The Republican Tax Bill is a Job Killer AFL-CIO

My name is Michael J. Smith. I am here to tell you why the tax bill is a JOB KILLER.

Up until March of 2016, I was employed at the Nabisco bakery in Chicago.

I had worked there nearly five years and am unemployed today because Nabisco/Mondelēz sent my job and the jobs of over 500 others at the bakery to Mexico.

That happened because our trade and tax laws make it easy and profitable for companies to outsource our jobs. During last year’s election, I heard a lot of politicians say it was time to change the rules to bring jobs home.

But now I see this tax bill and here’s what it says: It says that from now on, Mondelēz, a U.S. company, will pay no taxes in the United States on its profits from its Mexican plant where my job went. But it will pay taxes on the profits from its plants here in the U.S.—a 20% tax. What do you think will happen to my brothers and sisters still working in the U.S. under those rules?

Literally, this tax bill wants to pay companies like Mondelēz to move jobs like mine out of the United States. I can't believe it.

So let me say to the people who wrote this tax bill—you must think I am nothing more than a chance to make some more money. And so is the next worker like me whose life will be destroyed if this bill passes, and corporations move more jobs and profits offshore in pursuit of the tax breaks in this bill for outsourcers.

My name is Michael J. Smith and I am not a mere statistic. I deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. I pay taxes and I demand Congress not reward companies like the one that outsourced my job with billions of dollars in tax breaks.

Let me say this one more time—this tax bill is a JOB KILLER. Someone said it is CUT CUT CUT.  What it cuts is jobs.

We deserve better.

Kenneth Quinnell Fri, 11/03/2017 - 13:09

The Economy Gains 261,000 Jobs in October, and Unemployment Was Little Changed at 4.1%

The U.S. economy gained 261,000 jobs in October, and unemployment was little changed at 4.1%, according to figures released this morning by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. This continues the recovery of the labor market at a tempered rate, which means the Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee should continue to let the economy grow and not raise interest rates.

In response to the October jobs numbers, AFL-CIO Chief Economist William Spriggs tweeted:

#jobsreport wages fell, September to October, over the year only rose 2.4%, with 3.0% boost in productivity no reason for Fed to raise rate

— William E. Spriggs (@WSpriggs) November 3, 2017

 

#jobsreport a big part of the October increase was the 89,000 job bounce-back for food establishments closed by Harvey and Irma @AFLCIO

— William E. Spriggs (@WSpriggs) November 3, 2017

 

#jobsreport on the good news side, part-time wanting full-time, long term unemployed numbers fall, job quitters up @AFLCIO

— William E. Spriggs (@WSpriggs) November 3, 2017

 

#jobsreport Over the year, unemployment rates fall for all major occupation groups, especially construction and production workers @AFLCIO pic.twitter.com/sIk6PbHBIN

— William E. Spriggs (@WSpriggs) November 3, 2017

 

#jobsreport labor force participation rates continues downward trend--no surprise that supply won't increase without wages @AFLCIO pic.twitter.com/yruVxmWnBj

— William E. Spriggs (@WSpriggs) November 3, 2017

 

#jobsreport broadest measure of unemployment (including involuntary part-time, discouraged workers) falls to level near pre-2008 @AFLCIO pic.twitter.com/VX3ZWhbiWP

— William E. Spriggs (@WSpriggs) November 3, 2017

#jobsreport uncertainty from attacks on Medicaid, payrolls at nursing care facility down 12.2K from last year, but edges up in Oct. @AFLCIO

— William E. Spriggs (@WSpriggs) November 3, 2017

 

Why 45's tax plan is bad: @AFSCME state and local employment edge up only 4,000, but with drops in state education and local non-education,

— William E. Spriggs (@WSpriggs) November 3, 2017

 

Why 45's tax plan is wrong: corporations with record profits and massive cash balances have not used them to raise pay so far @AFLCIO pic.twitter.com/vnQFHT6aK0

— William E. Spriggs (@WSpriggs) November 3, 2017

Last month's biggest job gains were in food services and drinking places (89,000), professional and business services (50,000), manufacturing (24,000) and health care (22,000). Employment in other major industries, including mining, construction, wholesale trade, retail trade, transportation and warehousing, information, financial activities and government, changed little in October.

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult women (3.6%) and whites (3.5%) declined in October. The jobless rates for teenagers (13.7%), blacks (7.5%), Hispanics (4.8%), adult men (3.8%) and Asians (3.1%) showed little change.

The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) was little changed in October, and accounted for 24.8% of the unemployed.

Kenneth Quinnell Fri, 11/03/2017 - 12:30

A Watershed Moment for Working People

On Wednesday, congressional Democrats released the labor portion of their "Better Deal" initiative. In response to the plan, AFL-CIO President Richard L. Trumka said:

This morning, I had the privilege of standing with Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi as they rolled out their plans to strengthen the freedom to join together in a union. We were joined by other labor leaders, including the presidents of AFSCME, AFT, CWA, UFCW and NEA, and by other leaders in the House and Senate who have championed workers’ rights.

This is the first time in recent memory that Democratic elected officials as a caucus have made strengthening workers’ freedom to join together and negotiate with their employers a centerpiece of their policy platform. These leaders forcefully made the case that for our economy to work and for communities to prosper, we need a strong and vibrant labor movement, and that it is in the country’s interest to strengthen workers’ freedom to join together and negotiate better wages, benefits, safety and retirement security.

This action follows on the decision by delegates to the 2017 AFL-CIO Convention to vote unanimously last week to press for a Workers' Bill of Rights, including rewriting the rules to make it more possible for workers to join together and form unions.

As working people face relentless attacks by corporate special interests trying to weaken workers’ bargaining power and rights, it is critically important for the labor movement and its allies to have a positive vision and agenda to rally around, fight for, and hold elected officials accountable to. Today’s announcement of A Better Deal is a great example of this sort of action.

Read Trumka's remarks from the release event.

In introducing the plan, AFSCME President Lee Saunders said:

Unions are more important than ever to a thriving middle class, to shared prosperity, to an economy that works for everyone, not just a few. I'm proud, I'm pleased to be working with Senate Democrats toward those goals.

AFT President Randi Weingarten said:

This is a 'which side are you on' moment. You think about what Leader Pelosi said before. Look at what some people, the GOP leadership in the Congress, are doing this week, they are trying to get tax giveaways to the rich who have already rigged the economy against working people all throughout the economy. And here we stand very proudly with the Democratic leadership, who's actually saying we care about the individuals.

NEA President Lily Eskelsen García said:

I am so proud this morning to be up here speaking about the rights of working people—to organize for educators and for the parents of the students that we serve. Unions have always provided that pathway to the middle class, and we're needed more than ever now that we are deep into an era where the economy is more and more rigged in favor of the wealthy and the powerful. We know as unions succeed, families and communities succeed.

Sen. Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) said:

We all worry about the decline of the middle class. And the Number One reason for the decline of the middle class is the assault on unions and on labor that's occurred over the last 30 years. Labor unions created the middle class. Before the labor unions, there were a few rich people and a lot of poor people, but not that big a middle class. And the whole big beautiful middle class that America prides itself on was done by the sweat of the predecessors of these folks who organized people and fought—it didn't come easy—for better wages and better benefits and better retirement.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (Minn.) said:

And I am literally here as the granddaughter of an iron ore miner and the daughter of a teacher and a newspaper worker, and the first woman elected to the Senate from my state. That wouldnt've have happened except for unions. So I really view these union members, in my life, as my role models and my example. And I think that's what we should expect from the federal government and from our president.

Sen. Patty Murray (Wash.) said:

Employers who threaten or retaliate against workers who want to exercise their right to form a union or join a union should be held accountable.

Rep. Bobby Scott (Va.) said:

I stand with my colleagues from the House and the Senate in support of a better deal for working people that includes restoring the freedom of workers to negotiate for their fair share.

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.) said:

The productivity gains of the American worker have not gone to the American worker. Instead they've gone to the privileged few, to the wealthy and to the well-off, to millionaires and billionaires, to special interest corporations. It should always be the case if you work hard and play by the rules, you can provide a comfortable living for your family. But for far too many Americans, that basic contract has been broken.

Key parts of the plan include:

• A "federal law that provides public workers with the same rights and freedom to engage in collective bargaining as their private-sector counterparts," designed to prevent the piecemeal erosion of collective bargaining rights that have taken off in Republican-run states since 2011.
• A ban on state "right to work" laws altogether, as "they have been found to reduce union membership by up to 10% and have resulted in lower wages and decreased access to employer-provided health care and pensions."
• Making it easier to strike with a "ban [on] the permanent replacement of striking workers."
• Providing remedies to workers (regardless of their immigration status) for violations, and providing strong penalties against CEOs and companies that interfere with workers' freedom to join together and negotiate.
• Expanded coverage so more workers have the freedom to join together.

Watch the full press conference releasing the plan:

Kenneth Quinnell Fri, 11/03/2017 - 10:50

The Top Reasons Why the Republican Tax Bill is Bad for Working People Gage Skidmore

Working people have forced the House GOP to stall the release of a bad and unpopular plan to slash taxes for the rich by cutting services and tax breaks for working families. America’s labor movement will fight every attempt by Donald Trump to give preference to millionaires and billionaires and hand working people the tab. Here are the top ways the Republican tax bill will hurt working people:

1. This bill is a job killer. The GOP tax bill would give companies a huge tax break for outsourcing. U.S. taxes on offshore profits would be eliminated, giving big corporations even more incentive to move jobs offshore.

2. Republicans are proposing to (partially) pay for tax cuts with drastic cuts to Medicaid, Medicare and education. The GOP budget includes $5 trillion in budget cuts, including $1.5 trillion in cuts to Medicaid and Medicare, an increase in the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 67, and an end to Medicare’s guarantee of health coverage.

3. But the GOP tax bill still won't be paid for, so we can expect Republicans to demand more budget cuts that hurt working people in the future. The Republican budget allows for $1.5 trillion in tax cuts that are not paid for in the first decade, and these tax cuts are structured to cost even more in future decades. First the Wall Street millionaires throw themselves a party, then they stick the rest of us with the tab.

4. The GOP tax bill would increase taxes on many middle-class families, and most of its tax breaks would go to the top 1%. According to independent analysis of the previous version of the GOP tax plan, 30% of households making between $50,000 and $150,000 would pay more in taxes, while the richest 1% would walk away with 80% of the tax breaks. Republicans have made some adjustments to their tax bill, but it still is heavily weighted toward the top.

5. The GOP tax bill would punish states that make the kind of investments that create good jobs. Republicans are proposing to repeal the deduction for state and local income taxes, making it harder for states to raise enough money to invest in high-quality education, infrastructure and good jobs, and would lower property values.

6. The GOP tax bill would encourage high-income employees to avoid taxes by setting up pass-through businesses, robbing billions of dollars from Social Security and Medicare. Employees in the top tax bracket could reduce their tax rate to 25% by setting up pass-through businesses, meaning they no longer would pay Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes.

7. The GOP tax bill would tax long-term care for seniors and people with disabilities. Eliminating the tax deduction for medical expenses would force many middle-class Americans who are chronically ill to pay thousands more in taxes each year and spend down their resources to qualify for Medicaid, and would prevent millions of Americans from deducting out-of-pocket medical or dental expenses from their taxes.

8. The GOP tax bill would kill construction jobs. Limiting the mortgage interest deduction at $500,000 would discourage construction of new houses.

Kenneth Quinnell Thu, 11/02/2017 - 15:09

The Purpose for Which I Rise: What I Saw at the 2017 AFL-CIO Convention AFL-CIO

Michael Gillis is a field communication specialist for the AFL-CIO. This is his recap of the AFL-CIO 2017 Convention in St. Louis last week.

I saw an election that renewed a leadership team that inspired me in profound ways. I saw a man whose confidence and calm drive I can emulate in my endeavors. I saw a woman whose competence and resolve emboldens me to pursue justice for myself and the least of my brothers and sisters. I saw another man whose back story makes me embarrassed to have ever filed a complaint about my own privileged life. I have been reintroduced to leadership that I can follow into the battles ahead.

I met a newspaper reporter who proudly announced to me that she was a member of two labor unions—one for her job reporting the news and another for her role as an adjunct professor at a local university. Her reporting was impeccable, and her pride as a union member reminded me why we fight.

I saw a labor leader denounce his own white privilege to make the case that the labor movement needed to do more to defend people of color. I saw another selflessly face down authority to stand up for a crowd of people demonstrating against clear injustices. I saw hundreds of people following her lead.

I saw a look in the eye of a veteran that told me that he’s made sacrifices that I cannot begin to fathom. I saw businessmen and women tell their story of their vision and achievement, all done through a foundational belief in the American worker.

I saw a woman whose professionalism and commitment to public health drove her to stand up for children whose lives are threatened by reckless and greed-driven policy making. I heard her announce her allegiance to the labor movement and explain how that gave her the courage to do what she did.

I saw a man rise to credit the labor movement for giving him the courage to come out as a gay man late in life. I saw a colleague power through a disease that has ravaged her body to add her voice toward our purpose. And I saw another literally sing the blues.

I saw countless people rise to share the stories from their own experiences. I saw them cry. I saw them laugh. I saw them resolve to make the world a better place.

All of this took place in St. Louis, the Gateway to the West. The labor movement is passing through a moment in time when threats and opportunity are abundant. And we are passing through an arch that bends toward social and economic justice.

For what purpose do I rise? I rise because I know I stand on the shoulders of many who went before me. I rise because I walk in the midst of contemporary heroes. I rise because I need to join the fight. And I need to win.

Kenneth Quinnell Mon, 10/30/2017 - 11:29

Tags: 2017 Convention

Trumka, Shuler and Gebre Re-Elected; Four New Members Join AFL-CIO Executive Council

At the AFL-CIO 2017 Convention last week, federation officers—President Richard Trumka, Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler and Executive Vice President Tefere Gebre—and the Executive Council—made up of 55 vice presidents—were elected, with four new members joining the council.

Four new members joined the AFL-CIO Executive Council. Click on the links to learn more about the new members.

George E. McCubbin, AFGE District 12: “I’m honored to be joining the AFL-CIO Executive Council and look forward to working with my fellow union leaders to organize more workers and better engage with all union families.”

Vonda McDaniel, Central Labor Council of Nashville and Middle Tennessee: “Vonda McDaniel serves as president of the Nashville Central Labor Council. A native Nashvillian, she grew up in the First Baptist Church at Capitol Hill where her family remains active members. The church was an early center of organizing during the civil rights movement, and the legacy and memory of that movement helped shape her belief from early on that ordinary people can make extraordinary change. Vonda has been a member of the United Steelworkers Local 1055 since 1992. For 10 years, she served the members of that local by administering member benefits and helping members navigate benefits and services.”

Gwen Mills, UNITE HERE: “Gwen Mills was born and raised in New Haven, Connecticut, and earned a Bachelor of Science in environmental science and public policy at Cornell University. She joined UNITE HERE in 2000 and organized a broad-based community and political alliance for Yale University strikes, contract campaigns and organizing drives. In 2008, she led members from locals across the country to southern Virginia in an innovative registration, engagement and turnout program focused on African American voters. As the Connecticut political director until 2015, Gwen’s team focused on electing rank-and-file members to municipal office, resulting in the election of New Haven’s first female African American mayor, first female African American City Council president (a union member) and first Democratic governor in 20 years. Gwen served as the political director of UNITE HERE from 2015-2017 and was elected secretary-treasurer in 2017.”

Charlie Wowkanech, New Jersey State AFL-CIO: “I am humbled and honored to immediately begin serving as a national AFL-CIO vice president, and I look forward to the opportunity to build a national labor movement that is stronger and more durable than ever before. I fulfill this role not only with pride and the greatest sense of responsibility to working families across this nation, but also with a deep gratitude for the union members of New Jersey, whose work and solidarity has made this possible.”

The full list of Executive Council members elected at the AFL-CIO 2017 Convention:

• Stuart Appelbaum, Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union/UFCW
• James Boland, Bricklayers
• James Callahan, Operating Engineers
• Capt. Timothy Canoll, Air Line Pilots Association
• Gabrielle Carteris, SAG-AFTRA
• J. David Cox, AFGE
• Harold Daggett, Longshoremen
• Eric Dean, Ironworkers
• RoseAnn DeMoro, National Nurses United
• Bhairavi Desai, National Taxi Workers Alliance
• Mark Dimondstein, American Postal Workers Union
• David Durkee, Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers
• Cindy Estrada, UAW
• Leo W. Gerard, United Steelworkers
• Lawrence J. Hanley, Amalgamated Transit Union
• Lorretta Johnson, AFT
• Newton B. Jones, Boilermakers
• Gregory J. Junemann, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers
• D. Michael Langford, Utility Workers
• Richard Lanigan, Office and Professional Employees
• Matthew Loeb, Theatrical Stage Employees
• Robert Martinez, Machinists
• Elissa McBride, AFSCME
• George E. McCubbin, AFGE District 12
• Vonda McDaniel, Central Labor Council of Nashville and Middle Tennessee
• Sean McGarvey, North America's Building Trades Unions
• Mark McManus, Plumbers and Pipe Fitters
• Gwen Mills, UNITE HERE
• Sara Nelson, Association of Flight Attendants-CWA
• Terry O'Sullivan, Laborers
• Lori Pelletier, Connecticut AFL-CIO
• Marc Perrone, United Food and Commercial Workers
• Jorge Ramirez, Chicago Federation of Labor
• Fred Redmond, United Steelworkers
• Kenneth Rigmaiden, Painters and Allied Trades
• Paul Rinaldi, National Air Traffic Controllers Association
• Clyde Rivers, California School Employees Association
• Cecil Roberts, Mine Workers
• Fredric V. Rolando, National Association of Letter Carriers
• Michael Sacco, Seafarers
• John Samuelsen, Transport Workers
• Lee A. Saunders, AFSCME
• Robert A. Scardelletti, TCU/IAM
• Harold Schaitberger, Fire Fighters
• Joseph Sellers Jr., International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers
• Christopher Shelton, Communications Workers of America
• Bruce R. Smith, Glass, Molders, Pottery, Plastics and Allied Workers
• DeMaurice Smith, NFL Players Association
• Lonnie R. Stephenson, Electrical Workers
• D. Taylor, UNITE HERE
• Baldemar Velasquez, Farm Labor Organizing Committee
• Randi Weingarten, AFT
• Dennis D. Williams, UAW
• Diann Woodard, School Administrators
• Charlie Wowkanech, New Jersey State AFL-CIO

Kenneth Quinnell Mon, 10/30/2017 - 10:14

Tags: 2017 Convention

Professionals Win Together Kaveh Sardari, AFL-CIO

Professionals Win Together: AFL-CIO Resolution Recognizes DPE’s 40 Years of Helping Professionals Join Together and Win originally appeared on Medium. 

On Wednesday morning, under the blue glow of the lights in St. Louis’ America’s Center, the leaders and members of America’s unions voted to recognize the dramatic growth of professionals in unions and professionals’ role in the future of the labor movement.

The delegates to the AFL-CIO Convention adopted Resolution 36, Celebrating DPE: 40 Years of Growing Professional Union Membership. The resolution recognized the 40th anniversary of the Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO (DPE) — the AFL-CIO trade department composed of 23 unions representing employees in professional and technical occupations — and its success increasing professional union membership.

The introduction of the resolution reads:

“Over the course of the last 40 years, DPE and its affiliates have helped grow union membership by organizing professionals — now 42 percent of the labor movement.”

In the last 40 years, there’s been over a 20 point jump in the number of professional union members. When the trade department was being established professionals were less than 18 percent of union members, today professionals are 42 percent of the labor movement.

“When DPE was being created many were skeptical about whether professionals would be drawn to unions, but the skeptics were wrong,” said DPE President Paul E. Almeida.

Organizing victories that have helped fuel the growth of professional union membership within DPE affiliate unions and the entire labor movement have happened with DPE support. The American Federation of Teachers (AFT), a union of professionals working in education, healthcare, and public service, has seen its membership grow from 450,000 to 1.7 million in the last 40 years. The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) representing employees in the federal and Washington, D.C. government has seen a surge in professionals joining their union as well.

“Professionals should be part of nearly every union’s organizing strategy because I guarantee you they are interested in union membership and they already make up a growing share of union membership,” said AFGE President J. David Cox.

It doesn’t seem like professionals will stop joining unions any time soon, in fact, the number of professionals joining unions could soon increase. A DPE commissioned survey conducted last fall by Hart Research Associates found that a majority (56%) of non-union professionals would support joining a union at their current job. This combined with recent organizing successes among digital journalists, graduate employees, doctors, and non-profit employees reveals that professionals will likely be the face of the labor movement of the future.

“The results of the DPE survey of non-union professionals conducted last fall reinforce what my union has been seeing in its organizing campaigns: professionals very much want to join unions,” said Cox.

As the coalition of unions that organize and represent professionals, DPE supports its affiliate unions in their efforts to organize and negotiate collectively. DPE has been able to identify and understand what professionals want from unions through its survey of non-union professionals and program series on the future of the professional workforce. Through practical, action-oriented resources, DPE is able to disseminate this information and help affiliates implement its findings about professionals. A few examples of these resources include DPE’s organizing guides Growing Your Union: Engaging Professionals Through New Hire Orientation and Extend the Invitation: A 10 Step Approach to Internal Organizing.

“In DPE’s 40 year history, it has proven tremendous assistance to affiliates in providing research on what works in organizing professionals and helping us all share our best practices and work together,” said Cox.

“Working with all of its affiliates, federal government employees, teachers, building trades, performing arts, engineers, you name it, they can pull people together into conversation and get leaders to understand one another’s issues and how those issues are relevant to everything that they’re doing,” said International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE) President Greg Junemann of DPE’s work.

 

A core DPE principle is that by working together we can build a strong, dynamic labor movement. To make this a reality, DPE provides ways for affiliate unions to collaborate and share experiences. By facilitating collaboration, DPE has helped affiliates share expertise, technology, ideas, and resources, which has resulted in better contract wins and more organized professionals. DPE also guides coordination on public policy and advocacy issues of mutual concern.

“DPE’s advocacy on issues like arts funding, copyright, visa reform, and international trade has moved us forward in ways we never could have achieved alone,” said Executive Vice President of SAG-AFTRA Rebecca Damon. “SAG-AFTRA is stronger today because DPE provides a collaborative space for us to work with and learn from a diverse array of professionals, including teachers, lawyers, doctors, utility professionals, stage directors, engineers, sales professionals, and many others.”

Professional and technical jobs are the careers and organizing opportunities of the future. As employment in other sectors has declined or stagnated, employment in professional and technical occupations continues to grow. Over 80 percent of the new jobs created in the last 15 years were in professional and technical occupations, and in the last 45 years professionals have grown from a quarter of the workforce to 38 percent.

The resolution’s closing statement could not be more true:

“While professionals were not the face of the labor movement of the past, it is clear that the future is professional.” Jackie Tortora Fri, 10/27/2017 - 08:02

Tags: 2017 Convention

Highlights from Day Four of the AFL-CIO 2017 Convention Kaveh Sardari, AFL-CIO

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka opened the fourth day of the AFL-CIO 2017 Convention talking about the Workers' Bill of Rights:

Sisters and brothers, working people need a bill of rights.

A collective bargaining agreement for America. 

This will serve as a platform for our members to rally around. It will give prospective members a clear statement of our values. And it will provide political candidates and elected officials with a litmus test for our support. 

We simply refuse to accept the reality of struggling to make ends meet in the richest country in the world at its richest point in history. And so we demand rights that ensure we are able, through our work, to lead better lives.

Read more about the Workers' Bill of Rights and other resolutions adopted at today's convention:

• Resolution 1: Workers' Bill of Rights: "AFL-CIO calls for the creation of a Workers' Bill of Rights."
• Resolution 9: Rewriting the Rules: Making the Freedom to Join Together and Negotiate a Reality for All Workers: "AFL-CIO will undertake the process of fundamentally reforming America's labor laws in order to make the freedom to join together and negotiate a reality for all workers."
• Resolution 19: Diverse and Inclusive Leadership for a Thriving Labor Movement: "The AFL-CIO must recommit itself to diversity and inclusion at all levels and in all parts of our movement. It’s clear that resolve is not enough; we need accountability and action."
• Resolution 20: Full Employment and a $15 Minimum Wage: "The AFL-CIO supports a $15 minimum wage and full employment."
• Resolution 23: Safe Jobs-Every Worker's Right: "The right to a safe job is a fundamental worker right and a core union value. Every worker should be able to go to work and return home safely at the end of the day."
• Resolution 26: The Solidarity Center-Twenty Years of Standing Up For Workers Around the World: "In honor of its 20th anniversary, we recognize the achievements and role of the Solidarity Center in the fight for global justice, and call on convention delegates and unions to become a sponsor of the next 20 years of Solidarity Center programs, participate in Solidarity Center exchange programs and contribute expertise to its programs, and  join solidarity campaigns led by the Solidarity Center to protect trade union rights around the world."
• Resolution 27: Resolution Celebrating Ullico Inc.'s 90th Anniversary: "The AFL-CIO recognizes the critical role Ullico has played as a financial services provider to the American labor movement and working men and women; and congratulates the Ullico Family of Companies on 90 years of service to working people and the labor movement, and looks forward to working with the Ullico Family of Companies in the years to come."
• Resolution 36: Celebrating DPE: 40 Years of Growing Professional Union Membership: "Professional and technical members are part of almost every union. Regardless of their concentration of professional members, all DPE affiliate unions recognize that professionals need to see themselves in their union and in the labor movement."
• Resolution 38: National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund Museum and Memorial: "The AFL-CIO endorses and supports the efforts of the NLEOMF to honor the law enforcement officers who have been killed in the line of duty by permanently etching their names on the memorial and the museum’s effort to build mutual respect and foster cooperation between the public and the law enforcement profession."
• Resolution 50: War Is Not the Answer: "The AFL-CIO promotes and advocates for a foreign policy based on international solidarity of all workers, mutual respect of all nations and national sovereignty, and calls upon the president and Congress to make war truly the last resort in our country’s foreign relations, and that we seek peace and reconciliation wherever possible, calls upon the president and Congress to bring the war dollars home and make our priority as a nation rebuilding this country’s crumbling infrastructure and will advocate for the necessary federal funding to meet the needs of veterans by providing them comprehensive services for health care, housing, education and employment, and to establish outreach to at-risk veterans who may not be availing themselves of existing programs."

See all the resolutions that were adopted at the convention.

More about today's convention:

International Convention Guests Visit Granite City and Learn How Bad Trade Policies Affect Illinois Steelworkers: "More than 60 international labor guests attending the AFL-CIO convention in St Louis crossed the river to Granite City, Illinois, to visit the United Steelworkers Locals at the US Steel plant that has operated there for decades."

A Workers' Bill of Rights Passed at the AFL-CIO 2017 Convention: "At the 2017 AFL-CIO Convention, the delegates passed a resolution calling for the creation of a Workers' Bill of Rights. Speaking in support of the resolution, President Richard L. Trumka said...."

Imprisoned KCTU President Han Honored with Human Rights Award, Global Labor Movement Calls for His Release: "At the AFL-CIO convention in St. Louis, President Richard Trumka honored the imprisoned president of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), Han Sang-gyun, with the George Meany-Lane Kirkland Human Rights Award. Han has been in jail since December 2015, serving a three-year sentence for defending trade union rights and fighting back against corporate corruption and the repressive government of former President Park Geun-hye."

Professionals Win Together: "This morning, under the blue glow of the lights in St. Louis’ America’s Center the leaders and members of America’s unions voted to recognize the dramatic growth of professionals in unions and professionals’ role in the future of the labor movement."

Check out the videos that were played during today's plenary session:

Watch a playlist of all the videos from plenary sessions:

Check out the highlights from day one, day two, and day three of the convention.

Watch video highlights of the convention:

Kenneth Quinnell Wed, 10/25/2017 - 15:45

Tags: 2017 Convention

International Convention Guests Visit Granite City and Learn How Bad Trade Policies Affect Illinois Steelworkers Brian FinneganMore than 60 international labor guests attending the AFL-CIO convention in St Louis crossed the river to Granite City, Illinois, to visit the United Steelworkers Locals at the US Steel plant that has operated there for decades.

More than 60 international labor guests attending the AFL-CIO convention in St. Louis, Mo.,
crossed the river to Granite City, Ill., to visit the United Steelworkers Locals at the U.S.
Steel plant that has operated there for decades.

Granite City and its Labor Temple that serves as the union hall for United Steelworkers (USW) Locals 1899, 50 and 68, have an illustrious place in U.S. labor history and progressive politics. These days, however, the community is feeling the impact of short-sighted trade policies that lead to fewer good jobs and local resources.

The week before Christmas in 2015, the plant was idled and laid off more than 2,000 people because of years of these bad trade laws and weak enforcement. This has allowed unfair competition that distorts markets and prices of steel. As the economy recovers from the 2008 financial crisis, demand for U.S.-made steel lags behind. Even with heavy investment in state-of-the-art production, U.S. plants can't compete with companies that have financial backing from governments like that of China.

There are now about 600 workers at the plant, but as one worker said to the visitors, "We're not making any steel here. We're finishing the steel made somewhere else."

The international labor leaders told similar stories of job losses due to dumped steel in Jordan, Egypt, and the Ukraine. As USW President Leo Gerard made clear, “the fight is not worker against worker, it is workers united around the world to fight against rigged rules that reward corporate greed.”

While he was a candidate and now as president, Donald Trump has claimed he would take action to defend U.S. production and workers from such unfair trade. But the administration has taken no action to enforce rules that would put the Granite City plant back online and workers back in the plant.

"We won't stop pushing this government to fix the trade laws and take action to stop illegal dumping of foreign steel until this plant and many others like it are up and running again," Gerard told the international visitors.

See more action from the AFL-CIO convention.

 

Jackie Tortora Wed, 10/25/2017 - 12:53

Tags: 2017 Convention

Imprisoned KCTU President Han Honored with Human Rights Award, Global Labor Movement Calls for His Release AFL-CIO

At the AFL-CIO Convention in St. Louis, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka honored the imprisoned president of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), Han Sang-gyun, with the George Meany-Lane Kirkland Human Rights Award. Han has been in jail since December 2015, serving a three-year sentence for defending trade union rights and fighting back against corporate corruption and the repressive government of former South Korean President Park Geun-hye.

Each year since 1980, the AFL-CIO has recognized outstanding examples of the international struggle for human rights through trade unions. Han is honored for his perseverance in the face of anti-democratic repression and leadership in a transformational period in Korean history.

Accepting on Han’s behalf, KCTU Vice President Kim Wook-dong said, "Our movement has been at the forefront of calling for democratic change in our country and challenging the corruption of CEOs and our former president."

Han has spent his life fighting for the rights of workers. During South Korea’s years of military rule in the 1980s, Han helped organize a union in his auto manufacturing plant. He went on to lead that union in an occupation of the auto plant with 1,700 other workers, demanding an end to layoff and severance concessions.

Kim continued: "Together, we need to continue the struggle. We look forward to deepening our solidarity and strategic partnership with the AFL-CIO and all its affiliates."

In honoring the powerful work of Han, the KCTU, Dennis Williams, president of the UAW, reminded the audience that: "Repression of workers and unions has no place in a democracy."

Under Han’s leadership, workers mobilized against anti-worker labor legislation and government corruption in a series of massive peaceful demonstrations. The movement forced the ouster of Park Geun-hye, former president of South Korea, and led to corruption charges for her and the heads of a number of powerful Korean conglomerates, but not before authorities arrested Han and other activists after riot police disrupted a march.

South Koreans voted in a new, more pro-labor administration under South Korean President Moon Jae-in. The labor movement is keeping the pressure up on the Moon administration to release Han and other labor activists, end regressive labor laws and hold Korea’s major corporations accountable.

Guy Ryder, director-general of the International Labor Organization, emphasized the importance of labor rights everywhere--not just in Korea--calling out the U.S. government for its failure to ratify conventions guaranteeing workers the freedom to join together in unions and negotiate with their employers.

From the United States, the United Kingdom and the Philippines, to Brazil and Egypt, and everywhere workers are under attack, Korean workers have shown that collective action can create real, far-reaching change.

In recognizing the magnitude of the work of Han and the KCTU, Trumka wondered how many in the audience would be brave and committed enough to go to jail so their brothers and sisters could have a chance for a better life. He also noted a point of hope. "The last time we gave the Meany-Kirkland award to someone who couldn’t come due to repression [Napoleon Gomez of Mexico’s Los Mineros], we won the fight. We are hopeful Han will soon be free as well."

Kenneth Quinnell Wed, 10/25/2017 - 11:48

Tags: 2017 Convention

A Workers' Bill of Rights Passed at the AFL-CIO 2017 Convention AFL-CIO

At the 2017 AFL-CIO Convention, the delegates passed a resolution calling for the creation of a Workers' Bill of Rights. Speaking in support of the resolution, President Richard L. Trumka said:

Sisters and brothers, working people need a bill of rights.

A collective bargaining agreement for America.

This will serve as a platform for our members to rally around. It will give prospective members a clear statement of our values. And it will provide political candidates and elected officials with a litmus test for our support.

We simply refuse to accept the reality of struggling to make ends meet in the richest country in the world at its richest point in history. And so we demand rights that ensure we are able, through our work, to lead better lives.

Here's what working people said should be in a Workers' Bill of Rights:

Here are the key components of the Workers' Bill of Rights:

• A Good Job with Fair Wages: Everyone who wants to work has the right to a good job where we earn a fair return on our work and receive a wage that allows us to support ourselves and our families.
• Quality Health Care: Regardless of income, job or a pre-existing condition.
• A Safe Job: Free from harassment and violence.
• Paid Time Off and Flexible Scheduling
• Freedom from Discrimination: In hiring, firing and promotions.
• Retire with Dignity: And financial security.
• Education: Public K-12, higher education and career training that advances our knowledge and skills without leaving us in debt.
• Freedom to Join Together: To negotiate with our co-workers for better wages and working conditions, whether we are in a union or not.
• A Voice in Democracy: To freely exercise our democratic voice through voting and civic participation so that we can make sure our government stands up for this Workers’ Bill of Rights.

Kenneth Quinnell Wed, 10/25/2017 - 10:57

Tags: 2017 Convention

Highlights from Day Three of the AFL-CIO 2017 Convention AFL-CIO

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka opened the third day of the AFL-CIO 2017 Convention talking about economic rules and an independent political voice:

Policy is what shapes the economy, and too many of those policies have produced a windfall for the rich and the well-connected and doomed millions to compete for the scraps left over. 

Brothers and sisters, this must end. 

Our movement is the great equalizer in an otherwise cruel economy.

We will find hope and opportunity for millions of working people, not inside the major political parties, but inside our movement and our communities.

I don't care if you're a Democrat, a Republican, or anything in between...if you do right by us, we will do right by you. 

Our support must be based on issues--not personalities and certainly not party registration. 

Liz Shuler spoke on the future of work:

Shortly we will present to the Convention a resolution for the AFL-CIO to form the Commission on the Future of Work and Unions so that this important work can begin with deep sectoral analysis and a plan of attack. 

Together we will embrace the urgency of this moment and ready the labor movement.

We will lift up the powerful principle...that new, different and innovative sectors of our economy and more middle class jobs...are fueled by real bargaining power and strong unions. 

In this challenging time, we have an opportunity to come together to shape the future of work as an unmistakable force for broadly shared prosperity!

This conversation about the future of work is happening literally all over the world including the International Labor Organization and the World Economic Forum.  

Our global partners are having the same debate and are asking the same questions. We know the decline in union density around the world is linked to growing inequality and impacts how much bargaining power we will have in the future world of work.  

We have to work together more closely than ever to ensure race and gender pay gaps in so many countries are closed; that we protect migrant workers and grow sustainable jobs in a greener economy. 

During the convention, the delegates approved the following resolutions:

• Resolution 2: An Independent Political Voice: "We must give working people greater political power by speaking with an unquestionably independent political voice, backed by a unified labor movement."
• Resolution 5: Commission on the Future of Work and Unions: "In planning for the future of work, we must rethink ways of building bargaining power and providing economic security for millions of Americans, and we must make sure that we as a movement are effectively organized and structured to get it done."
• Resolution 6: Making Health Care For All A Reality: "We should move forward toward making health care a basic right for everyone."
• Resolution 8: Working People Will Lead the Fight for A Global New Deal On Trade: "We must engage in comprehensive economic education with union members and the communities where working people live so that everyone understands the future of our great country is at stake. We must replace existing trade and investment deals with deals that prioritize economic justice and sustainable growth."
• Resolution 11: Solidarity and Democracy-Reaffirming the Labor Movement's Mission in the Face of the Threat of Hate: "We must stand up against hate and scapegoating wherever it appears in our nation. We seek a nation where we value each other and a labor movement that defends the dignity of all people."
• Resolution 12: Immigration and Citizenship: "The AFL-CIO rededicates itself to a concerted citizenship drive: Encouraging naturalization for the 9 million people who currently are eligible will provide concrete worker protections, expand and diversify the electorate, and help us build power to win the sweeping changes that working people expect and deserve. "
• Resolution 14: Voting Rights: Building An Inclusive Pro-Voter Democracy to Move A Winning Agenda for Working People: ""
• Resolution 17: Building Power for Working People In the Global Economy: "To meet the challenges of a globalized workplace, we must increase our commitment to working with the global labor movement to strengthen organizing capacity at the community, national and global levels, to develop effective, strategic campaigns that increase membership and bargaining power."
• Resolution 18: Tax and Budget Policies Should Put Working People First: "Working people and our unions will mobilize to advance a comprehensive public campaign on the ground, online and over the air to put working people first in the debate over taxes and the budget."
• Resolution 21: Holding Wall Street Accountable: "We have to fight back against Wall Street to protect our livelihoods and our democracy."
• Resolution 22: Immigration Enforcement: Building Community Trust: "The AFL-CIO shall continue to demand clear separation of immigration enforcement from local law enforcement and other functions of government because we want safe workplaces, campuses and communities. We call on our elected officials at all levels of government to reject the criminalization of immigrants and engage in policies that protect privacy and due process, and restore trust in our vital public institutions."
• Resolution 40: Rejecting the Privatization of Veterans' Health Care: "The AFL-CIO opposes the privatization of the Veterans Administration and joins AFGE in its effort to fight the privatization of the VA."
• Resolution 41: Federal and D.C. Government Workers Deserve Fair Treatment: "The AFL-CIO opposes the further enactment of laws to prevent workers’ livelihoods from being taken from them without just cause, and join AFGE in working to restore the principles of fair treatment and just cause for Veterans Administration employees."
• Resolution 42: Supporting an Apolitical, Professional, Merit-Based Civil Service: "The AFL-CIO opposes any attempt to undermine the apolitical, professional, merit-based civil service and supports fair pay, benefits and working conditions for civil servants provided by an enduring, objective civil service system."
• Resolution 46: Support Postal Financial Services and Postal Banking: "The AFL-CIO endorses and supports the “Campaign for Postal Banking,” including the ongoing efforts to compel the Postal Service to provide basic financial services such as paycheck cashing and electronic funds transfer, as a step toward establishing nonprofit, public postal banking."
• Resolution 47: Condemn Rising Fascism, Fight For Working-Class Unity: "The AFL-CIO condemns and actively opposes the hate mongering, intimidation and divisiveness of the fascist/neo-Nazi white supremacist groups and the political encouragement that they are receiving from the highest levels of government and we salute and support those counter-protesters, such as the 40,000 that took to the streets of Boston for equality and against the hate mongers, who are drawing a line in the sand."
• Resolution 48: Exploring New Directions for Labor in Electoral Politics: "In addition to the traditional supporting for electoral candidates who are friends and allies of workers, the AFL-CIO also pursues a strategy of advancing our core issues through referenda and ballot initiatives and propositions at the statewide and local level; studies the viability of independent and third-party politics; and explores other reasonable means of advancing the interests of labor in electoral politics."
• Resolution 55: Climate Change, Energy and Union Jobs: "The AFL-CIO will fight politically and legislatively to secure and maintain employment, pensions and health care for workers affected by changes in the energy market and the AFL-CIO believes that the United States Congress should enact comprehensive energy and climate legislation that creates good jobs and addresses the threat of climate change."

More about today's convention:

The Future of Work Needs Strong Unions: "We hear a great deal about the future of work. Gig economy. Deprofessionalization. Temp, part-time and on-call work. Technology. Automation. Artificial intelligence. Digitization. Deindustrialization. Unfair trade policy and offshoring. While these changes and trends take hold, we are living in an era where the rich and powerful have rigged our economy against working families through well-financed campaigns to weaken workers’ bargaining power, pass perverse 'right-to-work laws' and use the courts as a pawn to hollow out the labor movement. If the question is how we push back these ominous trends, the answer is through strong unions."

Check out the videos that were played during today's plenary session:

Some Tweets from today's sessions:

This is what international labor solidarity looks like. #aflcio17 pic.twitter.com/DUx506UCyQ

— Cathy Feingold (@AFLCIOGlobal) October 24, 2017

EVP @Tefere_Gebre "This is a country for all of us... we leave no worker behind" #1uWeRise #AFLCIO17 pic.twitter.com/Fpx2A28gK3

— NextUp (@AFLCIONextUp) October 24, 2017

EVP @Tefere_Gebre with new American Citizens and members of unions who are proud of their new country. #AFLCIO17 pic.twitter.com/syLMz4Wm79

— AFL-CIO Latino (@AFLCIOLatino) October 24, 2017

.@Tefere_Gebre we will fight for a path to citizenship. It is in the union DNA #AFLCIO17 pic.twitter.com/xtd6I4CNjm

— Cathy Feingold (@AFLCIOGlobal) October 24, 2017

The need for international solidarity is as great as it’s ever been. We must fight for social justice everywhere. #aflcio17 @RichardTrumka

— Cathy Feingold (@AFLCIOGlobal) October 21, 2017

Check out the highlights from day one and day two of the convention.

Kenneth Quinnell Tue, 10/24/2017 - 18:23

Tags: 2017 Convention

The Future of Work Needs Strong Unions AFL-CIO

We hear a great deal about the future of work. Gig economy. Deprofessionalization. Temp, part-time and on-call work. Technology. Automation. Artificial intelligence. Digitization. Deindustrialization. Unfair trade policy and offshoring. While these changes and trends take hold, we are living in an era where the rich and powerful have rigged our economy against working families through well-financed campaigns to weaken workers’ bargaining power, pass perverse “right-to-work laws” and use the courts as a pawn to hollow out the labor movement. If the question is how we push back these ominous trends, the answer is through strong unions.

But first, we have some work to do. We must look inward at our structures, our strategies, our services and our communications with working people. We must understand the most profound changes emerging in American workplaces. We must confront these seismic shifts and turn them into power and opportunity for working people. That is the message being delivered today on the floor of the national AFL-CIO convention in St. Louis where delegates are charting an aggressive course through the creation of the Commission on the Future of Work and Unions.

It is clear that many of the most powerful and best connected in our country have little trouble with what’s happening to working people. They do not agonize over the diminishing power of workers to earn a fair wage. They could care less about income inequality, the diminishment of quality jobs or the mass job losses that could follow the latest wave of technological innovation. In fact, many of them count on these things to boost their wealth.

It is up to the AFL-CIO and strong unions, convention delegates say, “to confront the economic insecurity most Americans face” – to promote and defend the “freedom of working people to make a decent living, to receive quality job and skills training, to support our families, to have work-life balance, to access important public services like good schools and quality health care, and to retire with dignity.”

The Commission’s work is critical. It will focus on re-imagining structures for giving voice to workers. Growing the labor movement. Giving millions more the power of bargaining. Tackling the dilemma of growth industries in America and across the globe growing up without unions and choosing low-road employment models. Organizing the workers on the frontline of groundbreaking companies that are making next-generation products and tackling some of the globe’s most wrenching challenges. And ensuring that innovation and new business models are not simply tools to jettison millions of good jobs but instead can fuel middle class, union job creation.

The labor movement is in its second century of navigating change in the workplace. There is nothing surprising about machines that replace people and threaten good jobs. There is nothing shocking about the emergence of new business models that take advantage of eroding standards and competitive business pressures. And there is nothing particularly novel about a CEO looking for new ways to squeeze more profits through introduction of atypical work arrangements – from part-timers to independent, on-demand labor.

There is also nothing new about the labor movement stepping up. The future of work has always been about having strong, independent unions ready to fight in the face of change and challenge. The Commission on the Future of Work and Unions gives us the process, structure and purpose we need to take on this latest wave of change.

Kenneth Quinnell Tue, 10/24/2017 - 14:45

Tags: 2017 Convention

Labor Rights Protections in Trade Deals Don’t Work

This week in St. Louis, the labor movement called for a "New Deal on Trade," which must include labor rules that protect working families, in the United States and in our trading partners. The failure of existing rules has been covered extensively here on this blog and in the news—but in case anyone needs further proof, the U.S. government recently let deadlines on cases of egregious workers' rights abuses in Colombia and Peru pass with little fanfare.

These cases underscore why workers desperately need effective protections in trade agreements, with swift and certain enforcement. Currently, governments have complete discretion over how to respond to labor rights complaints. Our current trade agreements have no deadlines, no criteria for pursuing sanctions, or even any requirement to act at all. When workers join across borders to document abuses, cases are closed without fixing the problem, or drag on for years. Workers often face serious risks to their lives and livelihoods when they come forward. The United States is sending the message that the results are not worth that risk. Unfortunately, the language recently tabled by the U.S. government for NAFTA re-negotiations does nothing to improve these long-standing shortcomings.

In Colombia, workers are being threatened, assaulted and killed with impunity. There is rampant union-busting and the majority of the workforce is stuck in abusive short-term contracts that rob workers of a fair wage and access to workers’ comp and retirement. The AFL-CIO and a coalition of Colombian unions filed a complaint in 2016. The U.S. government refused to invoke formal consultations but did recognize the serious failings in Colombia and made a series of recommendations to bring the country into compliance with labor commitments in the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement. Meanwhile, Colombia continues to violate workers' rights. Right now, the government is breaking its own laws by forcibly ending a strike at the airline Avianca and calling in scabs to replace workers demanding better treatment.

Last week, the U.S. government was supposed to assess progress toward implementing those recommendations, but no assessment has been released. In addition to the oil and sugar workers’ cases in the complaint, Colombia workers in many sectors face everyday violations of rights. Right now, the Colombian government is violating its own laws by forcing an arbitration well before the legally established deadline.

In 2015, Peruvian unions and the International Labor Rights Forum filed a case demonstrating that the Peruvian government was not enforcing and, in some cases, deliberately weakening labor protections in export sectors. As with Colombia, the U.S. government concluded that labor abuses existed, but opted not to invoke formal consultations. Instead, the U.S. government outlined a series of steps to bring Peru into compliance and committed to following up by June 2017. That deadline elapsed without compliance by the government of Peru and with no action from U.S. officials.

These missed deadlines do not make workers confident that this administration's approach to labor enforcement will be any different than past administrations.

As the AFL-CIO will highlight at its convention this week, working people need a New Deal on trade that includes binding labor commitments with swift and certain enforcement. The time for promises is over. The time for action to protect worker freedoms is now.

Kenneth Quinnell Tue, 10/24/2017 - 13:55

Tags: Peru, Colombia

Highlights from Day Two of the AFL-CIO 2017 Convention Kaveh Sardari, AFL-CIO

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka opened the second day of the AFL-CIO 2017 Convention talking about the importance of unions to democracy:

Millennials have never lived in an America where wages are growing, or worked in an economy where hard work and productivity blazed a trail into the middle class. They have never experienced an economy where more than 1 in 10 workers have the freedom to belong to a union and bargain together. The American idea that anything is possible if you work hard and play by the rules simply does not exist for many young people.

In other words, the attacks on the backbone of our nation—working people—constitutes nothing less than a clear and present danger to our democracy.

So we are going to fight back. Smartly. Strategically. As one united movement.

That is the primary focus of today’s session.

We are going to fight back against right to work, here in Missouri and across the country.

We are going to fight back against attacks on our wages, benefits and freedom to negotiate for good jobs.

And we are going to fight back against the right-wing propaganda machine that continues to slander unions and our members.

We’re going to do it by organizing.

During the convention, the delegates approved the following resolutions:

• Resolution 3: Engaging Our Members to Build Strong Unions: "Our leaders realize the best way to combat these threats is to focus on internal organizing, making sure all members and potential members see the value of remaining a part of or joining their union. If we fail to do this, our membership and communities will face ever-deepening challenges posed by income inequality, affordable access to quality health care, erosion of the middle class and the denial of basic workplace rights."
• Resolution 4: Organizing to Win Power for Working People: "AFL-CIO resolves to devise a labor movementwide strategy for making the promise of collective bargaining real for every worker."
  Resolution 13: Freedom to Spend Time with Family: "Work is a down payment on the freedom to spend time with our families. Unfortunately, that investment does not always pay off. Outdated workplace policies put working women in a particular bind, forcing them to make impossible choices between work, family and personal wellness. Women want new rules for an economy that works for all working people equally, and the freedom to build lives of value."
• Resolution 15: AFL-CIO Prioritizing Organizing and Growth of Affiliate Unions—All in the Service of Helping Working People Organize: "The work of the AFL-CIO on political campaigns, policy initiatives, legislative efforts, digital and data strategies, international alliances, health and safety, and legal defense should all be in the support of the mission of our AFL-CIO affiliated unions—to assist working people organizing for a better life. "
• Resolution 25: Criminal Justice Reform: A System of Corrections and Rehabilitation That Prioritizes Corrections and Rehabilitation: "The AFL-CIO shall actively support criminal justice reforms based upon previously passed policy positions: community policing, sentencing reform, removal of employment obstacles for the formerly incarcerated, restrictions on for-profit prisons and voting rights restoration."
• Resolution 43: I AM 2018: "The AFL-CIO supports the I AM 2018 Program to honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr."
• Resolution 44: Resolution in Support of Public Education: "The AFL-CIO joins with organizations across the country in support of public education and our continued commitment to the highest quality public education for all students."
• Resolution 45: Janus Resolution: "Therefore, be it resolved, that the entire AFL-CIO stands in solidarity with its public-sector members in this struggle; and be it further resolved, that this convention supports these unions’ ongoing efforts to provide public-service employees with a voice at work, and the freedom and power to have a better life for themselves and their communities. Be it finally resolved, that regardless of how the Supreme Court rules in Janus, these unions and their members will remain clear and powerful voices for economic justice."

Read more about today's convention:

Flint Water Crisis: You Don’t Mess Around with Kids: "Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha addressed the delegates at the AFL-CIO Convention today on the Flint water crisis. Here are some excerpts of her remarks:

"It's an honor to be here today at the AFL-CIO's 28th Constitutional Convention.

"My mom was a proud union teacher. My dad was a General Motors employee, benefiting from the contracts between the UAW and GM. My brother is a labor lawyer at a Washington, D.C., labor law firm. We are a union family."

Global Action for Local Power: "In St. Louis, representatives from more than 40 countries gathered with U.S. unions and their allies to discuss strategies to build global power for workers, from local workplaces to worldwide supply chains. They discussed how unions in local struggles made their campaigns stronger by reaching out across borders to partners and used global tools to leverage power."

USAS: Strengthening Student Power at the Bargaining Table: "United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) is the country’s largest student labor solidarity organization, with more than 150 university locals campaigning for union rights alongside campus workers, community members and garment workers producing college apparel overseas. 

"Students chanted, 'Whose university? Our university!' as they stormed their president’s office on a sunny spring day."

Check out the videos that were played during today's plenary session:

Watch @hamiltonnolan interview workers @unitehere @IBEW @AFGENational on secrets to organizing success: Part 1, Part 2.

 

Watch LIVE @hamiltonnolan interview workers @unitehere @IBEW @AFGENational on secrets to organizing success #AFLCIO… https://t.co/GvLgXOlGrZ

— AFL-CIO (@AFLCIO) October 23, 2017

Day Two of #AFLCIO17 comes to a close as union members head out for a day of action.

— AFL-CIO (@AFLCIO) October 23, 2017

 

@steelworkers host Int’l labor leaders at #AFLCIO17 https://t.co/v3pK6hFVn2

— Celeste Drake (@CDrakeFairTrade) October 23, 2017

Int’l labor leaders visit the historic Granite City locals # 1899, 50 and 68. #AFLCIO17 @steelworkers pic.twitter.com/clklTA4FkN

— Cathy Feingold (@AFLCIOGlobal) October 23, 2017

Check out more from this international exchange on AFLCIO Global Facebook page and @CDrakeFairTrade #AFLCIO17

— Cathy Feingold (@AFLCIOGlobal) October 23, 2017

Proud that delegates showed solidarity and joined @brucefranksjr and protestors outside #AFLCIO17.https://t.co/P5qvQKmeXb

— Jamilah Nasheed (@SenatorNasheed) October 23, 2017

NJ AFL-CIO presents strategies to build a winning labor candidates program at #AFLCIO17 pic.twitter.com/qxd4Gm1I4n

— New Jersey AFL-CIO (@NJAFLCIO) October 23, 2017

Check out the highlights from day one of the convention.

Kenneth Quinnell Mon, 10/23/2017 - 14:16

Tags: 2017 Convention

Flint Water Crisis: You Don’t Mess Around with Kids AFL-CIODr. Mona Hanna-Attisha addresses delegates of the 2017 AFL-CIO Convention.

Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha addressed the delegates at the AFL-CIO Convention today on the Flint water crisis. Here are some excerpts of her remarks:

It's an honor to be here today at the AFL-CIO's 28th Constitutional Convention.

My mom was a proud union teacher. My dad was a General Motors employee, benefiting from the contracts between the UAW and GM. My brother is a labor lawyer at a Washington, D.C., labor law firm. We are a union family.

And it was our larger union family that was the first and most vocal to respond to the Flint, Michigan, crisis. Plumbers, teachers, autoworkers, nurses, postal workers and so many more.

The response to the crisis by Plumbers and Pipe Fitters (UA) General President Mark McManus and UA members, by delivering water, installing filters and replacing our lead pipes, reminds the country of the generosity and spirit of unions. And the UA knows we have a lot of work ahead of us—to replace the millions of lead pipes in this country.

Some 80 years ago, Flint was the birthplace of General Motors and the embodiment of the American Dream.

It's 1936. For 44 days, autoworkers battled company thugs, faced hunger and Michigan's cold winter demanding union recognition, decent wages and working conditions. The sit-down strikes in Flint were radical acts where workers literally took over and occupied factories.

And even our Flint kids raised their voices, fighting for a chance at a better life, a better future.

It took the personal intervention of the governor of Michigan and President Franklin D. Roosevelt to end the strike. And labor won. Their union, the UAW, was recognized.

For the first time, working people had access to the American Dream. A good life. Living wages, housing, health care, great schools and even a pension. This was called the Grand Bargain. And it was a great deal.

These fought-for wages helped push up wages across the country, for decades. Union and nonunion alike.

At one point, Flint had the highest per capita income and best public health outcomes in the country. People from all over the world moved to Flint. It was hailed as one of the world's great industrial cities, a promised land for generations of workers.

But what followed in Flint was decades of crisis—disinvestment, unemployment, racism, poverty, violence, the decline of unions, population loss, crumbling schools and almost every disparity you can think of.

It was a man-made disaster—the result of bad policy choices.

Today, Flint is where our inequality problems, our injustice problems are most striking. If you're born in Flint, your life expectancy is 15 years shorter than if you'd been born in a suburb. This is no one's dream.

And as a pediatrician, I'm in the business of dreams. It's my job to make sure our kids are healthy today, but more importantly, it's my job to make sure they have the brightest future possible.

Lilly is one of these kids. She's a daughter of Flint. She is four years old.  Lilly was born into a city that was almost bankrupt. A city that was taken over by a state-appointed emergency manager. The emergency manager's job was austerity, to save money, no matter the cost.

And the emergency manager severed a half-century relationship with fresh, great lakes pre-treated water and, instead, started drawing water from the local Flint River. But the Flint River water was not treated properly.

The heroic people of Flint raised their voices, our Flint kids raised their voices, and they raised their jugs of brown water.

But this poor, predominantly minority city was ignored. For 18 months, people were told to relax, while our children, like Lilly, were drinking contaminated water.

Mind you, we were drinking contaminated water in a city that is literally in the middle of the great lakes—the largest source of fresh water in the world.

The corrosive untreated water created a perfect storm for lead to leach out of our plumbing and into the bodies of our children. Lead is a potent irreversible neurotoxin. It impacts how we think and how we act. There is no safe level.

And the lead problem doesn't only affect Flint. Flint kids, like Chicago kids, St. Louis kids, Baltimore kids and Los Angeles kids—our country's most vulnerable children—are already burdened with higher rates of lead exposure, as well as every other type of toxic stress that threatens their future.

It is an environmental and social injustice, and in Flint, that injustice only widened.

I walked out of my clinic, and I stood up with proof that the untreated Flint River water was causing lead to leach into the bodies of children. The state of Michigan tried to discredit me and my science.

But you don't mess around with kids and you don't mess around with lead.

We fought back with hard facts and evidence. And finally, the truth of our science spoke truth to power.

We are now building a model public health program to best preserve the tomorrows, the dreams, of our children. Wrapping our children with science-based interventions that promote their development—home visiting, early literacy, universal preschool, school health, nutrition access and health care.

Said best by abolitionist Frederick Douglass, "It's easier to build strong children than repair broken men." In a city known for building strong cars, we are also now building strong kids.

But to truly fix Flint, and Flints everywhere, it will take rebuilding the American Dream, from the ground up.

Because the most potent medication I can prescribe is to lift our families out of poverty.

It's not just a labor issue, nor an economic issue. It is a public health issue. It is an American Dream issue.

And in the city where the American Dream was first born, we are moving forward as we strive for equality and justice and opportunity. We are not going to be defined by this crisis; but rather by our response. A response that proactively and positively invests in our children and their parents. With good jobs for our child care workers, teachers, nurses, plumbers and builders. As a pediatrician, I know that parents with good jobs make for healthy kids.

And this is where Flint's struggle is your struggle.

Because there are Flints everywhere. Too many of our nation's children—from the rust belt, to rural America, to coal country and beyond, black, brown and white—are waking up to the same nightmare—the nightmare of poverty, injustice and lost democracy.

This is the union movement's struggle.

Our kids need you in this fight. Our kids in Flint and our kids everywhere.

Kenneth Quinnell Mon, 10/23/2017 - 12:24

Tags: 2017 Convention

Global Action for Local Power AFL-CIO

In St. Louis, representatives from more than 40 countries gathered with U.S. unions and their allies to discuss strategies to build global power for workers, from local workplaces to worldwide supply chains. They discussed how unions in local struggles made their campaigns stronger by reaching out across borders to partners and used global tools to leverage power.

Tactics varied, from international shareholder actions led by the AFT at a global education company to working with global unions like IndustriAll to UNI, to make global framework agreements that were more effective in building membership and bargaining power for U.S. workers at European companies who wanted to join Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union/UFCW (RWDSU/UFCW) and several manufacturing unions like Machinists (IAM), UAW, United Steelworkers (USW), Electrical Workers (IBEW) and Communications Workers of America (CWA).

Workers from Bangladesh and Honduras provided examples of long struggles and victories that needed both local boots on the ground and cooperative strategies with global partners to eventually win. Strategies and tactics were not limited to wages, health and safety, but also to equality in the workplace, gender equity and fundamental rights like freedom of association.

International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART) explained how Jobs to Move America employed global strategies to demand that taxpayer monies be used to buy from companies that accept and engage worker unions in U.S. operations.

As RWDSU president, Stuart Appelbaum, said at the conclusion of the discussion: "In our local New York struggle to organize retail workers at Zara, we could not have succeed without international allies like the Spanish unions and UNI global.” Likewise, Dirk Linder of IG Metall (Germany) explained how his union worked to support U.S. workers whose European employers began adopting anti-union tactics in their U.S. operations.

The bottom line is we can join, fight and win for workers, but we must work together across borders.

Kenneth Quinnell Mon, 10/23/2017 - 10:01

Tags: 2017 Convention

USAS: Strengthening Student Power at the Bargaining Table USAS

United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) is the country’s largest student labor solidarity organization, with more than 150 university locals campaigning for union rights alongside campus workers, community members and garment workers producing college apparel overseas.

Students chanted, “Whose university? Our university!” as they stormed their president’s office on a sunny spring day.

For more than a year and half, students of USAS Local 150 had organized alongside adjunct faculty fighting for a union at Fordham University in the Bronx, N.Y. What should have been a peaceful march to the president’s office ended with a violent assault on student activists by campus security. All the while, the president, vice president and dean waited behind closed doors as the chanting and tension only escalated outside. Soon after, the news of the incident spread nationally, as USAS members and alumni called more than a hundred times, demanding justice for the student activists and the freedom for adjuncts to unionize. The following week, the university president conceded, giving adjunct faculty the recognition for a union.

These victories are hard fought for. Students face serious consequences for organizing, often threatened with punitive sanctions, the removal of scholarships and more. The university is a labor market—both domestic and international, and when collectively organized, students hold the most power over the institution and the boss, being the university president. Because the university has a stake in tuition-paying students, students can take significant risks in solidarity with workers. Knowing this, USAS members have mobilized to secure major wins for workers on their campuses, in their communities and even overseas in the factories that produce collegiate apparel.

Just this year, a multitude of USAS locals organized alongside their campus workers to achieve a fair contract across many sectors: dining service workers with UNITE HERE, graduate students and adjunct faculty with UAW, AFT, SEIU and more. Harvard USAS Local 5 led a mass walkout and joined the strike of dining service workers to achieve a historic contract at the richest university on the planet. Students at Northeastern University this last week spent day and night canvassing in support of an impressive strike vote to achieve the same contract with UNITE HERE Local 26. In the words of Heidy Beirrero, a food service worker at Northeastern: “Without the students, there is no fight.”

USAS takes on the global race to the bottom by institutionalizing a core strategy against exploitation in the garment industry. In the early years of USAS, waves of student sit-ins led to the formation of university labor codes of conduct, which would then apply to the working conditions of garment workers producing collegiate apparel. When abuses are identified in factories producing for Nike, Adidas and others, USAS organizes in solidarity with garment workers to transform sweatshops into dignified union jobs in countries around the world, including Indonesia, Bangladesh, Honduras and more. Just this summer, we celebrate a victory against the world’s largest sportswear brand—Nike. Nike had decided to close its factory doors to independent inspectors, and USAS launched an international campaign in response. Because of student pressure, including sit-ins, protests and rallies—more than five major universities severed licensing contracts—costing the brand millions. We led two nationwide speaking tours with garment union leaders and coordinated more than 25 global protests against Nike, spanning five continents. Student and worker pressure resulted in a landmark factory access agreement between Nike and the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC), granting unequivocal access to Nike supplier factories around the world. USAS showed Nike that sweatshop labor is not so cheap after all.

For more than 20 years, students have led the charge alongside the workers engaged in university supply chains. But now we are taking on that same fight for ourselves—student workers.

The largest employers in 15 states across the United States are actually universities. In states like California, Iowa, New York and others, a solution to economic inequality is sitting in our classrooms. Students are no longer accepting the university strategy of pitting student and full-time workers against each other in a system where all are overworked and underpaid. Across major university systems, student workers are leading the charge for a $15 minimum wage from the boss—the university president. We have taken the fight from the classroom and into the streets. Across private and public institutions, we are winning. From New York University, to Columbia and University of Washington-Seattle, student workers organized for a living wage for ALL campus employees, including themselves. The economic impact at UW-Seattle alone raised the wages of more than 9,500 university employees. Imagine the scale of impact across state university institutions, which employ thousands on a single campus, county or even state. USAS members are forming non-majority unions across new turf—their classrooms. Collectively, USAS is demanding an end to the economic crisis of the working poor on our campuses and communities.

What does our work mean for the future of the labor movement? For two decades, USAS has served as the the strongest student to union pipeline. In solidarity with our union brothers and sisters, USAS has equipped students with union organizing skills and strategy to take on the boss—and win. Our membership reflects what is the most multiracial and multi-ethnic generation in college yet, with a majority of our membership reflecting working-class communities of black, brown, immigrant, and LGBTQ backgrounds.

One out of four USAS members go on to work for labor unions and social justice organizations post graduation. More than ever, our labor movement is in need of innovative, passionate and young leaders. USAS is bringing student power to the bargaining table, and we aren’t slowing down.

Kenneth Quinnell Mon, 10/23/2017 - 09:19

Tags: 2017 Convention

Highlights from Day One of the AFL-CIO Convention Kaveh Sardari, AFL-CIO

Today, more than 1,200 union delegates and convention attendees joined together in St. Louis for the first day of the 2017 AFL-CIO Convention. Here are some of the key moments from the AFL-CIO convention in St. Louis.

The convention delegates unanimously re-elected Richard Trumka (UMWA) as president, Liz Shuler (IBEW) as secretary-treasurer and Tefere Gebre (UFCW) as executive vice president of AFL-CIO. In addition, delegates elected 55 vice presidents, who will serve as the Executive Council for a four-year term.

In his acceptance speech, Tefere Gebre said:

Sisters and brothers, these are tough times. 

For our country. For our movement. For our communities.

Between black and white. Between immigrant and native-born. But even in the face of these challenges, I have hope. 

Hope of a brighter day. Hope of a stronger tomorrow. Hope of an America with liberty and justice for all. Sisters and brothers, this is a job for the labor movement! 

We can bring our country together! 

I pledge to do my part. To lead with my heart. To never stop fighting.

In her acceptance speech, Liz Shuler said:

How do we fight for good jobs when they are increasingly automated or distorted as the nation’s social compact is under relentless attack?

We have reached a tipping point -- just focusing on protecting what we have, is far more dangerous than taking risks.

When automation threatens millions of jobs in the not-too-distant future...we can’t afford to be cautious.

When millions of people use their power online to oust CEOs and advocate for change, we need to harness that activism and use it to build a massive movement of working people.

Together we can build the support, leadership and encouragement for more unions to get in the game, experiment and find new strategies for success.

And in his acceptance speech, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said:

I am proud to stand before you and tell you we’re going to go forward toward a better day for all working people.

Our opponents are tough. They’re well-heeled and ruthless. But their deep pockets can’t overcome our deep passion for a fairer and more just nation. I say, bring it on!

America is hungry for change. Change doesn’t just happen—we will make it happen the same way our predecessors stared down the barrel of a harsh economic and political reality—and even guns—to form the labor movement.

A new day. A better day. For you, and me. Our children and grandchildren.

We’ll join together. We’ll fight together. We’ll win together, brothers and sisters, because we do the work. This is our country, and it’s high time that we took it back!

During the convention, the delegates approved the following resolutions:

• Resolution 7: Reviving Our Communities and Putting Millions to Work Rebuilding the Country: "The labor movement expects Congress to work with the administration to achieve the promises President Trump made in 2016 for a $1 trillion infrastructure plan. Yet we know that $1 trillion is not enough to fund existing needs, much less to invest in new infrastructure. The labor movement will fight for an infrastructure program that goes beyond this down payment and comprehensively invests in our nation’s future."

• Resolution 10: Encouraging Union Members to Run for Public Office: "With an urgent need to expand these efforts, we hereby resolve to strengthen the independent political voice for labor in local government by identifying and recruiting new candidates for local office, ensuring the candidates we recruit and endorse reflect the diversity of our labor movement. These labor candidates will champion pro-labor values and campaign aggressively and in partnership with labor."

• Resolution 16: Inclusion and Equity: Ensuring Equity and Inclusion Internally and Externally: "Politicians and corporations have used race and ethnicity, cultural differences and geography to divide us for decades. It is simple: If we are fighting each other, then we are not fighting together for better jobs, better schools, more affordable health care, good housing, strong communities and a more secure retirement for all. Eradicating bigotry is not just the moral thing to do—it is the only way we will win these things for all working families and leave a better future for our children."

• Resolution 24: Fighting Together for Workers in Manufacturing: "To win these fights, raise wages and improve diversity in manufacturing, we must activate workers to fight for political demands and to organize. We must insist on inclusion and solidarity, and reject exclusion and racism. The alternative is continued decline and the growth of a political narrative on manufacturing that is contrary to our values and our interests."

• Resolution 29: Resolution Supporting 100 Percent Buy American for Defense Procurement: "To fight for American jobs and American security, we will: Vigorously support eliminating all loopholes to Buy American laws, and demand that all goods purchased for defense procurement are manufactured in the United States; Strengthen and expand measures that apply to defense procurement and support our defense industrial base, including Buy American, the Defense Production Act, the Jones Act, the Specialty Metals Clause and the Berry Amendment; and Support measures to rectify U.S. dependence on any foreign-sourced critical military supplies and systems, including government support for establishing U.S. production capacity."

• Resolution 56: The Humanitarian Crisis in Puerto Rico and the Need for Immediate Federal Action: "Therefore, Be It Resolved, that the AFL-CIO Convention commends the heroic and courageous efforts of the AFL-CIO union members and volunteers who participated in the multi-union emergency relief mission; and Resolved, that the AFL-CIO expresses solidarity with our sisters and brothers in the Puerto Rico Federation of Labor and the Virgin Islands Central Labor Council in their efforts to rebuild and protect all their residents following the disaster."

Speaking at AFL-CIO's Diversity and Inclusion Pre-Conference, Petee Talley said:

I am honored to present the report on the AFL-CIO's "All of Us or None of Us" Convention Pre-Conference, held yesterday where over four hundred participants came to learn, share and be inspired.

Earlier this morning, faith leaders representing many denominations lifted up the universal teachings of love, tolerance and freedom.

There is no one in this room that doesn't know we are in a moment of crisis-not just in our movement, but in too many of our communities.

We can either retreat to our individual corners or we can come together to develop a roadmap that leads to an Economy that Works for All of Us.

In preparing for this year's pre-conference Central Labor Council, president Pat White and State Fed president, Mike Louis, shared with us the relationships they've been cultivating with many of their community allies in Saint Louis.

They've been working together to build a better community where workers' rights are protected, where voters are free to participate in a fair democracy, and where every job is a good job.

The theme of this convention is perfectly timed. We are about joining together in union. We are about fighting together, and we are about WINNING together.  

Read more about today's convention:

We Are the American Labor Movement, and We Will Not Be Denied: "Brothers and sisters, St. Louis is a historical gateway to the American frontier, in many ways to the American Dream—many unionists trace their roots to St. Louis and the Show Me state. It will be our entrance to a new vision of prosperity, not a cookie-cutter America dream of white picket fences but a dream shaped by each of us, a dream in which no one gets left behind."

Democracy is Not Just Nice, But Necessary: "At the AFL-CIO Convention’s Global Labor Symposium, the last panel of the day proved to be the most exciting. The topic was Unions at the Forefront of Democracy. After an inspiring introduction by Victor Baez, who leads the Trade Union Confederation of the Americas, the entire symposium went outside to join a rally led by Missouri State Rep. Bruce Franks, Jr. to support Black Lives Matter."

USA Hosts Community Fishing Day, Dedicates Willmore Park Piers: "Youth, veterans and seniors got to wet their lines at a fishing event at Willmore Park in St. Louis, Missouri, today, to celebrate the completion of two fishing piers restored by union volunteers. The event was hosted by the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance (USA) in conjunction with the AFL-CIO 28th Constitutional Convention."

In Missouri, Together We Win: "We would like to welcome the AFL-CIO Convention to our beautiful city. A city built by the hands of the labor movement. The world-famous Gateway Arch was built with 100% union labor in the early 1960s. Busch Stadium, the home of the 11-time world champion St. Louis Cardinals, was built by union men and women. The convention center, where we bring union members from every corner of the United States, was built by our brothers and sisters. St. Louis was not only built by union hands, but was once the shoe capital of the world, with union-made shoes made at Brown Shoe Co. Our city also was home to McDonnell Douglas, where machinists sent men to space. Not to mention the birthplace of the Electrical Workers (IBEW) and the Bricklayers (BAC). St. Louis is a union town, which makes it the perfect place to host this year’s AFL-CIO Convention."

Running for Office: Have You Ever Thought About It?: "I have spent the better part of the past decade asking elected leaders to vote the right way. Asking them to stand with us—as union workers, retirees, women, people of color and immigrants. I have done this by being in the streets, at rallies and protests, asking them to join us on the strike lines, and lobbying them in congressional offices, in our state legislature and in city halls."

Highlights from the AFL-CIO 2017 Diversity Pre-Conference and the Global Labor Symposium: "As part of its quadrennial convention, AFL-CIO is bringing together working families and activists to discuss diversity and inclusion and a separate meeting to discuss global labor issues. Here are some key Tweets from the 'All of Us or None of Us: Join, Fight and Win Together Pre-Conference' and 'Global Labor Symposium.'"

Using Government Procurement to Bring Good Jobs Back to the U.S.: "I am pleased to have the opportunity to share SMART's work on Jobs to Move America and to talk about how we have used public procurement—or government purchasing—to re-shore good American manufacturing jobs."

Brazil Undermines Labor Laws and Puts Women Workers at Great Risk: "Brazil's comprehensive labor laws have long provided a strong institutional framework for unions to defend workers' rights. Changes pushed through Congress this July by Brazil's un-elected president and a Congress compromised by corruption charges have greatly undermined the labor laws and will drastically change the legal context in which Brazil's unions work."

These videos showed the breadth and diversity of the labor movement and were shown during the plenary session. Here's what you missed:

Kenneth Quinnell Sun, 10/22/2017 - 19:11

Tags: 2017 Convention

We Are the American Labor Movement, and We Will Not Be Denied Kaveh Sardari, AFL-CIOAFL-CIO President Richard Trumka honored at the St. Louis Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU) awards dinner before the 2017 AFL-CIO Convention.

Here are key excerpts from AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka's opening remarks from the 2017 AFL-CIO Convention:

Brothers and sisters, St. Louis is a historical gateway to the American frontier, in many ways to the American Dream—many unionists trace their roots to St. Louis and the Show Me state.

It will be our entrance to a new vision of prosperity, not a cookie-cutter America dream of white picket fences but a dream shaped by each of us, a dream in which no one gets left behind.

We gather together as America and the world hunger for solidarity. We need it like we need air. We need it like we need each other. We need it like we need love. Yet fear, hatred, combined with a rigged economy and political system, stand in our way.

People are afraid we can’t get what we need, afraid that there isn’t enough or that it can’t be done. And as scared people sometimes do, some people hate those who seem needier than they are. This isn’t new. This is perhaps the central conflict that has dogged America for generations, divided or united. It’s a lesson we must learn again and again. 

You see, we stand together, as diverse as America in every way, and united by our shared brotherhood and sisterhood in our labor movement, which is built entirely on togetherness. We do it because it’s right. We do it because it works. We do it because our humanity, our belief in leaving no one behind, and our embrace of the idea that our diversity is what makes us strong, binds us. 

It’s no coincidence that America was founded on that same idea, unity works. Unionism is American. It is as Patriotic as the flag and the statue of liberty.

So are we. We are America. We are unionism. We represent 12.5 million women and men who have good jobs, who support their union, who need a labor movement, today, that can fight, win and grow, and be positioned to grow and thrive for years to come.

That’s our job at this convention, to represent our members while positioning our unions and our movement to grow, to give millions more the freedom to come together and bargain for good jobs and fairness.

At this convention in St. Louis, we will chart the path toward a thriving movement. 

You will notice an absence here. There are almost no politicians. That’s because this is a time for conversations with each other. Us. The people in this room.

We’re going to talk about political independence, voting rights and right to work. We’re going to talk about launching a renaissance to rebuild our infrastructure and revive manufacturing. We’re going to talk about diversity and inclusion. We’re going to talk about reforming our movement to ensure it remains a force no matter what changes arise in our economy—from robots to new business models. We’re going to talk about boosting the power of collective bargaining, growing our unions in the growth industries and connecting with new workers who want to embrace a day when every worker, every single worker in America, has the freedom to negotiate with his or her employer for a better life.

These are not easy conversations. Yet we will have them, and we’ll have them here.

There’s something radical about coming together, whether we’re here in this convention hall or out in the street on a picket line or at a march. I’ve felt it hundreds of times over my lifetime, and it never gets old.

I’m talking about how getting together can change you. You find yourself talking to people you never talked to before. You feel something, more unified, and more powerful, when you come into the same space with like-minded people who share your values and your passion and vision. How strong are our shared values?

Unity is a choice. As a labor movement, every day we make that choice. Sometimes we get it wrong, and it causes deep and lasting pain. Yet sometimes we get it right, and it’s so powerful. That’s what we want to focus on for the next four days. We want to make the right choice. We want unity.

I’ll tell you a quick story.

Not far from where we meet today, in southern Illinois to the east of us, a group of striking white coal miners, hungry and afraid, fired shots into a train of black replacement workers who had no idea the situation they had been brought into.

A handful of men, including the great United Mine Worker organizer and UMWA executive council member Richard L. Davis organized across racial lines in that environment. Davis did it. He was black, and he helped form the UMWA at our founding convention in 1890. In the face of fear, death and unspeakable sorrow, he gave us a model of solidarity that we need today. 

Our shared values brought those unionists together then, and our values can and will unite us again.

Our labor movement won’t merely respond to the attacks and survive, brothers and sisters. We will thrive.

Because we’re the ones who wake America up every single morning. We tuck her into bed at night. We build the cars, planes and infrastructure, lift the loads, drive the buses and ship the goods, pour the molds, connect our cities and the world. We teach, heal and make. We package, print and bake. From the East Coast to the West Coast, north, south and everywhere in between. We make America strong. We don’t duck and run. We don’t run and hide. We are the American labor movement, and we will not be denied!

Kenneth Quinnell Sun, 10/22/2017 - 12:54

Tags: 2017 Convention