Labor & Employment Law

The Triangle Fire: Still Burning Before Our Nation

Posted on March 25, 2011
    The Triangle factory after the March 25, 1911, fire.          We hope you will share this special AFL-CIO Now feature on the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist fire with your friends, family and co-workers as a way to recognize America?s workers, past and present, who have sacrificed and continue to sacrifice so much to improve the lives of all workers...

President Calls on Americans to Honor Triangle Fire Anniversary

Posted on March 25, 2011
To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist fire March 25, President Obama issued a proclamation in honor of this day and is calling on ”all Americans to participate in ceremonies and activities in memory of those who have been killed due to unsafe working conditions...

On Strike? Republicans Don?t Want Your Family to Eat

Posted on March 24, 2011
How low can Republicans go in their attacks on working families and their unions? Think Progress reports today that “a group of House Republicans is launching a new stealth attack against union workers” by prohibiting the family of a worker on strike from receiving food stamps...

The Triangle Fire: Still Burning Before Our Nation

Posted on March 24, 2011
    The Triangle factory after the March 25, 1911, fire.          We hope you will share this special AFL-CIO Now feature on the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist fire with your friends, family and co-workers as a way to recognize America?s workers, past and present, who have sacrificed and continue to sacrifice so much to improve the lives of all workers...

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Wisconsin Court Upholds Milwaukee Paid Sick Leave Law

Posted on March 24, 2011
More than two years after Milwaukee voters overwhelmingly passed a paid sick leave city ordinance, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals today upheld the law and lifted an injunction an employer?s group was granted in June 2009. But Republican state legislators are backing a bill that would prevent Wisconsin cities and towns from establishing their own paid sick leave laws...

Walkers? Attacks Strengthen River Falls Faculty Resolve to Vote For Union

Posted on March 24, 2011
Galvanized by Gov. Scott Walker?s move to eliminate their freedom to collectively bargain for good middle-class jobs, faculty at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls voted 148-16 today in favor of union representation through AFT-Wisconsin, an affiliate of AFT...

Walker Slams Door on Young Workers, Ends Apprentice Jobs

Posted on March 24, 2011
Rust never sleeps and apparently neither does Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) when it comes to attacking middle-class jobs. This week, he made another sneak attack. Matt Hrodey at Milwaukee Magazine?s NewsBuzz site reports Walker quietly issued an executive order this month suspending rules that require contractors on state projects to employ workers under the state apprenticeship program...

California Town Slashes Public Services, Destroys Jobs

Posted on March 24, 2011
In another massive slashing of services and destruction of public service jobs, the California town of Costa Mesa is laying off nearly half its public workforce and outsourcing some key city services. Late last week, 200 of the city?s 450 workers were told that they would lose their jobs in September, according to the New York Times...

Hoosier Workers Keep Raising Their Voices Against Anti-Worker Bills

Posted on March 24, 2011
OPEIU members join some of the Indiana legislators in Urbana, Ill., in front of OPEIU?s ?This Is What Democracy Looks Like? bus.   Working people across Indiana continue to raise their voices against anti-worker legislation in the General Assembly...

Nominate a Video for LabourStart?s Labor Video Competition

Posted on March 24, 2011
  Stuart Elliott, senior correspondent for LabourStart, the global online labor news service, reminds us it?s time to nominate videos for the Labor Video of the Year competition. For the second consecutive year, LabourStart is sponsoring the Labor Video of the Year competition, open to trade unionists and filmmakers from around the world...

It?s Undeniable: U.S. Chamber and Climate Deniers Share Warm Relationship

Posted on March 24, 2011
We all know that the Chamber of Commerce comes down on the wrong side of just about every issue that matters for working families. But here?s a staggering statistic to show you just how far out of the mainstream the Chamber swims. In the 2010 midterm elections, the Chamber spent $32 million to elect their anointed candidates and 94 percent of that money went to candidates who are ?climate deniers,? the people who think global warming, greenhouse gases and climate change are a left-wing plot...

Audit Shows NFL Owners Using Misleading Revenue Figures

Posted on March 24, 2011
It turns out that the National Football League has been using misleading and incomplete financial information to convince team owners that NFL players are getting paid too much. Throughout contract talks with the NFL Players Association (NFLPA), the league and the owners kept saying the players received 70 percent of new revenues in salaries...

Support Workers? Mobilization with We Are One Pins and Buttons

Posted on March 24, 2011
  You can show your support for working families and help mobilize against the attacks on collective bargaining rights and middle-class jobs now under way in more than a dozen states with a We Are One lapel pin or button. The proceeds from these union-made-in-America pins will help support the workers? mobilization efforts...

Corporations Demand Tax Holiday for Wealthy That Didn?t Work Before

Posted on March 24, 2011
  The nation?s richest are trying to sell us on yet another shell game to keep from paying their fair share of taxes. Their lobbyists are pushing a so-called repatriation tax holiday?a huge cut in the tax rate on money companies are holding outside of the country...

House Republicans, Delta Move to Overturn Fair Election Rules for Air and Rail Workers

Posted on March 24, 2011
The battle over workers? rights moves from state capitols to Capitol Hill next week when House Republicans will try to repeal rules that guarantee fair and democratic elections for workers who want to form unions. The House is set vote on the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reauthorization bill with a provision that would repeal last year?s new rule by the National Mediation Board (NMB) that says air and rail elections should be decided just like any other election?including congressional elections?by a majority of votes cast...

Guild Asks Huffington for Dialogue on Future of Journalism

Posted on March 24, 2011
Earlier this month, The Newspaper Guild-CWA (TNG-CWA), called on the unpaid writers at The Huffington Post to withhold their work in support of a strike launched by Visual Art Source in response to the company?s practice of using unpaid labor. In an open letter today to publisher Arianna Huffington, TNG President Bernie Lunzer wrote that when Huffington Post spokesman Mario Ruiz was asked about TNG?s action, he said, ?We stand squarely behind The Newspaper Guild?s mission of ensuring that media professionals receive fair compensation...

Los Angeles Workers Set to Rally for Communities, Jobs

Posted on March 24, 2011
       On Saturday, March 26, tens of thousands of working people, students, community activists and religious and political leaders will join in a massive march and rally in Los Angeles to protect workers’ rights and protect the middle class...

Indiana Prosecutor Resigns After Suggesting Fake Attack on Walker, Blame Protesters

Posted on March 24, 2011
In an e-mail praising Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker?s (R) attack on worker rights and middle-class jobs, an Indiana deputy prosecutor suggested a fake attack on Walker to discredit the workers and their unions protesting the governor?s actions. Yesterday, just before the story was scheduled for publication, Carlos Lam, a Johnson County deputy prosecutor, submitted his resignation, reports the Daily Journal in Franklin, Ind...

President Calls on Americans to Honor Triangle Fire Anniversary

Posted on March 24, 2011
To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist fire March 25, President Obama issued a proclamation in honor of this day and is calling on ”all Americans to participate in ceremonies and activities in memory of those who have been killed due to unsafe working conditions...

Here?s What Happens When Manufacturing Disappears

Posted on March 23, 2011
       Steve Cappozola of the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM), reports on what happens when manufacturing jobs disappear. This is a cross post from the AAM website. Last week, Manufacture This published a chart showing how lost manufacturing jobs correspond with lower state revenues and higher state budget deficits...

Tell Your Senators to Support the Social Security Protection Amendment

Posted on March 23, 2011
   Next Wednesday, March 29, you can take action to strengthen Social Security by calling your  U.S. Senators and urging them to support the Social Security Protection Amendment. The amendment is part of a small business bill (S. 493) and it’s language is straightforward...

Global Unions Condemn Proposed Anti-Worker Laws in Mexico

Posted on March 23, 2011
    U. S. union members march in front of the Mexican Embassy demanding rights for workers in Mexico.          Unions across the United States and around the world are calling on the Mexican government to reject proposed draconian changes to Mexico?s labor laws that if enacted, would lower wages, destroy job security, increase poverty and violate workers’ and human rights...

Report: Want Better Schools? Put a Higher Value on Teachers

Posted on March 23, 2011
      Governors in cash strapped states and so-called education reformers who scapegoat teachers for schools? failures are doing the exact opposite of what needs to be done to make our schools better, according to a new report. In countries with successful public education systems, teaching is held in much higher esteem as a profession than in the United States...

Former Massey ?Foreman? Charged in Upper Big Branch Probe

Posted on March 23, 2011
A former employee at Massey Energy Co.’s Upper Big Branch mine who conducted vital safety inspections was charged yesterday with using a false foreman?s license and lying to federal investigators who are probing the April 5, 2010, explosion that killed 29 coal miners...

Maine Republican Governor Erasing History of Working People

Posted on March 23, 2011
    One of 11 panels depicting working people?s history that Maine?s Gov. LePage wants removed.               Once again, Republicans are trying to erase the history of America’s working people. In Maine, Republican Gov. Paul LePage has ordered the removal of a 36-foot mural depciting the state’s labor history from the Department of Labor...

Happy Birthday Health Care Reform?Don?t Let Republicans Spoil the Party

Posted on March 23, 2011
Because of the Affordable Care Act, insurance companies can no longer deny coverage to children with pre-existing conditions.    Today is the first anniversary of the landmark Affordable Care Act that has already helped tens of millions of Americans acquire or receive better health care and that has reined in health insurance companies? most abusive practices...

Kasich?s Popularity Sinks in Ohio Poll

Posted on March 23, 2011
Voters across the Midwest increasingly oppose efforts by Republican governors to eliminate state workers? collective bargaining rights. In a Quinnipiac University poll released today, 46 percent of Ohio voters disapprove of the job Gov. John Kasich is doing...

If Election Was Held Today, Michigan?s Snyder Would Lose

Posted on March 22, 2011
If Michigan voters could do it over, they would pick Democrat Virg Bernero as governor over Rick Snyder by a slim margin. That?s a major drop in popularity for Snyder who won by an 18 percent margin in November. And it?s all due to his anti-worker policies...

Walker Now After Senior, Low-Income Health Care

Posted on March 22, 2011
After lining up Wisconsin?s public employees and middle class jobs in his sights, Gov. Scott Walker (R) is shifting his aim to seniors and low-income families. His proposed budget would make huge cuts in the state?s Senior Care prescription drug program, the BadgerCare health plan, and the Family Care?s support services for the elderly, as well as tax relief for low-income workers and property owners...

AFL-CIO Hosts Free Screening of ?Triangle Fire? Film

Posted on March 22, 2011
       Working people around the country are commemorating the 100th anniversary of the tragic Triangle Shirtwaist fire, which killed 146 workers, mostly young immigrant women, many of whom jumped to their deaths from the 10-story factory to escape the fire because they were locked inside...

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