Trumka Celebrates Pope Francis' Fifth Anniversary
Ahead of the fifth anniversary of Pope Francis' election, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka praised the pontiff’s leadership and legacy, in an event at Seton Hall University. He was joined by Cardinal Joseph Tobin, archbishop of Newark; Gov. Phil Murphy of New Jersey; and Mary Meehan, Ph.D., interim president of Seton Hall, each of whom delivered remarks to commemorate the Holy Father's leadership of the Roman Catholic Church.
Trumka said: "Pope Francis reminds us that our fate as a labor movement, our strength and our solidarity grows from our choice to be reborn in the defense of our neediest brothers and sisters. Today, only one in 10 of America’s workers has the ability to bargain collectively with our employers through a union. Yet our labor movement defends the other nine workers every day."
New Jersey State AFL-CIO President Charles Wowkanech added: "Our labor movement depends on having faith in one another, and there is much that religion can teach us about coming together in common purpose and mutual respect. The history of our labor movement is closely intertwined with the values of faith and, thanks to the leadership of Pope Francis, Cardinal Tobin and the New Jersey religious community, that bond is as strong as ever."
More of Trumka's remarks from the commemoration:
Five years ago, Pope Francis was elected to the papacy. From his first moments as pope, he ministered to a world deeply hurt by the financial crisis of 2008 and its aftermath—where it seemed at every turn working people paid the price for unmitigated greed on Wall Street. Pope Francis came to Rome from South America to preach to a world in which many millions had been fundamentally marginalized and forgotten—facing the loss of jobs, the foreclosure of homes, the burdens of sickness and old age without adequate security, and the trauma of homelessness. The people of the global south suffered the most endemic and desperate situations...extreme poverty and total exclusion from the fabric of society. In his every act, Pope Francis extended an elegant and simple message: "You are not alone...."
All around us people are appealing to our worst selves, baiting us to fear and hate anyone who seems on the surface to be different. Voices sowing division and distrust tell us to admire the thief, the con man, the bully and to look down on humble workers...nurses, teachers, ironworkers and sheriff’s deputies. When Pope Francis says solidarity is our word, his message contradicts the morality adopted by so many of the world’s wealthy and powerful. His message is an affront to selfishness. It breaks isolation. It welcomes the outcast. It exposes the illusion and reveals the truth, which is that we are bound together by love, and we must care for each other and our world....
The labor movement is resolved to fight for and win collective bargaining for all of America’s workers, because, like Pope Francis, we believe the poor must be the agents of their own development. The future of humanity does not belong to the elites and the powerful, but to all of us and our ability to organize for a fair piece of the pie. We will defend our democracy against those who urge us to hate and fear, and who say greed will answer our need. It will not and cannot. And we will see to it that the gains of technology are shared among all.
Read Trumka's full remarks.
Kenneth Quinnell Wed, 03/07/2018 - 11:11Don’t Let Wall Street Profiteers Scare You: Trade Enforcement ≠ Trade War
The steel and aluminum industries have been under attack by predatory trade practices. For too long, elected official have talked about the problem, but taken little action. Now that the president has announced he plans to support U.S. producers and their employees, Wall Street, multinational corporations and the elected officials who do their bidding around the world are freaking out. Should you be worried? Here is what you need to know.
1. Wall Street is used to getting its way on U.S. trade and economic policy. It lobbied hard to get the United States to do nothing in the face of unfair global steel and aluminium practices. But it lost. Its frantic reaction is more like a toddler’s tantrum than a reasonable policy argument.
2. Wall Street is hoping that scare tactics, like calling ordinary enforcement of trade laws "a trade war," will stop the president from following through on his promises. That may be good for CEOs, but not for ordinary families.
3. Wall Street has been doing great in recent decades, some of the stock price increases have come at the expense of America’s steel and aluminum producers and their employees. Since 2000, the United States has lost more than 25% of its basic oxygen furnace steel facilities.
Boyd County, Kentucky, has lost both Kentucky Electric Steel and AK Steel. Lorain, Ohio, has lost Republic Steel and a line at U.S. Steel Corp. Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, lost ArcelorMittal’s plate rolling mill. The list goes on and on and on.
4. Any time plants or lines shut down, workers lose jobs. Those who remain employed usually face wage and benefit cuts. Plant closures hurt small firms that provide services to the steel mills and hurt communities that rely on economic activity to fund roads, parks, libraries and other important public services.
Enforcing trade laws is necessary to leveling the playing field—and long overdue. If you can’t enforce the laws, what is the point of having them?
5. The bottom line is that trade enforcement isn’t a trade war. Wall Street is concerned about stock prices, not the welfare of America’s working families. Rather than fearing a trade war, we should be more afraid of why U.S. trade rules have been written for the benefit of global corporations in recent years.
6. America’s working families don’t want a trade war, we want a fair economy. We want to be sure that global corporations don’t write rigged rules and don’t prevent trade enforcement. We want trade rules that protect our freedoms and allows us to join together and negotiate for better, no matter what country we live in or what industry we work in.
Kenneth Quinnell Tue, 03/06/2018 - 08:33The 15th Annual WILD Conference: Bridging the Divide for Workplace Safety
The 15th annual Women in Leadership Development (WILD) Conference in New Jersey brought together more than 300 union sisters from all sectors of organized labor, demonstrating the strength of our sisterhood and labor unity. From March 2–3, 2018, participants joined in discussions critical to ensuring respect, dignity and safety at the workplace. Of course, WILD wouldn’t be complete without providing the latest insights into building leadership skills and applying those strategies and tools to strengthen our collective voice.
The atmosphere of unity and sisterhood was remarkable as both first-time and longtime WILD sisters joined together to listen, learn and lead in the fight to strengthen our labor movement and nation. Our conference was honored to welcome a distinguished panel of speakers, along with the extraordinarily talented SCREAM (Students Challenging Realities and Educating Against Myths) Theater student troupe at Rutgers University, for an interactive performance, challenging realities and educating against myths pertaining to workplace safety.
On Friday evening, Queen Mary University of London professors Gill Kirton and Geraldine Healy, accomplished educators and researchers in the fields of women, work, leadership and public policy, shared reflections on women’s labor leadership in a post-Trump, post-Brexit world. They also reflected on experiences from the 2009 U.S.-U.K. exchange.
On Saturday, participants were treated to a thought-provoking discussion and performance by the SCREAM Theater student troupe, facilitated by Ruth Anne Koenick and Brady Root. Koenick is a part-time lecturer at the Rutgers School of Social Work, who has worked in the field of anti-violence against women and children for more than 45 years and is the founder and past director of the Rutgers Office for Violence Prevention and Victim Assistance (VPVA). Root is the Prevention Education coordinator for VPVA, as well as a part-time lecturer at Rutgers for courses on public speaking, special topics in bystander intervention and human ecology.
New Jersey State AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Laurel Brennan said that "WILD brings a multifaceted approach to leadership development, through interactive education, mentorship and enduring networks of solidarity, and every year we are proud to add new layers to this foundation that reflect our changing culture and political environment."
The New Jersey State AFL-CIO is the only state federation in the nation to host an annual women’s leadership conference. We thank our WILD sisters and sponsors for their many years of support, enabling our state to champion a diverse, strong and durable union movement.
Kenneth Quinnell Mon, 03/05/2018 - 14:13The Awesomeness of 'Black Panther': Union Made
Wow, the "Black Panther" movie was awesome, wasn't it? And while we could spend hours about how great an action movie it is or how beautiful it looks or the social implications of the themes and representation of African culture, let's take a few minutes to look behind the scenes at the work it took to bring a movie like "Black Panther" to life, work done by union members.
Let's start with the cast of superb performers such as Chadwick Boseman, Lupita Nyong'o, Michael B. Jordan, Danai Gurira, Letitia Wright, Daniel Kaluuya and many others. They are among the group of 160,000 actors, announcers, broadcaster journalists, dancers, DJs, news writers, news editors, program hosts, puppeteers, recording artists, singers, stunt performers, voice-over artists and other media professionals who are members of SAG-AFTRA.
The screenplay, one of the better writing jobs ever done for a superhero movie, was written by Ryan Coogler and Joe Robert Cole, members of Writers Guild of America West, which represents thousands of writers who create content for television shows, movies, news programs, documentaries, animation and the web.
If you waited around to see the post-credits surprise that Marvel movies offer, just before the last scene starts, you might notice the Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) logo. That's because a wide range of jobs on a movie set are filled by IATSE members, including art directors, costume designers, make-up artists, hairstylists, studio lighting technicians, set painters and script supervisors. In other words, all the people who made one of the most beautiful films in recent memory are IATSE members. That goes for the visual images on the screen as well, as the International Cinematographers Guild is an affiliate of IATSE. So are the more than 7,200 members of the Motion Picture Editors Guild and the members of the Animation Guild who create not only animated films, but the visual effects in movies like "Black Panther," too.
Other roles on movie sets also are filled with union members—from Electrical Workers (IBEW) to the American Federation of Musicians (AFM) to Laborers (LIUNA)—everywhere you look on set, you find working people who have joined together in union to negotiate a fair return for their work. Work that entertains and informs millions.
And there is actually more. From the drivers, couriers and animal handlers of the Teamsters union to the filmmakers represented in the Directors Guild of America, the working people on a big movie set like "Black Panther" know that their collective voice not only protects their rights and their livelihood, but gives them leverage in bringing such great entertainment to the rest of the world.
Kenneth Quinnell Thu, 03/01/2018 - 10:51'All I Could Think About Was My Friend Was Gone'
Augusta Thomas and two of her teenage friends had their hearts set on a game of Chinese checkers. But "Little Martin" balked.
They needed four to play, explained the Louisville-born Thomas. At age 85, she’s still on the job as vice president for women and fair practices with the AFGE in Washington, D.C.
"We had to take turns putting the coal and the wood in the furnace in the cellar and it was 'Little Martin’s' time to do it," she said, grinning and eyes twinkling. "So when he went down, I locked the door."
The impasse lasted half an hour before "Little Martin" relented and agreed to play. "But let me tell you what," Thomas said, her grin broadening. "I got punished when I got home."
Her "prisoner" was 17-year-old Martin Luther King Jr.
Thomas shared her story in a speech at Saturday’s Working People’s Day of Action rally in Louisville, where she was born and has lived most of her life. Though her job is in Washington, she keeps an apartment in her hometown, which is Kentucky’s largest city.
The crowd of union members, families and friends repeatedly interrupted Thomas’ remarks with cheers and loud applause.
When Thomas was 13, she went to Atlanta to live with her aunt and uncle, Minnie and the Rev. William Rowe. He was a Methodist minister and colleague of the Rev. Martin Luther King Sr., a Baptist pastor.
"The pastors would meet at Little Martin’s house," Thomas expanded on the story after her speech. "It had a parlor—we called it a living room. That’s where the ministers would go. 'Little Martin' would always sit by the door listening to what they were saying."
King and Thomas attended David T. Howard School. She returned to Louisville and graduated from Central Colored High School. She also went to Atlanta’s Clark University and the Homer G. Phillips School of Nursing in St. Louis.
Thomas, one of the country’s oldest union officers, was a civil rights activist before she was a labor activist.
In 1960, she journeyed to Greensboro, North Carolina, to join the historic lunch counter sit-ins. Angry whites spit on her and knocked her off a stool. Police arrested her twice.
Meanwhile, "Little Martin" had grown up, followed his father into the ministry and was helping lead the growing civil rights movement.
Thomas joined AFGE on Nov. 12, 1966, her first day on the job at the Veterans Administration hospital in Louisville. She and King crossed paths again in Memphis in April of 1968.
He was in the city to support 1,300 African American sanitation workers who went on strike after two members of a garbage truck crew, Echol Cole and Robert Walker, were killed on the job. Seeking shelter from a rainstorm, they climbed into the back of their truck and were crushed to death when the trash compactor malfunctioned.
For decades, black sanitation department employees like Cole and Walker had worked long hours at low pay in dangerous conditions. All the while, they endured virulent racial prejudice in Jim Crow Memphis.
Thomas blamed the deaths of Cole and Walker on "the racism and negativism of the city officials who treated them less than human, who ignored the workers' call for safety and who paid them poverty wages." The workers also wanted a union.
As a result, "Thirteen hundred of our brothers and sisters rose up, risked everything and went to strike for dignity and justice, using four simple words—powerful words—'I am a man.'"
Ultimately, the city gave in, improved salaries and safety standards and recognized the union, AFSCME Local 1733.
King did not live to see the union victory. He was assassinated on April 4.
Thomas and five other women from different Falls City unions had gone to Memphis to stand in solidarity with the strikers. They checked into first floor rooms at the Lorraine Motel. King was staying on the second floor.
The women were in their rooms when James Earl Ray, a racist white man, killed King with a rifle shot. King was standing on a second-floor balcony.
Thomas and her union sisters heard the gunfire. "We thought it was firecrackers, and we just ignored it," Thomas said.
The motel manager, fearing for their safety, rushed Thomas and the other women to the Peacock Hotel. "He told the manager of the Peacock Hotel, 'Do not let these women leave this hotel.'"
They turned on the TV and saw news reports of the slaying. "The manager couldn’t keep us," Thomas said. "We had to go back to the Lorraine. But we could only go so far, and all I could think about was my friend was gone."
The night before, Thomas and the women who came with her from Louisville joined the crowd at Bishop Mason Temple church where King spoke.
His last address, went down in history as the "I’ve Been to the Mountaintop" speech.
"When he was making that speech, I had chills running down me," Thomas said after the rally. "But I didn’t get to talk to him."
In her remarks, Thomas quoted from the ringing conclusion of King’s famous speech: "I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land. And so I'm happy tonight; I'm not worried about anything; I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord."
Thomas admonished the crowd: "We’ve got to get to the mountaintop. We have got to work together. We’ve got to get rid of '45' and some of those folks up on that hill in Washington, D.C."
She added, "They’re running scared. We won Alabama. We won Virginia….They are afraid they are going to lose November 2018, and we’re going to make sure they do."
Continued Thomas: "The future of working people hangs in the balance right now. As a woman, I have seen all we have worked for inside and outside the workplace. Women are more equal on the unionized shop floor. As brothers and sisters, we bargain together to get a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work.
"By joining together in unions, women, particularly women of color, have gotten closer to true equality in the workplace. Equal pay, family-friendly leave and scheduling, and freedom from harassment. We must stand until we are all equals no matter our race, no matter our gender, no matter our class. We must stand together and demand an end to this rigged system so that we all may be truly free."
This post originally appeared at the Kentucky State AFL-CIO.
Kenneth Quinnell Thu, 03/01/2018 - 10:49Time to Stop Tax Breaks for Outsourcing
It makes little sense for the U.S. government to provide tax breaks to companies that outsource America's jobs, and yet the recently passed Republican tax law makes the problem worse, it doesn't solve it. That's why Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) are introducing the "No Tax Breaks for Outsourcing Act."
About the legislation, Doggett said:
Let’s level the playing field for domestic companies by ensuring that multinationals pay the same tax rate on profits earned abroad as they do here at home. This legislation would set the minimum tax on the foreign profits of multinationals equal to the statutory corporate tax rate on domestic profits and apply that rate to a similar base. It would end discrimination against companies with mostly domestic sales by not advantaging multinationals with such a huge tax break on profits earned abroad.
More specifically, the bill would:
- Equalize the tax rate on profits earned abroad to the tax rate on profits earned here at home. The new tax law allows companies to pay half of the statutory corporate tax rate on profits earned abroad, and for many it may be nothing or next to nothing. This legislation would end the preferential tax rate for offshore profits and ensure companies pay the same rate abroad as they do in the United States. This leveling of the playing field is achieved by eliminating the deductions for "global intangible low-tax income" and "foreign-derived intangible income."
- Repeal the 10% tax exemption on profits earned from certain investments made overseas. In addition to the half-off tax rate on profits earned abroad, the new law exempts from tax entirely a 10% return on tangible investments made overseas, such as plants and equipment. This legislation would eliminate the zero-tax rate on certain investments made overseas.
- Treat "foreign" corporations that are managed and controlled in the U.S. as domestic corporations. This provision would address the "Ugland House problem" of U.S. corporations nominally organizing in tax havens. Ugland House in the Cayman Islands is the five-story legal home of more than 18,000 companies, many of them really American companies in disguise. This section would treat corporations worth $50 million or more and managed and controlled within the United States as the U.S. entities they in fact are and subject them to the same tax as other U.S. taxpayers.
- Crack down on inversions by tightening the definition of expatriated entity. This provision would discourage corporations from renouncing their U.S. citizenship. It would deem any merger between a U.S. company and a smaller foreign firm to be a U.S. taxpayer, no matter where in the world the new company claims to be headquartered. Specifically, the combined company would continue to be treated as a domestic corporation if the historic shareholders of the U.S. company own more than 50% of the new entity. If the new entity is managed and controlled in the United States and continues to conduct significant business here, it would continue to be treated as a domestic company regardless of the percentage ownership.
- Combat earnings stripping by restricting the deduction for interest expense for multinational enterprises with excess domestic indebtedness. Multinationals often shrink their U.S. tax bills by paying interest to their foreign-based subsidiaries. Recognizing this injustice, the House Republican tax bill originally prohibited it, as then-President Barack Obama had recommended in his proposed budget. Deductible interest should be limited based on the U.S. subsidiary’s proportionate share of the multinational’s net interest expense, reflecting the underlying business reality. Unable to withstand lobbying pressure, Republicans abandoned this correction. This bill would restore it.
The legislation already has been endorsed by the AFL-CIO, AFGE, AFSCME, the Alliance for Retired Americans, Communications Workers of America (CWA), International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE), UAW, Working America, American Family Voices, Americans for Democratic Action, Americans for Tax Fairness, Campaign for America’s Future, Coalition on Human Needs, Credo, Economic Policy Institute Policy Center, the Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency (FACT) Coalition, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, Main Street Alliance, MomsRising, Network Lobby for Catholic Social Justice, Other98, Oxfam America, Patriotic Millionaires, People Demanding Action, Progressive Congress Action Fund, Public Citizen and Small Business Majority.
Kenneth Quinnell Wed, 02/28/2018 - 14:18The AFT Has Long Been an Advocate for African Americans
In celebration of Black History Month this year, we'd like to take a look at the important role that one of the most influential groups of working people in the United States has had in the fight for equality for African Americans—teachers. From its beginning in 1916, the AFT has been on the forefront of organizations fighting for equality for African Americans in the U.S.
AFT formed in 1916 in Chicago. It was one of the first educational organizations to allow African American members. In 1918, the federation called for equal pay for African American teachers, the election of African Americans to local school boards and for compulsory school attendance for African American children. Before it had even held its second convention, AFT issued its ninth local charter to the all-black Armstrong-Dunbar High School teachers in Washington, D.C. The AFT newsletter at the time welcomed the new members gladly, noting that black teachers "were especially in need of whatever assistance could be given not only to the teachers themselves, but to the development of educational opportunities…throughout the country."
In 1919, AFT called for equal educational opportunities for African American children. The next year, it formally petitioned Congress to drastically improve funding for Howard University, a historically black university in Washington, D.C. A decade later, it called for the social, political, economic and cultural contributions of African Americans to be taught in public schools. Beginning in the 1930s, AFT started refusing to hold its conventions in locations that were segregated or discriminated against African Americans. The 1938 convention in Cincinnati was moved after the convention hotel required black participants to use the freight elevators. In 1963, AFT moved its entire convention out of Florida, where it was scheduled to be, so its members didn't have to travel and lodge in the Jim Crow South.
In the 1950s, AFT got even more aggressive in pursuing racial equality. It stopped chartering segregated locals in 1951 and, in 1953, amended its constitution to say, "No charter of the AFT, which defines or recognizes jurisdiction on the basis of race or color, or permits the practice of such jurisdiction, shall be recognized as valid, and the practice of any such local in limiting its membership on account of race or color shall render its charter void." When Brown v. Board of Education came before the Supreme Court in 1954, AFT was the only education organization to file an amicus brief on behalf of desegregating schools. Three years later, AFT expelled all locals that refused to desegregate, even though this meant the loss of more than 7,000 members.
During the 1960s, AFT ran more than 20 Freedom Schools in the South to supplement the inadequate education offered to African American students. In 1963, AFT actively supported the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and continued to support the efforts of Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights leaders. In 1965, it supported the Elementary and Secondary Education Act as part of Lyndon Johnson's war on poverty. After supporting the Voting Rights Act of 1965, AFT lobbied for the extension of the act in 1982, activating many members as volunteer support for the campaign. In the 1980s and beyond, while AFT would continue its efforts to support equality for African Americans outside the classroom, it also focused on improving opportunities inside the classroom. From educating teachers in a rapidly changing racial and social environment to seeking to close the black male education gap, AFT has been on the forefront of advocating for better education and opportunity for African Americans for 100 years.
In more recent years, the federation has focused on several key issues in its continued dedication to improving the lives of African American teachers and students:
- Reducing suspension rates and breaking the school-to-prison pipeline for young black males.
- Radically increasing the percentage of college- and career-ready young black males.
- Developing culturally competent educators, student, and education systems.
- Increasing access to educational opportunity—particularly early childhood education, career and technical education, and higher education.
- Increasing access to and preparation for higher-paying jobs.
- Addressing inequities in taxation and revenue-generating policies.
- Incorporating restorative justice practices into school discipline codes.
- Combating the culture of low expectations that often hampers students.
- Keeping neighborhood schools intact and making them the focal point and heart of their communities.
- Ensuring robust teaching environments by fighting the culture where testing replaces quality instruction.
- Maintaining public funding for public schools and fighting for equitable funding.
- Supporting struggling students by advocating for smaller class sizes and quality early childhood education programs.
- Ensuring there is a quality teacher in every classroom.
These steps are part of a bigger picture and program that follows in the long tradition of America's teachers fighting on behalf of their African American colleagues and students.
Kenneth Quinnell Wed, 02/28/2018 - 09:05Ron Blackwell Left Behind a Strong Legacy on Behalf of Working People
Ron Blackwell, the retired chief economist of the AFL-CIO and pioneer in the labor movement, passed away on Sunday night.
From his Alabama roots to his role as chief economist at the AFL-CIO, Ron was defined by his unshakable courage and conviction. Whether it was his choice to go to prison rather than go to war in Vietnam or charting new paths for our economy while serving on the board of the Baltimore branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, Ron was always true to himself and working people.
After teaching economics at the New School for Social Research in New York City, Ron began to leave his mark on the union movement. He joined the staff of the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union, where he quickly established his complete devotion to the rights of working people. At the AFL-CIO, Ron advised the leadership of the labor movement and fundamentally changed the way we thought about the economy. His legacy will live on through programs he created like Common Sense Economics—a radically different approach to economics that provides training and education for working people by working people—and that remain at the core of the AFL-CIO’s work.
In addition to his work in economics, Ron was a recognized leader on issues of trade, globalization and corporate governance. He is survived by his wife of 33 years, Janet, and millions of working people around the world whose lives were improved by his decades of tireless work on our behalf.
Kenneth Quinnell Tue, 02/27/2018 - 13:36Working Families Will Not Be Silenced by Supreme Court Case
Working people rallied in cities across the country over the weekend to call for an end to policies that attack union members and rig the economy and political system against working families, as the Supreme Court began hearing arguments yesterday in a case that threatens to overturn a decades-old precedent and undercut public workers.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka spoke at the Day of Action in Philadelphia:
We’re all fighting back. Public and private. We are one union family and no one, I mean no one, pushes us around.
Our freedoms rise from the Constitution of the United States, which was signed not far from where we stand today. Our freedom gives us the foundation to be what we want and to join together and raise our voices together. And no matter which way the Supreme Court rules, our freedoms will endure!
We’ll stand together against the rich and powerful for a better life for your family and my family and every working family. Because we do the work. We pave the streets. We drive the buses and walk the beats. We are working people. We won’t be shoved aside. We are the American labor movement, and we will not be denied!
Liz Shuler, secretary-treasurer of AFL-CIO, attended the event in Washington, D.C.:
On Monday, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in Janus v. AFSCME. And we’re here to make one thing clear: Working people will not be silenced. We’re going to speak up and tell the truth about this case.
The agenda behind Janus is simple: more power for big corporations and fewer rights for the rest of us. Period. This fight isn't about one man in Illinois. It's about the single mom who relies on a strong union to bargain a decent wage. It's about the safety and economic security of a firefighter who puts their life on the line every day. It's about the teacher who wonders whether they might have to do the same. Last week in Parkland, Florida, a football coach named Aaron Feis lost his life by throwing himself in front of bullets to protect his students. His act of courage is a reminder that we should be expanding rights for our public servants, not taking them away.
Today, we are standing up for the everyday American heroes who protect and educate us, who care for us when we’re sick, who make our government run and who keep our communities strong. That's what working people do every day. That's what hardworking union members do every day to make lives better for everyone.
AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Tefere Gebre spoke at the San Diego event:
This is an attack on communities of color and our path to the middle class. @Tefere_Gebre #ItsAboutFreedom pic.twitter.com/jxVCvjSu6w
— AFL-CIO (@AFLCIO) February 25, 2018Here are some other key tweets from across the country at day of action events:
DC 37 members joined thousands rallying in support of unions at the Working People's Day of Action on Feb. 24, in NYC. #ItsAboutFreedom #UnrigtheSystem #dc37 pic.twitter.com/ZOP1JzgLhj
— DC37, AFSCME (@DistCouncil37) February 24, 2018
This is what we’re talking about. #UnrigtheSystem pic.twitter.com/1oSTNrbpmN
— KatBrezler (@KatBrezler) February 24, 2018
#NYSPEF united against Janus vs. AFSCME! In solidarity with all the other unions that were present today at Foley Square. #UnrigTheSystem #WeAreStrongerTogether pic.twitter.com/ksnsFzJXyr
— NYS PEF (@NYSPEF) February 24, 2018
Went to the Working People’s Day of Action to support my brothers and sisters in labor.
All MNs benefit from organized labor and I’m proud to stand with them. #itsaboutfreedom #unrigthesystem pic.twitter.com/D5QS1FkRhK
Today, thousands of Ohioans united in Columbus and sent an urgent message that we need strong unions for our state to thrive and for the working people of our country to have a voice. #WeRise #UnrigTheSystem pic.twitter.com/aybIyH0uCh
— Raise Up Ohio (@RaiseUpOhio) February 24, 2018
Today, thousands of Ohioans united in Columbus and sent an urgent message that we need strong unions for our state to thrive and for the working people of our country to have a voice. #WeRise #UnrigTheSystem pic.twitter.com/aybIyH0uCh
— Raise Up Ohio (@RaiseUpOhio) February 24, 2018
Today, thousands of Ohioans united in Columbus and sent an urgent message that we need strong unions for our state to thrive and for the working people of our country to have a voice. #WeRise #UnrigTheSystem pic.twitter.com/aybIyH0uCh
— Raise Up Ohio (@RaiseUpOhio) February 24, 2018
Working People’s Day of Action starting at Convention Center Park. Unions rally to #unrigthesystem and stand for workers’ rights. #WeAreCTA pic.twitter.com/FKIEVF0M3w
— propubliced (@truthspeaker411) February 24, 2018
#LIUNA at the Working People’s Day of Action with @KwameRaoul #UnrigtheSystem #ItsAboutFreedom @LiUNALocal1001 @VRoa1001 @liuna1001 @LIUNALocal1092 @LaborersOne pic.twitter.com/UcUtQW15MT
— LiUNA Chicago (@LiUNAchicago) February 24, 2018
The Janus case is nothing but a bald attempt by rich CEOS to use the highest court in the land to cut down our unions. We won’t let them! #UnrigtheSystem
— Richard L. Trumka (@RichardTrumka) February 24, 2018 Kenneth Quinnell Tue, 02/27/2018 - 09:43Vatican Receives Letter Urging Support for Nabisco Workers
The Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers' (BCTGM’s) campaign against the outsourcing of North American Nabisco jobs has generated widespread support. From U.S. congressional leaders, university students, union trade and justice activists to American veterans and consumers, the message carried by Nabisco workers across the nation has resonated loud and clear: Stop the global exploitation of workers that is devastating families and communities.
The campaign has grown particularly strong within the faith community, as leaders and activists have rallied behind Nabisco workers, embracing their fight for justice on both a local and global scale. It is the faith community that has helped shine the light on how the company has broken faith with its workers, and by extension, broken faith within communities.
In the last half of 2017, a coalition of faith and labor representatives, led by Interfaith Worker Justice, conducted a six-city investigation of Nabisco bakeries across the United States and Mexico. The group studied the impact of the company’s business practices in cities where BCTGM members produce Nabisco products in Mondélez-Nabisco bakeries.
In late November, the IWJ coalition traveled to Monterrey and Salinas, Mexico, to learn more about workers and the working conditions at the Mondélez plants. While in Mexico, the Nabisco workers were met by a priest from the Catholic Archdiocese of Monterrey to detail the harmful impact of Mondélez-Nabisco’s outsourcing in the United States.
At the conclusion of the five-month investigation in December 2017, IWJ released a detailed report, Breaking Faith: Outsourcing and the Damage Done to Our Communities, that reveals the impact of Mondélez-Nabisco’s outsourcing and exploitation of workers in both the United States and Mexico.
The report has gained the attention of the global faith community. The general secretary of the International Union of Food Workers, Sue Longley, has sent a letter to Cardinal Turkson at the Vatican requesting support from the highest levels of the Catholic Church. The IUF represents 2.5 million workers in 130 countries.
The international scope of this campaign continues to escalate, as the chorus of voices from the faith community grows in opposition to the devastation caused by Mondélez-Nabisco.
Click to read the IUF letter to Cardinal Turkson at the Vatican.
This post originally appeared at BCTGM.
Kenneth Quinnell Fri, 02/23/2018 - 14:34Is West Virginia a Bellwether? 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.
Dem Wins Kentucky State House Seat in District Trump Won by 49 Points: "Kentucky Democrats on Tuesday reclaimed a rural district in the state House of Representatives that went heavily for President Trump in 2016. Linda Belcher (D), a former state legislator who lost her seat in the Trump landslide in Kentucky, reclaimed the Bullitt County district by a more than two-to-one margin, defeating her GOP opponent Rebecca Johnson 68% to 32%."
Poll: Few Voters Report Seeing Bigger Paychecks After Tax Changes: "Most voters aren’t noticing more money in their paychecks under the new tax law, according to a new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll. Just a quarter of registered voters, 25%, say they have noticed an increase in their paycheck, the poll shows. A majority, 51%, say they have not."
Postal-Service Workers Are Shouldering the Burden for Amazon: "Every day postal trucks drop off about 4,000 packages at a U.S. Postal Service station in central Tennessee, where they’re unloaded by a team of around six USPS employees. Each person grabs a box, rushes to the only scanning machine, runs the bar code, and then places it in the proper gurney for its route. The process takes about 10 seconds, and it can be repeated as many as 200 times in an hour."
Behind Janus: Documents Reveal Decade-Long Plot to Kill Public-Sector Unions: "The Roman god Janus was known for having two faces. It is a fitting name for the U.S. Supreme Court case scheduled for oral arguments February 26, Janus v. American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Council 31, that could deal a devastating blow to public-sector unions and workers nationwide."
N.J. Union Leader: Future of Organized Labor Is in Supreme Court's Hands: "The U.S. Supreme Court soon will be the stage of one of the most consequential fights in the history of the American worker. Anyone concerned with the future of middle-class jobs in our nation deserves to get the facts. Rather than sifting through the complexities of this legal battle, the goal of this article is to make clear to readers the real-life implications of this impending court decision."
In Janus Case, Working People Continue Fight Championed by Martin Luther King Jr.: "Fifty years ago, Martin Luther King Jr. joined the sanitation strikers in Memphis, Tennessee, who carried signs that boldly proclaimed, 'I Am a Man,' at a time when many employers rejected that very notion. King and the working people of Memphis fought for the freedom to join together in unions and to be treated with dignity and respect on the job."
Working People Flip State House Seat in Kentucky: "On Tuesday, working people claimed a landslide victory in a Kentucky special election. 'I could not have done this without labor,' said Democrat Linda Belcher in her victory speech. She’s the newly elected state representative for House District 49 in Bullitt County, just south of Louisville where then-presidential candidate Donald Trump carried 72% of the vote in 2016."
Time for Solidarity: What Working People Are Doing This Week: "Welcome to our regular feature, a look at what the various AFL-CIO unions and other working family organizations are doing across the country and beyond. The labor movement is big and active—here's a look at the broad range of activities we're engaged in this week."
Kenneth Quinnell Fri, 02/23/2018 - 12:45‘Right to Work’ Is a Cynical Power Grab
The effort to expand cynically named "right to work" laws says a lot about what is wrong with politics in our country. Disguised as protecting workers, the real goal is to silence workers’ voice, reduce our bargaining power and make our jobs more precarious. It’s about power—social, political and economic power.
After years of deceptive messaging, most people have the misconception that state law can force a worker to join a union. The reality is that no federal law and no law in any state can force a worker to join a union.
That’s good. No state or federal legislator should tell you when to join a union or when you can’t. This is a decision for you, your co-workers and your employer.
There is one and only one way to have the situation where all workers contribute to their union. If your workplace has agency fee or fair share fees, it’s because your co-workers demanded it and fought to write it into your contract. AND the employer agreed. AND your co-workers ratified the contract. In each subsequent round of contract negotiations, both sides ratify it again.
This condition becomes part of the collective bargaining agreement—"the contract"—which is just that, a legally binding contract between two willing parties.
To conservative thinkers, a contract is an object of reverence. Government shouldn’t interfere with a contract between two willing parties. The cynically named right to work legislation really forbids workers and employers from writing mutually agreed contract language that recognizes working people’s voice at work.
Let’s be clear. We could certainly use more rights at work. The Bill of Rights in the Constitution does not apply inside the workplace.
Most employers have near-total authority over employees regarding hiring, firing, transferring, moving work locations and assignment of work to employees. An employer can insist that all workers listen to anti-union speeches. In the workplace, an employer can search your belongings, tap your phone, read your email, tell you when and where you can eat, prohibit you from smoking, and tell you what you can and can’t read on the internet.
State and federal laws protect military veterans, women, older workers and certain protected classes. Beyond that, in most states you can be fired for almost any reason, or no reason at all.
Champions of right to work argue from a cynical pretense that they care about workers. They don’t.
If disingenuous right to work groups wanted to protect working people, they would champion free speech and due process in the workplace. They might insist that you could only be fired for just cause; and that workers not be disciplined for something they wrote on Facebook on their private time. Right to work advocates might restrict "non-compete" agreements that block working people from seeking new jobs, or they could strengthen control of patent rights for employees.
The cynicism of right to work is in its true purpose—to weaken unions, and minimize one of the few remaining institutions of civil society that speaks for working people and communities.
The cynical premise of right to work laws is that working people have too much power. They can overwhelm helpless employers. Particularly, they say, local, state and federal governments are unable to resist the power of public employee unions.
It’s worth stopping for a second to look at wages levels for public employees—teachers, legislative staff, fish and game agents, national park rangers, nurses at Veterans Affairs hospitals, and Cabinet members in the White House. No one goes into public service to get rich.
Public employees are driven by mission. They almost always could make more in the private sector.
While productivity has gone up steadily, wages in America have been stagnant for decades. Who got those gains from productivity?
The StandFor 30 years, we’ve heard promises that gains will trickle down to us. A more realistic strategy for higher living standards is for us to demand a share of the gains we create. In the post-war period, working people were able to demand a share of the gains they created. They could bargain, with the potential to strike. If one union strikes, another group of employees have that example of strength to bargain with their employer.
The StandSince the mid-1970s, strikes have become more rare. Employers have moved work to low-wage locations with weak labor laws. Bargaining power for working people is at historic lows.
It is tough to argue that workers have too much power. It is even tougher to tell workers that everything will be fine if we just lower our standard of living faster by weakening unions.
Canadians understand the deceit underpinning right to work. Canada made labor rights a key demand in renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement, a trade deal between Mexico, the United States and Canada. Canada wants the U.S. to end right to work.
A Canadian labor leader put it this way: "The United States has two problems. Number one is Mexico, number two is themselves. Canada has two problems: Mexican [wages] and right to work states in the United States."
Right to work falsely claims to be about free speech. Courts already have carved out religious objectors and provided an opt-out regarding union expenses for legislative lobbying.
If you believe in collective bargaining and the legitimate role of unions in civil society, then the right place to deal with union dues is in collective bargaining between workers and employers. That’s exactly what collective bargaining is for.
This post originally appeared at The Stand.
Kenneth Quinnell Fri, 02/23/2018 - 11:23In Janus Case, Working People Continue Fight Championed by Martin Luther King Jr.
Fifty years ago, Martin Luther King Jr. joined the sanitation strikers in Memphis, Tennessee, who carried signs that boldly proclaimed "I Am a Man," at a time when many employers rejected that very notion. King and the working people of Memphis fought for the freedom to join together in unions and to be treated with dignity and respect on the job.
Now, corporate lobbyists and the special interests that fund them are trying to undo many of the things King, the sanitation workers and many others have fought hard to win. Through a Supreme Court case, Janus v. AFSCME Local Council 31, they are ratcheting up their fight to divide and conquer us. These are the same extremists who are working to limit voting rights, roll back economic protections and gut the laws that protect working people.
The Supreme Court soon will hear the Janus case, and it will have a big impact on our voice in the workplace. Tomorrow, working people across the country will be standing up in defense of the freedoms that we've fought for with a day of action from coast to coast (find an event near you).
Working people across the country have been using their voice to reject the attacks on unions in the Janus case. Here are some highlights of what they've been saying.
Bonnee Breese Bentum, science teacher, Philadelphia Federation of Teachers: "As a teacher in the School District of Philadelphia for the past 16 years, I am living proof that being a member, a supporter and an activist in my local union assists not only the lives of our members, but also the consumers, the clients and the children we serve. Our contracts go far beyond what we do in the classroom or in an office. Our members withstood a four-year fight for a fair contract from a hostile School Reform Commission, driven by our state with an antiquated and unfair funding formula, and coupled with the force of a majority of politicians who opposed public schools and unions. We were able to win counselors and nurses for every public school; pay increases for staff after obtaining graduate degrees; and safe and healthy building conditions for all our children."
Maureen Dugan, RN, University of California-San Francisco and board member of the California Nurses Association/NNOC: "With the union I have that platform where I can safely speak out for patient care. A lot of time in nonunion environments, nurses are intimidated and bullied into staying quiet. These hospitals that don’t have unions don’t care. It’s the union that brings many safety laws in legislation and public regulatory protections. It’s the union dues that fund those efforts. It’s the nurses in my hospital, in my region, in my whole state that make up the strength of our union and our ability to protect our patients, our license, and our profession."
Dovard Howard, certified control systems technician in California, AFSCME Local 1902: "It is my job to make sure that the public has safe drinking water. There is no room for any mistakes. That’s why I am deeply concerned that this Supreme Court case threatens the ability of the skilled and dedicated people I work with to have a say about their future."
Stephen Mittons, child protection investigator in Illinois, AFSCME Council 31: "My work as a child protection investigator for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services is vital to the safety of our state’s most vulnerable children and families. This court case is yet another political attack on the freedom of my colleagues and I to speak up to ensure that we can safely and adequately manage our caseloads, which reflects our commitment to safety and public service to our community."
Rich Ognibene, chemistry and physics teacher, Fairport (N.Y.) Educators Association: "Technological advances and societal changes make us more isolated, and we are hesitant to make commitments to others. We assume the wages, benefits, safety and social justice that we enjoy at work have always been there, and that they will never disappear. That’s a dangerous assumption. The benefits we have today were earned over many years of hard-fought negotiations; they could disappear tomorrow without our union. Billionaire CEOs are trying to destroy our community and create a Hunger Games scenario for workers. They want to remove our collective voice and reduce the quality of life for working families. We cannot let them succeed. Now, more than ever, we must fight to keep our unions strong."
Sue Phillips, RN, Palomar Medical Center, Escondido, Calif.: "Union protection absolutely saves lives."
Matthew Quigley, correctional officer in Connecticut, AFSCME Local 1565, Council 4: "Big-money corporations and super-wealthy special interests are trying to prevent correctional officers, firefighters, police officers and other working people from having the freedom to join together and create positive working conditions. When we belong to strong unions, we are better able to fight for staffing levels, equipment and training that save lives within state prisons and the communities where we work and live."
Stephanie Wiley, child care attendant in Columbus, Ohio, AFSCME Local 4/OAPSE: "Our ability to speak together with a collective voice ensures that we can better assist children who need our help. That’s why I am deeply concerned about the Supreme Court case, which could severely limit our voice on the job and hurt our ability to best serve the children we care so much about."
Kenneth Quinnell Thu, 02/22/2018 - 10:07Tags: Janus
Working People Flip State House Seat in Kentucky
On Tuesday, working people claimed a landslide victory in a Kentucky special election. "I could not have done this without labor," said Democrat Linda Belcher in her victory speech. She’s the newly elected state representative for House District 49 in Bullitt County, just south of Louisville where then-presidential candidate Donald Trump carried 72% of the vote in 2016.
Union members knocked on doors in freezing weather and made phone calls in the district to make sure a real champion for working people would represent them in the state House. The Greater Louisville Central Labor Council, Kentucky State AFL-CIO, United Steelworkers (USW), Laborers (LIUNA), UAW Local 862 and Teamsters Local 89 members had thousands of conversations with more than 2,000 union members who live in House District 49.
"Unions stand in solidarity with pro-working family candidates. We are proud to fight for folks who will pass pro-working family policies and give all of Kentucky's hardworking men and women a better life," said Todd Dunn, president of the Greater Louisville Central Labor Council and Local 862.
Fred Zuckerman, president of Local 89, added, "In January 2017, the previous state representative in District 49 betrayed the working people of Kentucky by voting for so-called right to work and voting to repeal prevailing wage. Teamsters Local 89 swore on that day we would do everything in our power to flip any seat that voted against workers. Tonight, the Kentucky labor movement has done just that by helping to elect Linda Belcher. They started this war on workers but, in the end, we are going to win it."
Kenneth Quinnell Wed, 02/21/2018 - 13:22Time for Solidarity: What Working People Are Doing This Week
Welcome to our regular feature, a look at what the various AFL-CIO unions and other working family organizations are doing across the country and beyond. The labor movement is big and active—here's a look at the broad range of activities we're engaged in this week.
A. Philip Randolph Institute:
Happy Black History Month https://t.co/3U1gi7I6nM
— APRI National (DC) (@APRI_National) February 12, 2018AFGE:
Privatizing the TSA workforce would be disastrous to the safety of the flying public and local economy. Tell @MCO to keep TSA Officers on the job: (407) 825-2032. #1u #SaveTSA pic.twitter.com/5mzILrUzpR
— AFGE (@AFGENational) February 20, 2018AFSCME:
Working people will be coming together and standing shoulder to shoulder in cities across the country on Saturday, February 24. Find a march, rally or other event near you at https://t.co/y2wt6yFd9j. pic.twitter.com/5MB0mMYAI1
— AFSCME (@AFSCME) February 15, 2018AFT:
Solidarity with these incredible students. Our country must value their lives over guns. https://t.co/SR6PlmpAbL
— AFT (@AFTunion) February 19, 2018Air Line Pilots Association:
Martin Becomes First African-American Pilot for Major U.S. Airline: https://t.co/0sLg80LlCK #BlackHistoryMonth pic.twitter.com/Ejg4n7Z2h5
— ALPA (@WeAreALPA) February 16, 2018Alliance for Retired Americans:
ATTENTION, seniors: despite President Trump's campaign trail promises, his proposed budget will wreak havoc on your Medicare. https://t.co/ogMGe3stU8 pic.twitter.com/0x50OkXYqX
— Alliance Retirees (@ActiveRetirees) February 20, 2018Amalgamated Transit Union:
Nashville: Honoring Elizabeth Duff, MTA’s first African American female bus driver https://t.co/OYp6NQnZWU #1u #BlackHistoryMonth #transit #publictransit
— ATU, Transit Union (@ATUComm) February 16, 2018American Federation of Musicians:
“These are professional musicians — the best of the best,” Wheeler
says of the American Federation of Musicians union players.
https://t.co/DAS6Apj5FT via @variety
Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance:
On Feb 26, #SCOTUS will hear arguments in Janus v. AFSCME Council 31, a case brought by wealthy interests to further rig the economy against working people. Join thousands on Feb 24 to demand an end to the rigged economy & defend our freedoms. #UnrigtheSystem #ItsAboutFreedom
— APALA (@APALAnational) February 20, 2018Association of Flight Attendants-CWA:
Robert "Bingo" Bingochea represents the best of us! And gave the public a good view into those early AM departures. "You make a big difference when you interact with people. People will remember you, either by what you did or what you didn't do." https://t.co/07xvf6k8MJ
— AFA-CWA (@afa_cwa) February 17, 2018Coalition of Black Trade Unionists:
#BlackPantherMovie https://t.co/C27vkitTWO
— CBTU (@CBTU72) February 18, 2018Coalition of Labor Union Women:
And a member of @CLUWNational - @JoanneMSanders is a true pioneer for women’s rights and a fearless leader in the labor movement! We are proud to call her a sister in labor ✊
Time to Go on Offense: 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.
AFL-CIO President Trumka Tells Unions It’s Time To Go on Offense: "All that came just after Trumka told the UAW 'It’s time to drop our shield, pick up our sword and go on offense for a while,' to campaign for protecting pensions, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, to rebuild infrastructure and to 'protect our water from becoming poisoned like it was in Flint, Mich.'"
Is Trump Joking About ‘Strengthening the Federal Workforce’?: "At an AFGE rally Tuesday outside the AFL-CIO headquarters, just across Lafayette Square from the White House, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) warmed the crowd by saying, 'You are here today not only on behalf of hundreds of thousands of federal workers who want decent pay and decent working conditions, but you are here today on behalf of 300 million Americans who understand that what this country is about is providing quality care for veterans, to the elderly, to the children, to the poor and to the sick. That’s what you do. Thank you very much for doing it.'"
German Union's Big Win Shows U.S. Labor the Path Forward: "Last week the German metalworkers’ union, IG Metall, arguably one of the world’s most powerful unions, showed that unions have the power to shape their future workplaces. IG Metall negotiated a precedent-setting collective-bargaining agreement that privileges working conditions over wages. It won its key demand that workers have the right to reduce their working week from 35 to 28 hours for a period of up to two years in order to care for family members."
Labor Chiefs Make Their Pitch to CEOs Studying Connecticut's Competitiveness: "'Simply put, union workers empowered by the freedom to negotiate with their employers do better on every single economic benchmark,' said Lori Pelletier, president of the state AFL-CIO."
Empowering Working People in the West: AFL-CIO Holds Third Regional Meeting of 2018: "AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Tefere Gebre welcomed nearly 400 labor leaders and activists to his home state of California for the AFL-CIO Western District meeting this week. Gebre emphasized the importance of the actions attendees are taking to empower working people in the West, saying, 'Our movement is at its best when we work from the grassroots up, not from D.C. down.'"
Trump Administration Should Rescind Proposal That Allows Bosses to Pocket Working People's Tips: "As we previously reported, President Donald Trump’s Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta announced a new proposed regulation to allow restaurant owners to pocket the tips of millions of tipped workers. This would result in an estimated $5.8 billion in lost wages for workers each year―wages that they rightfully earned."
Tribal Labor Sovereignty Act Would Strip Working People of Freedoms: "Congress should protect worker freedom and uphold the sovereignty of Native American tribes, not pit the two against each other. Working people must have a legally enforceable right to form unions and negotiate together with the tribal enterprises that employ them. It’s fair, it’s democratic and it’s one important step toward an economy that works for all working people."
SAG-AFTRA Releases Sexual Harassment Code of Conduct: "SAG-AFTRA recently released a code of conduct on sexual harassment as part of a broader program to protect its members, confront harassment and advance equity in the workplace."
We Don't Play 'Chicken' with Safety: Worker Wins: "Our latest roundup of worker wins begins with poultry workers coming together to preserve safe line speeds and includes numerous examples of working people organizing, bargaining and mobilizing for a better life."
Taking the Wheel: A New Generation Is Driving the Future of the Labor Movement: "Building on the achievements of the past, newly elected union leaders and young workers are spreading optimism across the country. Inspired by the history and mission of the labor movement, a new generation of workers and activists are assuming leadership roles as the ranks of young union workers continue to grow."
Unions Are Fighting for Families by Supporting Women and Rejecting the Status Quo: "Women in the workplace have made major strides. Women currently make up 48% of the workforce and are the sole or primary breadwinner for 40% of families in the United States. Yet most family responsibilities still rest on women’s shoulders and, too often, women put in a full day’s work only to come home and clock in for a second shift."
6 Activist Women You Need to Know About for Black History Month: "As we celebrate Black History Month, we thought we'd take a look back at some of the women who have made history in the realm of fighting for the rights of working people. The battles they fought at the intersection of the rights of African Americans, women and working people should have made these women household names. Women continue to be at the forefront of battles for the rights of African Americans today, building on the work of these women and many others. Here is an introduction to a group of amazing women who did some amazing things."
Shuler: ‘What Unites Us Is Work and the Desire for a Better Life': "'Our movement is made up of working people of all parties and ideologies,' AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler told a crowd of more than 300 labor leaders and activists gathered at the AFL-CIO Northeast District Meeting in Silver Spring, Md. 'What unites us is work and the desire for a better life. Improving the lives of union members and all working people must be our guiding light in politics.'"
Working People Stand Together Against Sexual Harassment: "The AFL-CIO brought allies and union leaders together yesterday with the aim of ending sexual harassment in the workplace. When working people join together in union, we can listen to each other, mobilize our co-workers, speak with a unified voice and fight together to win justice in the workplace."
A Wave of Worker Activism: In the States Roundup: "It's time once again to take a look at the ways working people are making progress in the states. Click on any of the links to follow the state federations and central labor councils on Twitter."
Kenneth Quinnell Fri, 02/16/2018 - 14:47Empowering Working People in the West: AFL-CIO Holds Third Regional Meeting of 2018
AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Tefere Gebre welcomed nearly 400 labor leaders and activists to his home state of California for the AFL-CIO Western District meeting this week. Gebre emphasized the importance of the actions attendees are taking to empower working people in the West, saying, "Our movement is at its best when we work from the grassroots up, not from D.C. down."
Representatives from state federations, central labor councils and affiliate unions from Alaska, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming joined together at the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 324 hall in Buena Park, California, for a full day of strategizing to win for working people. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka acknowledged the latest achievements of the union movement out West, including the successful union election at the Los Angeles Times and the election of labor leaders to local government positions in Washington and Utah.
Other recent examples of workers out West turning the tide include:
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Cafeteria workers at Facebook’s campuses in California and Washington who voted to join UNITE HERE.
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Baggage handlers in Seattle and aircraft fuelers in Anchorage, Alaska, who won strong new union contracts with the Machinists (IAM).
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Newsroom staff at the Casper Star-Tribune in Wyoming who filed for a National Labor Relations Board election.
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United Steelworkers (USW) members in Idaho who are bravely out on strike at the Lucky Friday Mine.
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Montana’s two largest public employee unions, MEA-MFT and the Montana Public Employees Association, who merged to form a larger, stronger affiliate in preparation for legal attacks in the Supreme Court’s Janus v. AFSCME case.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka urged everyone in the room to keep growing that momentum. "The test of 2018 and beyond will be to build on these successes. Each election, each organizing drive, each legislative battle will showcase our growing clout," Trumka said.
A series of breakout sessions and a panel of state federation presidents from Alaska, California, Montana, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming conveyed a key theme of the meeting: engaging union members and empowering them to be active and take ownership of their unions. Participants left the meeting energized and ready to turn anti-worker attacks into opportunities to strengthen the labor movement in 2018.
This was the third of several regional meetings the AFL-CIO is organizing for early 2018. The others are in Chicago; Washington, D.C.; Detroit; New Orleans; and Las Vegas.
Kenneth Quinnell Fri, 02/16/2018 - 13:04A Rising Tide of Buyer's Remorse Even in the Red States?
Donald Trump carried all but two of Kentucky’s 120 counties, and he collected a whopping 62.5% of the vote.
Kentucky is among only a dozen states where the president’s popularity is 50% or higher. He’s at 51 in the Red State Bluegrass State.
Nationwide, Trump received votes from 43% of union households, according to a poll by the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research. The survey didn’t break down the results state by state. The president probably did as well or better among Kentucky union households.
Anyway, go ahead and call it whistling past the graveyard. But the 51% number suggests that buyer’s remorse is creeping up in the border state I’ve called home for all my 68 years.
I’ve packed a union card for about two dozen years. Most of us in organized labor voted for Hillary Clinton, the AFL-CIO-endorsed Democrat. But I’m hearing about rumblings of regret in union ranks.
We said Trump was—and still is—a fraud and a con man. He ran on a standard Wall Street Republican platform with planks supporting:
- "Right to work" (On the campaign trail, Trump said he preferred right to work states to non-right to work states.)
- Repeal of the prevailing wage on federal construction projects.
- Deep cuts in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
- Sharp rollbacks in federal regulations that safeguard worker safety and health on the job, protect consumers and shield the environment from polluters.
- Hefty tax breaks for corporations and rich people and tax crumbs for the rest of us.
The Trump-Republican Robin-in-reverse tax bill came up at this month's meeting of the Paducah-based Western Kentucky AFL-CIO Area Council, where I’m recording secretary.
"We’ve always preached that what’s good for the union is good for everybody, and it has been historically," said delegate Jimmy Evans, Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 816 business manager.
He cited as proof the tax legislation, which AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka called in a statement "nothing but an attack on America’s workers." He added, "We will pay more, corporations and billionaires will pay less. It’s a job killer. It gives billions of tax giveaways to big corporations that outsource jobs and profits."
The devil is always in the details. Under the tax bill, corporations can deduct payments to union-busting lawyers, but union members can’t deduct their union dues, according to the United Steelworkers (USW).
"Previously, employees could potentially write off work-related expenses that added up to more than 2% of their gross income, and for which an employer didn't reimburse them," explained CNBC's Annie Nova.
Nova also wrote that the axing of "miscellaneous itemized deductions" for a lot of taxpayers might not sound like a big deal, but she cautioned that their disappearance "will leave a hole in many workers' pockets, experts say."
The end of those deductions "was a shot across the bow of union members,” Evans said. "But it also affects a lot of nonunion members that work construction, just like it does our construction members."
Nova also said workers can no longer deduct "work-related legal fees...medical examinations required by an employer, union dues and licenses."
She quoted Seth Harris, a deputy labor secretary under President Barack Obama: "The really big story of the tax bill is that it favors capital over labor. It's heavily skewed to benefit people who get money without working, as opposed to those who labor for a living."
Harris also told her that many workers who itemize have a lot of different expenses—including mortgages—that would still make itemizing worth their while. He added that deductions for corporations are still abundant.
In addition, Nova quoted David Kamin, a law professor at New York University who was an economic policy adviser in the Obama administration: "While people can say there's a doubling of the standard deduction, those who have significant unreimbursed business expenses will not do as well."
She also interviewed Martin Davidoff, a New Jersey CPA and tax attorney who said it's unfair that companies can still deduct the "so-called cost of doing business."
"Take a look at McDonald's," he told Nova. "They spend $50 million on a Superbowl ad, and they get to deduct it."
Tax attorney Paul Drizner said that under the tax bill, many teachers will be forced to choose between spending less on their classrooms or taking home less from their salaries. (Teachers can still can claim a $250 above-the-line deduction on unreimbursed workplace expenses if they itemize or not, according to Nova). "Teachers shouldn't be paying out of their own pocket to put their lessons together," said Drizner in the story.
Evans said it’s not just the tax bill that has union members rethinking the ballots they cast for Trump and other Republicans. "Now they’re wanting to get back on board and be on our side again. They see that those things we fought for is what helped them."
I carry AFT and National Education Association/Kentucky Education Association retiree cards. More than a few community college and public-school teachers not only voted for Trump in 2016, they also cast ballots for GOP Gov. Matt Bevin the year before. (Most of us in AFT and KEA also voted for Jack Conway, the KEA- and Kentucky State AFL-CIO-endorsed Democratic gubernatorial hopeful.
The fact that the president's popularity rating in Kentucky is 11.5 percentage points lower that his victory margin suggests that many Trump backers regret their votes. We'll know more in a Feb. 20 special House election in Bullitt County.
The incumbent, Republican Dan Johnson, took his own life. His widow, Republican Rebecca Johnson, who shares her late husband's ultra-conservative views, wants to replace him. Her opponent is state AFL-CIO and KEA-endorsed Democrat Linda Belcher, whom Dan Johnson unseated in 2016.
KEA warned that the Tea Party-tilting Bevin could turn out to be the worst governor for public education in a long time, if not ever. Unions warned he was a union-buster to boot.
In 2017, he and his GOP-majority legislature pushed through a bill authorizing charter schools, which drain much-needed funds from public schools. (With Bevin cheering them on, GOP lawmakers also passed a right to work law and repealed the prevailing wage on state construction jobs.
Bevin’s proposed 2018 budget takes a meat-axe to education spending from kindergarten through higher education, including community colleges and state universities. He also wants to gut the workers' compensation program.
Too, in the phony name of pension "reform," Bevin has proposed a measure that would curb some benefits for current employees and retirees and force most new hires onto risky 401(a) programs.
Teachers are up in arms over the pension bill. (The GOP-majority House has been devising its own pension bill behind closed doors but has yet to release it.)
"It’s great to see all the educators getting involved," Evans said. "But you know what it took to get them involved? Somebody is dipping his hand into their wallets."
Evans hates to say, "We told you so," but he reminded the delegates at our meeting that, all along, organized labor has been telling union members what politicians like Trump and Trump fan Bevin "want to do to them. It’s the same in our ranks. It’s taken politicians dipping into their wallets to get a lot of people re-engaged."
This post originally appeared at Kentucky State AFL-CIO.
Kenneth Quinnell Thu, 02/15/2018 - 14:05Trump Administration Should Rescind Proposal That Allows Bosses to Pocket Working People's Tips
As we previously reported, President Donald Trump’s Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta announced a new proposed regulation to allow restaurant owners to pocket the tips of millions of tipped workers. This would result in an estimated $5.8 billion in lost wages for workers each year―wages that they rightfully earned.
And most of that would come from women’s pockets. Nearly 70% of tipped workers are women, and a majority of them work in the restaurant industry, which suffers from some of the highest rates of sexual harassment in the entire labor market. This rule would exacerbate sexual harassment because workers will now depend on the whims of owners to get their tips back.
In a letter to Congress, the AFL-CIO opposed the rule change in the strongest possible terms, calling for the proposal to be rescinded:
Just days before the comment period for this [Notice of Proposed Rulemaking] closed, an extremely disturbing report appeared indicating that analysis of the costs and benefits in fact occurred, but was discarded. On Feb. 1, 2018, Bloomberg/BNA reported that the Department of Labor "scrubbed an unfavorable internal analysis from a new tip pooling proposal, shielding the public from estimates that potentially billions of dollars in gratuities could be transferred from workers to their employer." Assuming these reports are correct, the Department of Labor should immediately make the underlying data (and the analyses that the Department conducted) available to the public. We call on the Department of Labor to do so immediately and to withdraw the related Notice of Proposed Rulemaking.
The AFL-CIO strongly urges the Department to withdraw the proposed rule, and instead focus its energies on promoting policies that will improve economic security for people working in low-wage jobs and empower all working people with the resources they need to combat sexual harassment in their workplaces.
The Department of Labor must provide an estimate of its proposed rules’ economic impact. However, while suspiciously claiming that such an analysis was impossible, it turns out that this wasn't true:
Senior department political officials—faced with a government analysis showing that workers could lose billions of dollars in tips as a result of the proposal—ordered staff to revise the data methodology to lessen the expected impact, several of the sources said. Although later calculations showed progressively reduced tip losses, Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta and his team are said to have still been uncomfortable with including the data in the proposal. The officials disagreed with assumptions in the analysis that employers would retain their employees’ gratuities, rather than redistribute the money to other hourly workers. They wound up receiving approval from the White House to publish a proposal Dec. 5 that removed the economic transfer data altogether, the sources said.
The move to drop the analysis means workers, businesses, advocacy groups and others who want to weigh in on the tip pool proposal will have to do so without seeing the government’s estimate first.
Democrats in Congress quickly responded that the rule change should be abandoned, as the new rule would authorize employers to engage in wage theft against their workers. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said:
You have been a proponent of more transparency and economic analysis in the rulemaking process. But if DOL hid a key economic analysis of this proposed rule—and if [Office of Management and Budget] officials were aware of and complicit in doing so—that would raise serious questions about the integrity of the rule itself, and about your role and the role of other OMB officials in the rulemaking.
Take action today and send a letter to Congress asking it to stop Trump's tip theft rule.
Kenneth Quinnell Thu, 02/15/2018 - 09:58Tribal Labor Sovereignty Act Would Strip Working People of Freedoms
Congress should protect worker freedom and uphold the sovereignty of Native American tribes, not pit the two against each other. Working people must have a legally enforceable right to form unions and negotiate together with the tribal enterprises that employ them. It’s fair, it’s democratic and it’s one important step toward an economy that works for all working people.
Corporate-backed politicians and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have a new disguise to cut back worker freedoms, the Tribal Labor Sovereignty Act (S. 63, H.R. 986), which would deny National Labor Relations Act protection to more than 600,000 workers.
It’s the classic strategy of divide and conquer. The AFL-CIO supports tribal sovereignty and workers’ freedoms. The two should never be pitted against each other.
Tribal governments and labor unions share a host of basic values, including a desire for broad prosperity, good jobs and thriving communities.
America’s working people want new economic rules so we can raise pay and expand worker freedom, and that means rejecting the Tribal Labor Sovereignty Act.
Read more from our letter to representatives opposing the act:
The AFL-CIO supports the principle of sovereignty for tribal governments but does not believe that employers should use this principle to deny workers their collective bargaining rights and freedom of association. While the AFL-CIO continues to support the concept of tribal sovereignty in truly internal, self-governance matters, it is in no position to repudiate fundamental human rights that belong to every worker in every nation. Workers cannot be left without any legally enforceable right to form unions and bargain collectively in instances where they are working for a tribal enterprise, which is simply a commercial operation competing with non-tribal businesses....
The AFL-CIO opposes any effort to exempt on an across-the-board basis all tribal enterprises from the NLRA, without undertaking a specific review of all the circumstances—as current NLRB standards provide. Where the enterprise employs mainly Native American employees with mainly Native American customers, and involves self-governance or intramural affairs, leaving the matter to tribal governments may be appropriate. However, where the business employs primarily non-Native American employees and caters to primarily non-Native American customers, there is no basis for depriving employees of their rights and protections under the National Labor Relations Act.
Kenneth Quinnell Wed, 02/14/2018 - 13:00
