CEO Pay Gains Far Outpace Rising Wages: The Working People Weekly List
Every week, we bring you a roundup of the top news and commentary about issues and events important to working families. Here’s the latest edition of the Working People Weekly List.
America’s Safety Net for Workers Hurt by Globalization Is Falling Apart: “‘Our plant, our people, most of them have been there 25-plus years,’ said Mr. Ogg, who is the president of the local United Steelworkers union. ‘You work in the same place that long, that’s all you know.’”
Museum Movements: 2,000 Protest in Philly; Baltimore Votes to Unionize: “Museum unionization actions accelerated in mid-July in two big East Coast cities, Philadelphia and Baltimore. And both campaigns are part of AFSCME’s increasing drive to organize workers at museums and similar arts institutions from coast to coast. AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler, who addressed the convention before the rally, made that point in speaking to the crowd on the stairs. ‘When I looked across those famous Rocky Steps, I saw the whole story of where we are as a movement,’ Shuler said. ‘We are not only organizing in new places like museums and cultural institutions, we’re leveraging the power of our entire federation—our internationals, our locals, our state federations and our local labor bodies—to do it.’”
CEO Pay Gains Far Outpace Rising Wages, Says New Union Report: “Corporate leaders' raises far outpaced wage gains that failed to keep up with inflation, said the AFL-CIO, in an annual report that has become widely cited as a measure of inequality trends in the U.S. ‘It's another version of more for them and less for us,’ said AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Fred Redmond on a conference call to introduce the report.”
Lyndhurst’s Medieval Times Workers Vote to Form Chain’s First Union: “Workers at the Middle Ages reenactment venue Medieval Times voted Friday to form a union, marking one of the latest leisure and hospitality businesses to organize amid a labor push coming out of the two-year coronavirus pandemic. The royal performers at the Lyndhurst venue voted 24–11 to form a venue—a first for the dinner theater chain to secure higher wages and safer working conditions, according to a Friday announcement. Friday’s move affects actors, jesters, trumpeters, stunt performers and stable hands, but not the wait staff, according to the announcement by the Medieval Times Performers United, which will join the nationwide union the Variety Artists. ‘We will use our collective voice to bargain a strong first contract,’ reads a Friday statement from this latest chapter of the union.”
White House Fixes Union Pension Rescue Program: “Help really is coming for over 2 million union members, retirees and family members who are participants in distressed union-sponsored multiemployer pension plans. Last year, Congress included a pension rescue program when it passed the $1.9 trillion stimulus package known as the American Rescue Plan. But in July 2021, when the government announced the initial rules to implement the pension rescue program, national AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler and others complained that the way the rules were written, they’d still leave pension plans in trouble. Approximately 10.9 million union workers, retirees and spouses are owed pension benefits by about 1,400 union-sponsored multiemployer pension plans.”
Union Organizing Efforts Rise in First Half of Year: “The number of U.S. workplaces where employees have started trying to organize unions jumped this year to the highest level in half a dozen years, a rise that reflects warming public attitudes toward unions amid a strong labor market. In the first half of the year, workers at 1,411 U.S. workplaces filed petitions with the National Labor Relations Board, the first step in joining a union, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of federal data. That represents a 69% increase from the same period in 2021 and the most of any year since 2015. The union push comes as public opinion about organized labor is the most positive in decades. A Gallup poll last year found that 68% of Americans approve of unions, the highest share since 1965.”
The Perri Peltz Show: Labor and the Workforce: “‘But coming together in unions collectively, that’s where you get the power. That’s where you can make the change and actually have a contract that you negotiate, that you sit across the table from an employer and bargain your fair share of the wealth that you are helping create and to make these companies profitable.’—Liz Shuler.”
Sister Campbell, Trumka, 15 Others Receive Presidential Medal of Freedom: “Trumka was president of the AFL-CIO from 2009 until his death in August 2021. The faith of Trumka, a Catholic born to a Polish father and an Italian mother, helped shape a lifelong career in the labor movement. He led the 12.5 million-member AFL-CIO through more than a decade of difficulties, as the percentage of U.S. workers represented by unions continued a slow but steady erosion. Those who were in unions frequently faced unresponsive employers—and workers who organized for union representation faced hostility and threats of firing and job loss. ‘No one did more work for American workers than he did,’ Biden said of Trumka. ‘His work was synonymous with the word that defined his life: dignity, dignity that comes with a good-paying job that builds a good and decent middle-class life.’ Calling Trumka’s advocacy for workers ‘fierce,’ Biden said that his friend of 30 years constantly tried ‘to do what was right for working people’ by fighting for fair wages and protecting their pensions.”
Kenneth Quinnell Thu, 07/21/2022 - 11:55Service + Solidarity Spotlight: USW Secures Domestic Violence Language in New Contracts
Working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our regular Service + Solidarity Spotlight series, we'll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.
Domestic and family violence and abuse, if not addressed with support and compassion, can have serious negative impacts on survivors’ health, safety and economic security. United Steelworkers (USW) paper sector activists and leaders recently won new policies to alleviate these risks in their latest contracts with two paper companies.
They recruited the help of USW District 1 Assistant to the Director Teresa Cassady. Their goal was to provide proactive support and training within their workplace contracts that strictly maintains confidentiality for those involved.
“This language is life-changing for members going through domestic violence in that they will know their job will be there if and when they need to go to a safe place or while they are going to court,” said Cassady, a domestic violence advocate and survivor. Click here to view her story on surviving domestic abuse.
Kenneth Quinnell Thu, 07/21/2022 - 11:09Justice Delayed, but Finally Delivered
We welcome home an American patriot this week who was unjustly deported six years ago. Ivan Ocon, a brave Army veteran, won the right to return to the United States with the support of a powerful network of organizations, including the AFL-CIO; the Union Veterans Council, AFL-CIO (UVC); the Deported Veterans Support House; and Yale Law School’s Veterans Legal Services Clinic. He was sworn in as a U.S. citizen in a ceremony held in El Paso, Texas, today.
“Justice has finally been served for Ivan and his family, and we look forward to helping more of our deported veterans return home where they belong,” said AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler. “A few years ago, I was part of a labor delegation that visited the border where we met with veterans in Juarez still proudly wearing their U.S. military uniforms, despite being unable to cross into Texas. We immediately knew we had to take action. Deporting people who have risked their lives to defend our democracy is disgraceful, and unions are determined to right these wrongs.”
In 2021, the AFL-CIO Executive Council launched a campaign, under the leadership of the Union Veterans Council, to end the unjust deportation of U.S. military veterans, including hundreds who have served our nation in combat. The campaign seeks to bring our deported veterans home, reunite families, and prevent further efforts to criminalize and tear apart immigrant communities. Today, with the invaluable support of the Veterans Legal Services Clinic, we will begin to see the concrete results of our advocacy.
“This is an emotional day, and I’m so grateful to be reunited with my family. I want to thank everyone who worked on my behalf over the last six years to make this moment possible. This country is my home, and I will continue to fight to make sure that other veterans like me get the justice they deserve,” said Ocon.
“This win is just the beginning in our long fight to bring deported veterans home and ensure that they are no longer casualties of unjust immigration policies that target, rather than protect, working families. The stories of patriots like Ivan help to expose the failures of our veteran support systems and to challenge the toxic anti-immigrant narratives that are corroding our political discourse today,” said Will Attig (UA), executive director of the UVC.
As we celebrate this victory, the labor movement reaffirms its commitment to repatriate our deported patriots and prevent further miscarriage of justice. Service members must no longer be failed by the country they valiantly served, and we will do everything in our power to help them.
“All the facts surrounding Ivan Ocon’s case—including his service to our nation—make clear that he has earned a chance to rejoin his family and continue his life as a citizen of the United States. We are proud to have done our small part to help bring him home to Texas,” said Texas AFL-CIO President Rick Levy (TSEU/CWA).
"Ivan's story is a phenomenal victory, not only for himself and his family, but for the entire deported veterans movement who fought alongside him. The Immigrant Military Members and Veterans Initiative (IMMVI), which was very helpful to Ivan’s case, represents a real commitment by the Biden Administration to assist deported veterans,” said Nate Urban, an attorney with the Veterans Legal Services Clinic. “We must do more to identify veterans in need and the federal government must provide them with the legal aid they require.”
Monika Greenhow Thu, 07/07/2022 - 18:57Service + Solidarity Spotlight: Biden to Award Richard Trumka Presidential Medal of Freedom
Working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our regular Service + Solidarity Spotlight series, we'll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.
Last year, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka passed after a long and distinguished career of fighting on behalf of workers across the country and throughout the world. Those of us who worked with him knew his commitment to the labor movement and will forever be thankful for his dedication to working people.
Add President Joe Biden to the list of those honoring Trumka’s life work. This week, Biden will award Trumka with the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Trumka is one of 17 honorees who will be recognized in a ceremony later this week.
In describing the recipients of the medal, the White House wrote, “These seventeen Americans demonstrate the power of possibilities and embody the soul of the nation —hard work, perseverance, and faith. They have overcome significant obstacles to achieve impressive accomplishments in the arts and sciences, dedicated their lives to advocating for the most vulnerable among us and acted with bravery to drive change in their communities—and across the world—while blazing trails for generations to come.”
Kenneth Quinnell Wed, 07/06/2022 - 09:47Service + Solidarity Spotlight: SAG-AFTRA Calls for Passage of California’s ‘Let Artists Work’ (LAW) Act
Working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our regular Service + Solidarity Spotlight series, we'll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.
SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher applauded the California Senate Judiciary Committee for advancing the Let Artists Work (LAW) Act, vital legislation that will allow actors to work as much as they need without unreasonable restrictions.
“A huge thank you to Assemblymember Ash Kalra for introducing this progressive legislation, to the California Senate Judiciary Committee members for recognizing that actors should be able to enjoy the same freedoms as all other Californians, and to all of the union members and allies who showed their support for California’s entertainment workers,” Drescher said. “Let’s keep the momentum going."
The LAW Act would abolish unfair contract provisions that keep actors tied to employers and force them to forfeit outside employment opportunities even when they do not interfere with their original contract. The LAW Act gives artists the freedom to work as much as they need to work without being held to unreasonable restrictions.
Kenneth Quinnell Tue, 07/05/2022 - 09:38Pride Month Profiles: Sarah Crews
For Pride Month, the AFL-CIO is spotlighting various LGBTQ+ Americans who have worked and continue to work at the intersection of civil and labor rights. Today's Pride Month profile is Sarah Crews of the Ithaca Police Benevolent Association, a member organization of the Midstate Central Labor Council (CLC) and an affiliate of the New York State AFL-CIO.
Sarah Crews is a police officer employed by the City of Ithaca, New York, Police Department and a long-standing member of the Ithaca Police Benevolent Association, the labor organization that represents Ithaca police officers, sergeants and lieutenants. Crews is a staunch advocate for progressive policy change within the Ithaca Police Department and the broader law enforcement community. For several years Crews has been fighting fiercely to change discriminatory policies and procedures that do not provide LGBTQ+ police officers the same rights and protections that have traditionally only been afforded to heterosexual officers. Specifically, these policies pertain to the search, transport and jailing of prisoners. Crews has spent countless hours and a large amount of her own income as she continues to seek progressive change and fights for policies that recognize and afford equal protections to LGBTQ+ workers within her workplace and profession.
Kenneth Quinnell Thu, 06/30/2022 - 10:42Pride Month Profiles: Mika Romano
For Pride Month, the AFL-CIO is spotlighting various LGBTQ+ Americans who have worked and continue to work at the intersection of civil and labor rights. Today's Pride Month profile is Mika Romano of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW).
Mika Romano was a strong voice at the bargaining table for UFCW Local 1776’s newly-organized Mariposa food co-op. Since then, they became a shop steward at the co-op and will continue to ensure all workers' voices are heard.
Kenneth Quinnell Thu, 06/30/2022 - 10:00Tags: Pride
Service + Solidarity Spotlight: IUPAT Fights to Organize Immigrant Workers Exploited in the Underground Economy
Working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our regular Service + Solidarity Spotlight series, we'll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.
“No one is exploited worse than the immigrant worker in this country.” That’s how Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) General President Jimmy Williams Jr. leads off a new video addressing the exploitation of immigrant workers in the United States.
The video lets immigrant workers from the underground economy in the construction industry tell their own stories—stories of abuse and exploitation. Williams says that IUPAT is a union that fights for all workers, and that IUPAT won’t stop until all workers in their trades are organized.
Kenneth Quinnell Thu, 06/30/2022 - 09:42Pride Month Profiles: Rich Ognibene
For Pride Month, the AFL-CIO is spotlighting various LGBTQ+ Americans who have worked and continue to work at the intersection of civil and labor rights. Today's Pride Month profile is Rich Ognibene of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT).
Rich Ognibene is a 2015 National Teacher Hall of Fame inductee, the 2008 New York State Teacher of the Year and a longtime LGBTQ+ activist. Besides teaching chemistry and physics, Ognibene was also active with student organizations.
Kenneth Quinnell Wed, 06/29/2022 - 10:00Tags: Pride
Service + Solidarity Spotlight: Newly Launched FairHotel Helps You Choose Union Hotels
Working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our regular Service + Solidarity Spotlight series, we'll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.
UNITE HERE today launched a redesigned FairHotel, a site that helps travelers pick hotels that support working people. FairHotel will make it easier for the many people who are fired up about all the new organizing happening to book a union hotel.
If used before booking, the new site helps guests understand the status of labor disputes at properties, avoid disruptions to their trips or meetings, and use their consumer power to support good hospitality jobs that pay enough to raise a family.
Show your union pride and check out FairHotel today.
Kenneth Quinnell Wed, 06/29/2022 - 09:30Pride Month Profiles: Dawn Lepard
For Pride Month, the AFL-CIO is spotlighting various LGBTQ+ Americans who have worked and continue to work at the intersection of civil and labor rights. Today's Pride Month profile is Dawn Lepard of the Electrical Workers (IBEW).
Dawn Lepard is union-strong and proud. She has been a member of Electrical Workers Local 86 since 2008 and a Pride at Work member for more than 10 years.
Kenneth Quinnell Tue, 06/28/2022 - 13:58Tags: Pride
UAW President Ray Curry: ‘Fight Inflation by Stopping Price Gouging, Not Blaming Wages’
Every time we go to the gas station or supermarket, we are reminded that prices are on the rise as inflation takes a bigger chunk out of our paychecks. The inflation rates are the highest they have been since the early 1980s.
Inflation is not only a problem in our country as prices are rising all around the globe. The U.S. inflation rate has almost quadrupled over the past two years, but in many countries, it has risen even faster. Per Pew Research Center reports, “annual U.S. inflation in the first quarter of this year averaged just below 8.0%—the 13th-highest rate among the 44 countries examined.” As comparison, Canada has recorded their highest inflation rates ever.
Yet pointing this out doesn’t ease the real pain felt by members. We need relief. To get meaningful relief, policymakers should focus immediately on what can be done to ease inflation without harming working people. They need to study how we got here to fix the problem.
The COVID-19 pandemic has added to inflationary pressures as shipping and production have been interrupted by lockdowns and people being unable to work. Over reliance on supply chains based overseas made the problem worse as evidenced by the ongoing chip shortage that has hurt production of cars, trucks, agricultural equipment and part suppliers. The war in Ukraine adds pressure as we push for polices that shut down Russia’s ability to sell gas so that it is unable to fund its illegal war on the people of Ukraine.
Yet anti-worker politicians and pundits ignore these factors and often try to pin the problem on workers by arguing that higher wages are to blame. As workers fight to organize or strike for better wages, many argue that they are the cause of inflation. It’s flatly not true and offensive to workers who are fighting for dignity and their fair share of the profits they deliver to their employers. The truth is that wages only account for 8% of the price increases, which means that wage increases account for less than half a percent of inflation. If rising wages had been the only contributing factor, inflation would have been between 2.5% and 4.5% in March (depending on supply chain constraints).
Nonetheless anti-worker messengers continue to argue the opposite: that inflation is caused by increasing worker wages and that we must raise interest rates to slow the economic growth. What they ignore is that higher interest rates make it harder for regular people to buy cars and homes. Higher interest rates lead to fewer jobs. Higher interest rates are designed to slow the economy for those who can least absorb the additional costs: the working and middle classes.
You can see this in the numbers. The U.S. Commerce Department data shows that corporate profits rose 35% last year. As gas prices soared, Chevron’s 240% profit spike was part of “the best two quarters the company has ever seen,” prompting a dividend increase and assurances it would keep production low to maintain high prices. The rich got richer as those who experience sticker shock at the pumps pay the bill.
The surge in pandemic profits has made a bad problem worse. That is why the UAW is in support of greater oversight and fighting price gouging. Windfall profits should be taxed and industry consolidation that enables price gouging should be reined in. We also need the Senate to pass legislation to lower the cost of prescription drugs, health care and childcare. We need balanced solutions that do not make it even harder to make ends meet. The problems of inflation are real, but they should not be used as a pretext to make the lives of working families harder.
Policymakers must listen to the voices of those affected the most by inflation: working women and men who keep this country going. Our union will continue to advocate and lobby for meaningful solutions that ensure economic fairness and justice for working families.
This post originally appeared at UAW.
Kenneth Quinnell Tue, 06/28/2022 - 10:56Pride Month Profiles: Ash Tomaszewski
For Pride Month, the AFL-CIO is spotlighting various LGBTQ+ Americans who have worked and continue to work at the intersection of civil and labor rights. Today's Pride Month profile is Ash Tomaszewski of the United Autoworkers (UAW).
Ash Tomaszewski is a queer, nonbinary law student and union organizer, dedicated to labor policy reform and contributing to individual workers' rights.
Kenneth Quinnell Tue, 06/28/2022 - 10:00Tags: Pride
Service + Solidarity Spotlight: Chicago Federation of Labor Denounces Community Violence
Working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our regular Service + Solidarity Spotlight series, we'll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.
On Friday, the Chicago Federation of Labor’s (CFL’s) Civil Rights and Human Relations Committee stood with union members and community partners to denounce the violence that has been terrorizing the community. According to reports, the city has experienced hundreds of shootings and homicides since the start of the year.
“Peace starts with all of us working for justice. The CFL has been doing just that,” the labor council said in a public statement. The CFL pointed to its work connecting people in underserved communities with good union jobs and to its partnership with United Way to lift up families and neighborhoods that have been impacted by violence.
Kenneth Quinnell Tue, 06/28/2022 - 09:49Pride Month Profiles: Houston Brass-Playing Couple Share a Life in Music
For Pride Month, the AFL-CIO is spotlighting various LGBTQ+ Americans who have worked and continue to work at the intersection of civil and labor rights.
When two of Houston’s busiest brass players, who also happen to be a couple, want to share some downtime together, it can sometimes require comparing calendars. It’s a scenario that will be familiar to just about every musician couple anywhere.
Nancy Goodearl, a horn player with the Houston Symphony since 1981, won the job after studying at the Eastman School of Music and Northwestern University. Goodearl’s wife, Theresa Hanebury, has played trumpet with the Houston Ballet for nearly the same number of years. After two decades together, they’ve settled on a routine that mostly works, despite the fact that their schedules are quite different.
Goodearl and Hanebury are members of Local 65-699 (Houston). Both grew up in New England, an hour away from each other—but they never met until landing in Houston. “I can’t even remember the exact time we met,” Hanebury said. “We of course knew of each other since we work in two different orchestras a block apart. But it wasn’t until the late ’90s that we actually got to know each other.”
Early Start
Both started music in elementary school. Goodearl ended up on her instrument as many horn players do, wanting to join her high school band because her older siblings played instruments and it looked like fun—and then the band director handed her a horn. “It stuck,” she said. “From that point, there was never really any question what I wanted to do with my life.”
Hanebury began on the trumpet in third grade. “They showed us all the band instruments, and I got really excited about one in particular,” she remembered. “My mom asked me to show it to her, so I ran to the encyclopedia and looked up the clarinet. After some confusion, I realized that wasn’t it,” she laughed. “So we looked up the cornet. That was it.”
Goodearl always knew she wanted to play in an orchestra and pursued performance degrees. Hanebury, perhaps a bit more pragmatic, got a degree in music education at the University of Hartford. “I figured I could always play the trumpet with a teaching degree,” she said. “The opposite is not always true.”
While Hanebury was playing in the Sarasota Music Festival, a colleague told her about a wealth of teaching opportunities in Houston. “Three weeks later, I moved there and had 50 students in my first year.” She also won several auditions for trumpet positions in the city and has been with the Houston Ballet since 1983.
Outside Activities
While their orchestra jobs keep them quite busy, both Goodearl and Hanebury stay active in other areas, together and independent of one another, which they say helps to balance their personal lives on and off the job. Outside of music, Goodearl is a skilled potter, with her own pottery wheel and kiln. “I also do some crafty things,” Hanebury added, not wanting to be left out. “We take any time we can find to go fishing and kayaking.”
Teaching has always figured prominently, and both understand the importance of music education and passing along what they’ve learned. Goodearl served on the faculty of the University of Houston for 20 years, while Hanebury has taken a break from teaching as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and health issues. “I had a bone marrow transplant last August, so I’m just waiting for things to be a bit safer before I go back to working with students,” she explained.
Goodearl and Hanebury each perform extensively in small ensembles across the Houston area and also play with the Monarch Brass Ensemble, an all-female brass group made up of women from across the country and affiliated with the International Women’s Brass Conference (IWBC). Both women have served on the IWBC board. “An IWBC conference is actually where we got to know each other,” Hanebury added.
Since the ballet is not a full-time salaried job, Hanebury fills her time with freelancing. For the past decade, she has also been the Houston Ballet’s music librarian and pianist manager. “I wear many hats, but one of the things that keeps me busy these days is contracting,” she said. “I hire musicians for everything from local shows to churches and schools.”
Union Rules
The contracting has given the couple a greater understanding of how the union works and how it benefits its members. “I’ve been a member of the Houston local since I started working here, and as such, a beneficiary of the Houston Symphony’s contracts,” Goodearl said. “I’m grateful to have this as a direct result of being a union member.” One such benefit is the Music Performance Trust Fund’s Music Family Scholarship, which their daughter has received for two years.
Hanebury’s union dealings are a bit more hands-on. “I’ve learned a lot about writing union contracts during my years of hiring,” she said. “So much so that people now call me to learn how to do it, and I’ve taught a lot of the other contractors in town.”
Hanebury added that she knows everyone at the Houston local and on the local board, and has served on negotiating committees at the Houston Ballet, which has given her a deeper understanding of how to work with a lawyer—another benefit of being a union member.
Asked if they have opportunities to work together, Hanebury laughed heartily. “Our schedules are just so different, so there’s not much overlap. But I do try to hire Nancy when I contract. Not because we’re married, but because, you know, she’s pretty good.”
Family Life
The couple got married in 2015 in Massachusetts, “just a few months after same-sex marriage became legal,” Goodearl said. Even back then, finding time together was a challenge. “We would try to do a date night with rules that stipulated we couldn’t talk about work.” As if life hadn’t been busy enough, they adopted two children. “After that, date night morphed into no talking about work or the kids.”
Angela, now 21, was adopted from China and is now in college. John, 18, is Guatemalan and about to graduate from high school. “I always wanted kids but never thought it was possible,” Goodearl said. “But we met some gay couples that had successfully adopted children from China, and they helped us realize it was possible.”
“Having kids definitely changed some of the goals we may have had, professionally,” added Hanebury, who says she was still taking auditions at the time. But she is quick to add that she wouldn’t change a thing. “After the second kid goes off to college, everything will change again. It’s going to be a big adjustment.”
Both concede, however, that finding time to spend together might become just a bit easier. “For starters, we hope to play together more after the kids are gone,” Hanebury continued. “It was tough when they were little, coordinating babysitters. The kids got used to us not being home. Holidays were especially challenging, because we typically play at church services, so they grew up having holidays with friends. They understood and got used to quick Christmas presents in the morning, and then we went off to work!”
Pride—and Acceptance
Goodearl and Hanebury are gratified to share their story during Pride Month. “We feel that Pride is about acceptance,” Goodearl said. “We know we have an unusual family, but we are, in the end, a family, with all that includes. We appreciate the freedom to be who we are.”
She added that both children included the family’s story of diversity in their college entrance essays. “They’ve had to go through some challenges in their lives. When they were younger, for instance, we couldn’t both drop them off at school. But they embraced the diversity, and they understand that it made them stronger.”
“I swear we’re always working when the Houston Pride Parade is going on,” Hanebury laughed. “But we are who we are, we live our lives and we have our family. We’re very grateful.” She said they have obviously met people over the years who are against who they are and how they live their lives. “For the most part, though, anyone we’ve encountered has been wonderful and accepting. And Pride Month is, in the end, a celebration of acceptance and of honoring those who came before us and made it easier for us all.
This post originally appeared at International Musician, the official journal of the American Federation of Musicians.
Kenneth Quinnell Mon, 06/27/2022 - 12:47Pride Month Profiles: Sandie Carner-Shafran
For Pride Month, the AFL-CIO is spotlighting various LGBTQ+ Americans who have worked and continue to work at the intersection of civil and labor rights. Today's Pride Month profile is Sandie Carner-Shafran of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT).
Sandie Carner-Shafran is a member of the New York State United Teachers' (NYSUT) board of directors and NYSUT's LGBTQ+ Committee. She is a trainer for a NYSUT Education and Learning Trust workshop on the harassment of LGBTQ+ people. The program allowed Carner-Shafran to provide free books for the educators to take back to their classrooms. When she served as president of the Saratoga Labor Council, they offered implicit bias training to council members and are updating the pronouns in the organization's constitution and by-laws.
Kenneth Quinnell Mon, 06/27/2022 - 10:23Tags: Pride
Service + Solidarity Spotlight: IBEW Members Build One of the World’s Largest Solar-Storage Projects
Working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our regular Service + Solidarity Spotlight series, we'll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.
The world’s largest expected combined solar and energy storage project is under construction by members of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 428 in Southern California. There are 425 IBEW members on the job, installing more than 110,000 lithium-ion battery modules, which is enough to displace more than 307,000 tons of carbon dioxide annually. “Those batteries are a different beast,” Local 428 Business Manager Brian Holt said. “They are big, heavy and require extensive knowledge and safety procedures.” When finished, the power station will produce enough energy to power 260,000 homes. Click here to read more about how this clean energy project is producing good union jobs.
Kenneth Quinnell Mon, 06/27/2022 - 09:30Pride Month Profiles: Anthony McKeever
For Pride Month, the AFL-CIO is spotlighting various LGBTQ+ Americans who have worked and continue to work at the intersection of civil and labor rights. Today's Pride Month profile is Anthony McKeever of UNITE HERE.
Anthony McKeever has been a union shop steward for more than 15 years and has helped to negotiate every contract at his workplace during that time. He believes that when workers unite as a team, it makes them stronger and helps them win better pay and benefits. McKeever's union pride enables him to open up and be himself without fear of harassment or bullying.
Kenneth Quinnell Fri, 06/24/2022 - 10:10Tags: Pride
Pride Month Profiles: Salvador Perez
For Pride Month, the AFL-CIO is spotlighting various LGBTQ+ Americans who have worked and continue to work at the intersection of civil and labor rights. Today's Pride Month profile is Salvador Perez of the Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE).
Salvador Perez is an accomplished costume designer working in the entertainment industry who earned an Emmy nomination for his work on "The Mindy Project." He currently serves as Costume Designers Guild/Theatrical Stage Employees Local 892’s president, where he continues his long-standing advocacy for costume design and unionism.
Kenneth Quinnell Thu, 06/23/2022 - 10:10Tags: Pride
President Roach Tells Senate Committee Social Security Must Be Expanded
Robert Roach Jr., president of the Alliance for Retired Americans (ARA), testified on June 9 at a Senate Budget Committee (SBC) hearing focused on expanding Social Security for all beneficiaries. Entitled “Saving Social Security: Expanding Benefits and Demanding the Wealthy Pay Their Fair Share or Cutting Benefits and Increasing Retirement Anxiety,” the hearing laid out the case for increasing benefits as millions of seniors struggle to make ends meet. Watch the video of the hearing.
The testimony came on the same day that Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vermont), the SBC chair and other Democratic legislators put forward new Social Security legislation that would increase benefits by $200 per month and extend the system’s solvency past the year 2096 by ensuring that the wealthiest Americans pay their fair share of Social Security taxes.
Sen. Sanders’ legislation, the Social Security Expansion Act, which the ARA strongly supports and has formally endorsed, addresses the challenges seniors face by:
- Expanding Social Security benefits across the board for current and new beneficiaries by $200 per month, or $2,400 per year
- Increasing cost-of-living adjustments by adopting the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly
- Updating the special minimum benefit for Social Security recipients by making it easier to qualify, which will help low-income workers stay out of poverty
“We need improvements because older Americans today are hurting,” said President Roach at the hearing. “And I have seen examples for myself firsthand. I have observed on many occasions seniors at the supermarket checkout who had to put food back because the grocery bill was more than they had. Seniors are having to make decisions between food and medicine on a daily basis.”
In addition, the ARA has endorsed Rep. John Larson’s (Conn.) legislation in the House of Representatives: H.R. 5723, Social Security 2100: A Sacred Trust. It also strengthens Social Security and repeals the Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset, both of which unfairly claw back the Social Security benefits of workers or their spouses or survivors if they worked for a period of time in jobs not covered by Social Security.
Kenneth Quinnell Wed, 06/22/2022 - 13:53
