names for readers following "the Business of Entertainment" that her career in the business included, from the get-go, the collaborative kinship of courage that is collective bargaining.

Mitchell Robinson teaches music education at Michigan StateUniversity, and he recently published a blog post that was picked up by Business Insider under this headline: "Beneath the 'heartwarming' teacher stories, there’s a real issue with the way public school teachers are treated." His essay names the lie behind the kind of "Work Bitch" news pieces published regularly in too many outlets—tales of individuals in public education whose "sacrifice" shows "resilience," "tenacity" and "dedication." In other words, stories about how one person’s effort is "making a difference" for families. Robinson concludes:

These stories aren’t "heartwarming" and they don’t show "dedication." They demonstrate that we as a society are unwilling to spend our resources on supporting and caring for the schools and teachers that we entrust with the support and care of our children—and refuse to treat the persons we entrust their care to as professionals or even as human beings deserving of our respect and some basic human dignity.

Journalist Adam Johnson has called these stories out as "perseverance porn." From coverage of NFL players to Hollywood actors to public school teachers, even liberal media outlets churn out features about individuals who contribute to sports, entertainment or education against all odds and alone. Meanwhile, the real news is that, against all odds and together, NFL players and public school teachers are, across the country, engaging in efforts to bargain collectively for the good of their sport, their teams and their schools. Even without a labor union, in states and in professions that try structurally to prohibit labor unions, they are engaging in union-like behavior.

The three women working together in "9 to 5" fantasize about ways they can, individually, rectify their crooked workplace. Their revenge montages may appear campy today. But my sixth-grade self took note. You can pour yourself a "cup of ambition" (as Dolly sings). But what you really need is a group of co-workers who will have your back. Their collective courage on screen was inspiring, but I wanted more. I wanted a world where I didn’t need a gun, rat poison or rope at my workplace. Like Lily Tomlin, we each need an Equity card. We need one another for the collective courage that was and is collective bargaining.

Amy Laura Hall has taught ethics at Duke University since 1999. Her most recent book is Laughing at the Devil: Seeing the World with Julian of Norwich. This post originally appeared at the North Carolina State AFL-CIO.

Kenneth Quinnell Wed, 09/19/2018 - 09:16

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!

• Stacey Abrams (Ga.), governor
• Randy Bryce (Wis.), U.S. House
• Rich Cordray (Ohio), governor
• Andrew Gillum (Fla.), governor
• Jared Golden (Maine), U.S. House
• Jahana Hayes (Conn.), U.S. House
• Andy Levin (Mich.), U.S. House
• Mahlon Mitchell (Wis.), governor
• Bill Nelson (Fla.), U.S. Senate
• Jacky Rosen (Nev.), U.S. Senate
• Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.), U.S. Senate
• Tina Smith (Minn.), U.S. Senate
• Jon Tester (Mont.), U.S. Senate
• Tim Walz (Minn.), governor
• Gretchen Whitmer (Mich.), governor

Check back regularly for more between today and Election Day!

Kenneth Quinnell Tue, 09/18/2018 - 11:11

Tags: Elections 2018