Labor & Employment Law

CWA Members Help Tucson Shooting Probe

Posted on February 02, 2011
Harvey Camacho and Randy Clarke, members of Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 7026 in Tucson, Ariz., have won praise for their role in helping secure evidence crucial to the investigation of the Jan. 8 shooting rampage that killed six people and wounded 13 others, including Rep...

?America Can?t Wait for New Jobs?

Posted on February 02, 2011
Creating new and good jobs is the most urgent task facing our nation?s leaders and Americans who are unemployed or whose wages are stagnating cannot afford to wait any longer. Until we fix the jobs crisis, economic growth and fiscal stability will be hard to achieve, AFL-CIO Policy Director Damon Silvers told a congressional hearing today...

Senate?s McConnell Puts Health Care Repeal Before Jobs Bill

Posted on February 02, 2011
      Today, the U.S. Senate has the opportunity to tackle job creation head on when it takes up the reauthorization bill for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The bill includes $8 billion for airport construction and repair and some 280,000 jobs are at stake...

Workers Picket Madison Hotel After Owners Refuse to Honor Contract

Posted on February 02, 2011
       Radio and TV host Tavis Smiley, who had a reservation at the Madison Hotel in Washington, D.C., yesterday, showed support for the workers by not crossing their picket line and checking in at another pro-union hotel. As AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker said: “Tavis Smiley wasn?t smiling...

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Blue Shield Delays Rate Hike After Nurses? Protest

Posted on February 02, 2011
      How?s this for a demonstration of cause and effect? Cause?Yesterday, some 200 activists, led by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United (CNA/NNU) rallied outside Blue Shield?s San Francisco corporate headquarters to protest the health insurance giant?s premium hikes of as much as 59 percent for California consumers...

Student Labor Action Project (SLAP) Connects College Campuses to Union Movement

Posted on February 01, 2011
       AFL-CIO Media Outreach fellow Jennifer Angarita joins Chris Hicks, Student Labor Action Project (SLAP) coordinator, to discuss the parallels between campus and community organizing. Founded in 1999 as a joint initiative between Jobs with Justice and the United States Student Association, the Student Labor Action Project (SLAP) engages student activists with economic justice campaigns in their communities and campuses...

NFL Players: Injuries Reach New Highs in 2010

Posted on February 01, 2011
Almost two-thirds of NFL players suffered injuries during the 2010 season, a significant jump from the previous eight years, according to the NFL Players Association (NFLPA). In its first annual report on the ?Dangers of the Game of Football,? the NFLPA found the average number of player injuries jumped from 3...

Leo, Portman Shout Out to Unions at SAG Awards

Posted on February 01, 2011
      Boxing and ballet may not have a lot in common, except for the hard work to get to the top. But two award-winning actors in the films spotlighting the worlds of prize fighting and dancing share one thing in common: their support of unions...

Report Shows Health Care Law Means Big Savings for Families

Posted on February 01, 2011
      By 2014, the new health care reform law will mean thousands of dollars in health insurance premium savings and out-of-pocket health care costs for working families and small businesses, finds a new report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)...

Rival Coal Firm Reaches Deal to Buy Massey Energy

Posted on February 01, 2011
Alpha Natural Resources has reached an $8.5 billion deal to buy Massey Energy Corp., owner of the Upper Big Branch (W.Va.) coal mine where 29 miners were killed in an April explosion, and owner of other mines with long histories of safety and health violations...

What Retirees Should Watch for in 2011

Posted on February 01, 2011
       Barbara J. Easterling is president of the Alliance for Retired Americans. She was previously the secretary-treasurer of the Communications Workers of America. For more information, visit www.retiredamericans.org or call 1-800-333-7212...

CBS Refuses to Air NFL Players Ad

Posted on January 31, 2011
  Are you kidding, CBS? The network has rejected the “Let Us Play” ad (above) from the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) that was to air Feb. 5 on the CBS College Sports Network during the NFLPA high school all-stars game...

Daily Beast Employees Join Newspaper Guild

Posted on January 31, 2011
Workers at the Daily Beast electronic news service will have the same benefits and pay as some of their new co-workers at Newsweek after the two companies merged last month. Under a framework agreement with the workers’ new union, The Newspaper Guild/CWA (TNG/CWA), non-supervisory editorial employees who produce the Daily Beast will be covered by the same union contract that now covers many of Newsweek?s journalists...

Flight Attendants Ratify Contract with Miami Air?and More Bargaining News

Posted on January 31, 2011
Flight attendants ratify a four-year pact with Miami Air, and more news from the “Bargaining Digest Weekly.” The AFL-CIO Collective Bargaining Department delivers daily, bargaining-related news and research resources to more than 1,300 subscribers...

California Insurers Reject More Than Quarter of All Claims

Posted on January 31, 2011
A new study by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United (CNA/NNU) finds that California?s largest private insurance companies continue to deny more than one-fourth of all claims and two firms rejected about 40 percent of submitted claims...

Colin Firth, Natalie Portman, Melissa Leo, Christian Bale Get SAG Top Awards

Posted on January 31, 2011
  The movies ?The King?s Speech? and ?The Fighter? and the HBO series ?Boardwalk Empire? were the big winners at last night?s Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards, the nation?s largest and only nationally televised all-union awards show. Their fellow actors awarded Colin Firth, Natalie Portman, Melissa Leo and Christian Bale top honors for performances in motion pictures and Alec Baldwin, Steve Buscemi, Claire Danes, Julianna Margulies, Al Pacino and Betty White for performances in television...

AFL-CIO, Global Unions Applaud New Egyptian Labor Movement

Posted on January 31, 2011
    Egyptian citizens protest in the streets.          Representatives of the Egyptian union movement announced they are forming a new labor federation, the Federation of Egyptian Trade Unions, which will represent workers in more than a dozen industries and  enterprises...

1,000 Help Unmask Right-Wing Billionaires? Secret Strategy Session

Posted on January 31, 2011
      More than 1,000 activists, including members of the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United (CNA/NNU), AFSCME, Health Care for America Now (HCAN) and Common Cause, helped shine a big spotlight on a closed-door gathering of right-wing billionaires and extreme conservative leaders and politicians in Palm Springs, Calif...

Writers Guild to Honor Gilroy, Pryor and Television Archives

Posted on January 30, 2011
    Frank Gilroy         Frank Gilroy has gained success as a writer in television, film, theater and print. He wrote for almost every show in TV?s so-called Golden Age, including ?Playhouse 90,? ?Omnibus? and ?Studio One.? His plays include the Pulitzer Prize-winner ?The Subject Was Roses? and the award-winning ?Who?ll Save The Plowboy?? An independent moviemaker, he wrote and directed ?Desperate Characters,? which won a prize at the Berlin Film Festival...

New Social Security Calculator Helps Set Retirement Income Goals

Posted on January 29, 2011
       In his State of the Union address, President Obama insisted on the need to protect Social Security and ensure that future generations can depend on it, and he urged bipartisanship in strengthening Social Security, ?without slashing benefits? or privatization...

Lawmakers Seek Assessment of Impact of Avondale Closing

Posted on January 28, 2011
Northrop Grumman is preparing to spin off its shipbuilding business next month, putting 4,000 skilled workers at the Avondale Shipyard in Louisiana out of work. The layoffs would devastate the Gulf region?s economy and the communities dependent on the shipbuilding industry...

Flash! Social Security?s Not Doomed

Posted on January 28, 2011
Here?s some news that gets buried in the normal the-sky-is-falling Social Security coverage. Although the weak economy is having a short-term impact on Social Security?s finances, Social Security is still projected to run an $868 billion surplus over the next decade, according to a new report from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO)...

USW Files Complaint Over Union Official?s Arrest in Mexico

Posted on January 28, 2011
    Members of the USW and supporters protested the Mexican government?s repression of workers? rights during a May 2010 visit to the nation?s capitol by Mexico?s president.         The United Steelworkers (USW) is filing a formal protest with the U...

Lion Television Writers, Producers Join Writers Guild, East

Posted on January 28, 2011
Some 100 writers, producers, associate producers and researchers at Lion Television voted this week to join the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE). This is the third victory for WGAE in its recently launched effort to help workers in nonfiction TV programming form a union...

Unmasking the Billionaire Caucus?Watch Live

Posted on January 27, 2011
A handful of people with very deep pockets operate behind closed doors to attack the gains made by working people and advance their own selfish interests at the expense of our nation’s democracy. The Koch brothers are among them. This weekend, as billionaires David and Charles Koch convene a meeting of 200 massively wealthy business and conservative activists for the eighth straight year, the nonprofit watchdog group Common Cause is  holding a series of counter events...

Memphis Air Traffic Controllers Honored

Posted on January 27, 2011
      The 71 National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) members who staff Memphis International Airport?s tower and Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) have been honored for their outstanding work at the uniquely busy, 24/7 facility that along with normal commercial traffic, serves as the hub for the worldwide cargo operation of FedEx...

Green Labor Journal Highlights Clean Coal Opportunities

Posted on January 26, 2011
       Generating clean energy by developing ways to make electricity using clean coal technologies could create more than 7 million new green jobs over the next 15 years, according to several studies. The latest online edition of Green Labor Journal reviews several studies that show the potential for clean coal to create jobs and lower carbon emissions...

Union Movement, Business Back Obama?s Call for Infrastructure Rebuild and Other SOTU Reactions

Posted on January 26, 2011
  Today, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and Chamber of Commerce President Thomas Donohue issued a rare joint statement supporting “Obama’s call to create jobs and grow the U.S. economy through investment in our nation’s infrastructure...

OSHA Backtracks on Proposed Workplace Injury Rule

Posted on January 26, 2011
It seems simple enough. Employers already keep a record for workplace injuries and illnesses?why not add a column to the report for musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs)?ergonomic injuries? The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) would provide the form and employers would simply put a check mark in the right place to identify which injuries are MSDs...

Obama?s Wisconsin Visit: Good Time to Push for Industrial Revitalization

Posted on January 26, 2011
This is a cross-post from the Alliance for American Manufacturing. President Obama travels to Manitowoc, Wis., this afternoon. In Wisconsin, he’ll no doubt encounter a lot of struggling paper mills (along with workers who’ve been laid off from those mills)...

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