Labor & Employment Law

Washington Hospital Center Nurses To Strike March 4

Posted on February 23, 2011
      Registered nurses at Washington Hospital Center, the largest hospital in the nation?s capital, announced plans for a one-day walkout on Friday, March 4.  The strike announcement follows three days of negotiations that the nurses say failed to resolve their primary concerns regarding serious patient safety problems and nursing standards at the hospital...

Walker?s ?Fireside Chat? Same Old Smoke

Posted on February 22, 2011
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) certainly isn?t listening to his Republican colleagues in other governors? mansions who say that public workers like nurses, snowplow drivers, teachers and others should be able to bargain for good middle class jobs.  In a so-called “fireside chat” tonight, Walker didn?t change his stance one bit...

Solidarity for Workers? Struggles Grows

Posted on February 22, 2011
      From California to North Carolina to Poland, workers, community and faith activists are standing in solidarity with workers in Wisconsin, Ohio and around the nation in their fights against a coordinated attack on middle-class jobs. In a letter of support to Wisconsin workers, Piotr Duda, President of the Polish Trade Union Solidarnosc, writes: Dear Friends, please rest assured that our thoughts are with you during your protest, as we truly do hope that your just fight for decent working and living conditions, for the workers? rights will be successful Your victory is our victory as well...

Republican Governors Desert Wis.?s Scott Walker

Posted on February 22, 2011
Memo to Gov. Scott Walker: Your allies are deserting you. They know something you don’t seem to: the public supports the freedom to bargain for good middle-class jobs. Republican Florida Gov. Rick Scott: My belief is as long as people know what they’re doing, collective bargaining is fine...

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Indiana Gov. Daniels (R) Urges GOP Lawmakers to Drop ?Right to Work? Bill

Posted on February 22, 2011
Here?s some great and startling news out of Indiana. The Indianapolis Star reports that Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) says that Republican legislators should drop the so-called ?right to work? bill so lawmakers can get on with important state business. Earlier today, Democratic members of the House headed out of state in order to block action on the bill...

Locked Out of Capitol, Ohio Workers Sing ?God Bless America?

Posted on February 22, 2011
  Ohio workers today, locked out of their own statehouse today as they tried to rally for the freedom of public employees to bargain for middle-class jobs, stood outside the capitol building singing, “God Bless America”  (video). This from the ground in Columbus: 

Poll: Public Opposes Taking Away Freedom to Bargain

Posted on February 22, 2011
A new poll shows the public strongly opposes laws taking away the collective bargaining power of public employees to address budgets. Some 61 percent of the public say they would oppose a law in their state similar to one being considered in Wisconsin, compared with 33 percent who would favor such a law, according to poll out today by USA Today/Gallup...

Wisconsin Fight Goes to Core of ?Who We Are as a People and Country?

Posted on February 22, 2011
Michael Peck, a board member of the Apollo Alliance, writes that the Wisconsin workers who have been in the streets and the Capitol Rotunda in Madison for more than a week: are fighting for more than balancing a budget and even more than the right to bargain collectively for our own welfare...

Locked Out of Capitol, Ohio Workers Rally Outside

Posted on February 22, 2011
      Progress Ohio has posted some two dozen photos from today?s action in Columbus that has left thousands of Ohio workers in the cold after they were denied entrance to the state Capitol building to protest Gov. John Kasich?s (R) legislation (S...

Wisconsin Worker Website Blocked in Capitol Building

Posted on February 22, 2011
CNN.com just confirmed that access to a pro-worker website, www.DefendWisconsin.org, was blocked inside the state Capitol today and yesterday. Graeme Zielinski, press secretary for the Wisconsin Democratic Party, said: In a direct assault on the First Amendment, Scott Walker’s administration is blocking access in the Wisconsin Capitol to opposition websites...

Dropkick Murphys? New Song Backs Wisconsin Workers

Posted on February 22, 2011
Progressive, working-class Irish rockers, the Dropkick Murphys, have joined the fight for middle-class jobs and workers? rights in Wisconsin, with an early release of their song ?Take ‘Em Down? from their upcoming album ?Going Out in Style.? They also have made the song available to be played at solidarity rallies across the country...

Live Coverage from Columbus

Posted on February 22, 2011
Click here for a live feed of today?s demonstration in Columbus against Ohio Gov. John Kasich?s (R) assault on middle-class jobs. Kasich and Republican state lawmakers are pushing S.B. 5, which eliminates workers? rights to bargaining for decent jobs...

Ohio Closing Doors on Rally Participants

Posted on February 22, 2011
   Crowds are gathering at the Capitol in Columbus, Ohio, to protest legislation that would take away the freedom of working people to bargain for good middle-class jobs. Watch the live stream here. Here’s a live report from the Capitol: The Statehouse is closing doors to rally-goers (but letting the media in) due to it being a ?safety hazard...

Walker?s One Month Legacy: Job Killer

Posted on February 22, 2011
Most governors taking office hope to create jobs for their constituents. Not Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R). Before his massive attack on the middle-class jobs of Wisconsin public employees, he rejected federal funding for the creation of high-speed rail that would have added more than 14,000 family-supporting jobs to his state...

Indiana Lawmakers Leave Capitol to Block ?Right to Work? for Less

Posted on February 22, 2011
With Indiana House of Representatives set to vote on “right to work” for less legislation, House Democrats say they are in caucus somewhere outside the chamber, preventing a quorum and delaying a vote on the bill. The Indianapolis Star reports the lawmakers may be headed out of state in a move patterned after Wisconsin state senators who left that state to block a bill that eliminates the rights of public service workers to bargain for middle-class jobs...

With Rights Battle Brewing in Maine, Rep. Russell Stands with Wisconsin Workers

Posted on February 22, 2011
After a two-day drive, Maine state Rep. Diane Russell (D) and a group of activists are in Madison this week, supporting Wisconsin?s public service workers. They are supplying food, water, coffee and moral support to the nurses, EMTs and teachers  now in their second week of protest against Gov...

Pittsburgh Council Members in Solidarity with Wisconsin Workers

Posted on February 21, 2011
More shows of solidarity with Wisconsin workers. Tomorrow, Feb. 22, Pittsburgh Councilmember Natalia Rudiak will preview a proclamation co-sponsored by all nine City Councilmembers expressing support and respect for public workers prior to the Pittsburgh City Council?s regular weekly meeting...

Join with Wisconsin Workers at a Rally in Your State

Posted on February 21, 2011
Jobs with Justice has list of rallies and events in support of Wisconsin workers–click here. Wisconsin working families vow they will not give up–neither should we. Click here and find out how you can show your solidarity. (And if there are no rallies in your area, send the workers a pizza...

Special Delivery to Wis. Worker from Cairo: Pizza

Posted on February 21, 2011
Wisconsin working families, rallying to save middle-class jobs in the capitol in Madison, have received hundreds of free pizzas from supporters literally around the world. The latest pizza is from a man in Egypt. So far, people from 12 countries and 38 states have called to order pizza for those at the state capitol–from as far  away as Turkey, Korea, Finland, China, and Australia...

Indiana House Panel Passes Right to Work for Less

Posted on February 21, 2011
This in from the Indiana State AFL-CIO: While thousands of Indiana workers rallied, the falsely-labeled ?right to work? legislation passed the House Employment, Labor and Pensions Committee on a party-line vote. In the process, the Chairman cut off more than 30 Hoosiers who had asked to testify, silencing their voice in this debate! Working men and women from across the state will continue to gather at the Capitol in Indianapolis...

Tom Morello Headlines Concert for Wisconsin Workers Tonight

Posted on February 21, 2011
Lots of people have been sending pizza delveries to the workers rallying at the Madison Capitol over the past few days.  Tonight at 7 p.m. CT, they will get a feast for their ears when Tom Morello, Wayne Kramer, the Street Dogs and other musicians will join teachers, students, community members, religious leaders to rally against Gov...

Assault in Wisconsin Isn?t About the Deficit, It?s About Politics

Posted on February 21, 2011
It’s no coincidence that public-sector collective bargaining arose in tandem with the civil rights movement between 1955 and 1965, writes Joseph McCartin, associate professor of history and director of the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor at Georgetown University...

Live Video Feed from Madison Rotunda NOW

Posted on February 21, 2011
Two members of the Electrical Workers (IBEW) are streaming today’s rally in Madison on their own dime. Workers are singing the Star Spangled Banner now. Huge cheers at “Land of the Free.” Click here to watch. H/t to Rick Smith at the Rick Smith Show.

Indiana Hearings Attacking Middle Class Happening Now

Posted on February 21, 2011
Here are the latest updates from Indiana, where thousands of working families are in Capitol as hearings on right to work for less legislation are happening now.  Here are a few updates on Indiana from Twitter. Follow the action in Indiana on Twitter with the hashtag #INAFLCIO and in the states on with the hashtags: #statesSOS, #notmyWI, #WIunion, #StandupOH #INAFLCIO INAFLCIO    Crowd estimates at the Capitol are between 6 and 7,000 “and growing...

What Happens in Wisconsin Will Affect Workers Across the Nation

Posted on February 21, 2011
 John August, executive director of Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions and native Wisconsinite, sends us this on events there. The coalition is an alliance of 29 local unions representing 90,000 health care workers. I am a proud Wisconsinite?not just because of the recent victory of the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl 45, but also because of the state?s great progressive traditions...

The World Watches and Supports WI Workers

Posted on February 21, 2011
The world is watching Wisconsin. Because it’s clear if Gov. Scott Walker and Republicans in the state legislature succeed in their attacks against the middle class there, it can happen across the United States. The International Trade Union Confederation is outraged over the assault by Walker and other Republican Party state governors on the  good, middle class living standards...

Maine State Rep.: ?WI War is About Every Worker?

Posted on February 21, 2011
Wow. Amazing support for Wisconsin workers under siege. This in from Maine State Rep. Diane Russell. I grew up quite poor in Western Maine. The only reason I have the chance to serve the people of this great state is because of public financing. The great thing about public financing is that I am entirely beholden to the best interests of my people, not to the Corporatocracy that has taken over our democratic Republic...

Indiana Working Families Jam the State Capitol

Posted on February 21, 2011
National focus is on events in Wisconsin, but workers in states around the nation are jamming state capitols where Republican governors and lawmakers are pushing legislation that would destroy the middle class. Workers right now in Indiana are packing into the state capitol to protest Republican-led moves to impose right-to-work for less legislation and other bills up for debate this week that would eliminate collective bargaining rights for teachers and public employees, aim to limit wages, and seek to make it harder for workers to designate a union as their representative...

Support WI Workers: Join Rallies in Your Area

Posted on February 21, 2011
Want to show your solidarity with Wiscsonsin working families but don’t live in the state? Click here for a list of rallies and contact info.

Message from WI Frontlines: Show Your Solidarity With Us!

Posted on February 21, 2011
Sally Davidow, Postal Workers  senior communications manager sends, us this first-hand account of events in Wisconsin she received from a 29-year old teaching assistant at the University of Wisconsin.  This bill is not about the economy. It is about politics...

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