Labor & Employment Law

Kay Tillow: Civil Rights, Union Organizing Mark Decades of Activism

Posted on January 01, 2011
Kay Tillow Kay Tillow, a veteran union activist from Louisville, can inspire us all as we start the New Year. ?Set a stout heart to a steep hillside? is an old Scottish proverb that reminds me of Tillow, who’s executive director of the Nurses Professional Organization...

King Day Celebration to Focus on Making Progress in New Political Climate

Posted on December 31, 2010
//        During the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend next month, more than 400 union activists will remind the nation that the 2010 election results mean that civil and human rights activists will have to redouble their efforts to keep alive King?s dream of social and economic justice...

Republicans Take Cue from Pinocchio on Health Care Reform

Posted on December 30, 2010
Republicans have never let facts stand in the way of their attacks on health care reform. Who can forget the whopper lie that the new health care reform law would hasten your grandmother?s earthly exit? Or the one about heart patients waiting in long lines for their ration of cardiac medicine? The latest lie about the Affordable Care Act comes as conservative groups and House Republicans gear up for a campaign to repeal the law by claiming polls show the majority of  Americans back repeal...

Screen Actors to Honor Ernest Borgnine

Posted on December 30, 2010
    Ernest Borgnine          For more than six decades, Ernest Borgnine has played an astounding range of characters on television, the big screen and on stage. His roles have ranged from the jovial and lovable captain on TV?s popular series ?McHale?s Navy,? to the vicious ?Fatso? Judson, who beat Frank Sinatra?s Maggio to a pulpy death in the Oscar-winning film ?From Here to Eternity...

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Green Labor Journal Highlights Clean Energy Strategies

Posted on December 29, 2010
An ironworker installs a solar-air heating system. Clean energy is essential to the future of the planet and the Ironworkers is making sure its members can take advantage of the new opportunities for green jobs. The union has developed an installation training program for commercial and industrial applications of the solar-air heating product SolarWall®...

10 Republican Steps to Killing Economic Recovery

Posted on December 29, 2010
It?s no secret that when Republicans take over control of the U.S. House next week, they will be eager to flex their newly found muscle. But  as Isaiah Poole at Campaign for America?s Future points out, the Republican/tea party agenda will hurt your ability to get or keep a job, your neighborhood’s ability to recover from the recession and this country’s ability to regain its footing in the global economy...

Republicans Tap Leading Foe of Wall Street Reform to Oversee New Rules

Posted on December 28, 2010
Last year as the fight to rein-in Wall Street excesses?such as the mysterious and risky derivatives market?raged in Congress, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce was leading the corporate charge against reform. Big Business couldn?t kill Wall Street reform then, but with Republicans taking control of the U...

Improving Health in a Sinking Economy

Posted on December 28, 2010
       This is a cross-post from Labor Management Partnership by John August, executive director of Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions. It was one of those weeks. Many people could not ignore the economic news, despite the abstract way we talk about it that makes so many people feel powerless and intimidated...

Airline Pilot Finds Out the Benefits of Union Membership

Posted on December 27, 2010
       Jennifer Wright Dorr at Union Plus sends us the following. Driving home late one night from one of his three jobs, Jack Burnett?a member of Air Line Pilots Local 175?was looking forward to climbing into his bed for a night?s rest before the start of another long workday...

Check Out the Union Made Store for Your Post-Holiday Shopping

Posted on December 26, 2010
      Still feel the need to round out your holiday treasure trove, or plan ahead for your favorite  activists? birthdays?or just don?t want to face the after-Christmas crowds that will pack the malls this week? Have we got a deal for you! Take a look at the AFL-CIO Online Store?Union Made...

Jobs: Gifts We Really Need

Posted on December 25, 2010
       Edith Rasell, Ph.D., is minister for economic justice in the Justice and Witness Ministries of the United Church of Christ and serves as vice president of Interfaith Worker Justice. She reminds us that what millions of Americans really want for Christmas is a job...

Union Members Generously Give for the Holidays

Posted on December 24, 2010
    Missouri Painters and Allied Trades members Margo Webb, Bill Crowely, Bill Reape and Jim Wolfe ring for holiday donations.         Throughout the holiday season, union members have spread more than a sleigh full of holiday cheer, from helping Santa answer kids? letters, to food and toy drives and reuniting families...

Talking Unions this Holiday Season

Posted on December 23, 2010
The solidarity of Foxwoods employees led to a tentative first contract. At gatherings with family and friends this holiday season, you may run into those who don?t see unions as key to rebuilding America and the middle class. Be prepared with the facts...

U.S. Workers Earned Less in 2009 Than in 2008

Posted on December 23, 2010
       Looks like Santa is bringing a lump of something to working families, and it isn’t a fatter paycheck. New data show America’s workers earned less in 2009 than in 2008, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Compensation was down by 3...

Take Action NOW for 9/11 Heroes

Posted on December 21, 2010
       Senate Republicans have blocked needed health care sevices  for 9/11 first responders and recovery workers. In the words of Arizona Sen. John McCain, such legislation is just “fooling around.” That’s not the way this country should treat those who unconditionally risked their lives to save others...

Snowmageddon NNU Nurse Wins Job Back

Posted on December 21, 2010
      Geri Lee, an RN and member of National Nurses United (NNU) is one of several Washington Hospital Center Nurses who was fired for being unable to get to work after snow storms paralyzed the area with more than 40 inches of snow in February...

Report: Republican Repeal of Health Care Reform ?Dangerous?

Posted on December 21, 2010
House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee chairman Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif.) has issued a new report that outlines 24 consequences of repealing health care reform–which Republicans say is among their top agenda items next year. In Dangerous to America?s Health: The Republican Plan to Dismantle America?s Health Care, Stark writes that although the new law prohibits insurance companies from denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions and provides them other protections: Republicans want to repeal these vital consumer protections, and reinstate the power health insurers had to deny coverage to people with pre-existing conditions, charge higher premiums and exclude benefits...

Panel Rules for 35,000 NY Bus and Subway Workers?and More Bargaining News

Posted on December 21, 2010
A panel of judges unanimously ruled that the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority must pay a 3 percent raise to some 35,000 bus and subway workers, 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...

Mitch McConnell Found His Calling: Scrooge of the Year

Posted on December 20, 2010
Senate Minority Leader Mitch ?No, No, a thousand times No!? McConnell (R-Ky.) today won the role of the 2010 Scrooge of the Year. Voters selected McConnell in Jobs with Justice?s (JwJ) 11th annual contest to find the politician, CEO, corporation or politician who has done the most to ?scrooge? workers in the spirit of Ebenezer...

NJ?s Christie Used ?60 Minutes? Platform to Attack Public Workers

Posted on December 20, 2010
Last night?s ?60 Minutes? report on the budget crises and shortfalls many state and local governments face could have been written by anti-worker, anti-union New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), who used his airtime to slam public employees and their unions as the root cause for the huge budget gaps...

Nurses Celebrate Organizing Win Anniversary with New Contract

Posted on December 20, 2010
A year to the day after registered nurses at Rockville (Conn.) General Hospital voted overwhelmingly to form a union with AFT Connecticut they unanimously approved their first contract Dec. 16. Says RN Lynn DeYoung: We have worked hard to get to this point...

Billions for Millionaires, Zilch for Neediest Families

Posted on December 20, 2010
Not only did Congress give zillionaires billions of dollars in tax breaks, they also told the people at the bottom of the economic ladder, “tough luck.”  With unemployment at nearly 10 percent and 19 million Americans currently living in “deep poverty”  (below half the poverty line),  federal funds for the Temporary Assistance For Needy Families (TANF) program, the federal program that replaced welfare, have entirely dried up for the first time since 1996...

Give the Gift of the Outdoors with a Union Sportsmen?s Membership

Posted on December 19, 2010
      Union Sportsmen’s Alliance?s (USA?s) Kate Cywinski sends us this great suggestion for a last minute gift idea for the sportsman or sportswoman on your holiday list. Whether you?re ready or not, it comes every year toward the end of big game season?the holidays...

AAM Highlights Safe Toys and Made-in-America Holiday Gifts

Posted on December 18, 2010
       Do news stories of tainted toys imported from China have you thinking twice about what you’re putting under the tree? The Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM) suggests parents take a look at the wide range of toys and games offered by NMC Toys...

Republicans Shatter Hopes and Dreams of Young Immigrants, Block DREAM Act

Posted on December 18, 2010
The U.S. Senate this morning failed to break a Republican filibuster on the DREAM Act. The 55-41 vote fell five votes short of the 60 needed to break the filibuster. In a statement last night, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said the AFL-CIO ?strongly supports the DREAM Act,? and that today?s vote would ?clearly show where each senator stands on the aspirations and values of the immigrant community and all working people...

We Stand in Solidarity with Migrant Workers

Posted on December 17, 2010
December 18 is International Day of Solidarity with Migrants, and marks the date that the United Nations adopted the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of all Migrants Workers and Members of Their Families. To commemorate this day, we have compiled personal stories of immigrants at the AFL-CIO...

Report: European Multinationals Violate Labor Standards In U.S.

Posted on December 17, 2010
    Protestors march outside the German Embassy in Washington, D.C., in 2007 to demand justice for Deutsche Telekom workers.         A new report shows that many European-based multinationals follow international labor standards in their home country, but  do a 180  when they deal with workers in their U...

New Jersey Nurses Join Union

Posted on December 17, 2010
The 140 registered nurses at Memorial Hospital in Salem County, N.J., resisted intense employer opposition and voted for a voice by joining Health Care Professionals and Allied Employees (HPAE), an affiliate of AFT Healthcare. Memorial?s management stalled and dragged out the voting process for nearly a year, challenging the right of the nurses to vote, disputing their “supervisory” status, and appealing a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) decision that favored the nurses...

Political Action Pays Off for State Workers in Kentucky and Tennessee

Posted on December 17, 2010
Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear signs two negotiated union agreements covering 9,000 satte corrections and social service workers. State employees in Kentucky and Tennessee received early holiday gifts last month: historic new agreements with their employers...

Trumka: Tax Deal First of Many Battles for Workers

Posted on December 17, 2010
Congress passed an $858 billion  tax deal last night that extends vital assistance in emergency unemployment benefits (UI) for more than a year for the 1.4 million-plus long-term job seekers. But this deal comes at a terrible price because it rewards obstructionists with huge tax breaks for the nation?s richest and  throws away precious resources we could use to revive our economy, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said...

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