Labor & Employment Law

IBEW Installs Solar Panels on Illinois Governor?s Mansion

Posted on November 05, 2010
    Rich Marsaglia, solar project manager, left, and journeymen inside wiremen Doug Harvey and Albert Waldon stand behind the solar array they installed on the roof of the Illinois governor?s mansion.         When Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn decided to put solar panels on the roof of the governor?s mansion in Springfield, the state turned to the Electrical Workers (IBEW) to handle the job...

Hedge Funders, Wealthy Sent Secret Campaign Cash to Derail Wall Street Regs

Posted on November 05, 2010
We?re starting to find out where some of the tens of million of dollars in secret corporate campaign cash came from and what the donors were after . No surprise?Wall Street hedge fund managers, who teamed up with extremist groups run by Karl Rove and others, according a new report from NBC News...

Murray Retains Senate Seat, Quinn Keeps Illinois Governorship

Posted on November 05, 2010
Two close major races were finally decided last night. In Washington state, Sen. Patty Murray (D) was declared the winner over Wall Street water boy Dino Rossi (R) and Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn (D) is the winner over anti-union Bill Brady. In both races, union support was the key factor in providing the margin of victory...

Federal Reserve Should Bail Out Main Street, Not Wall Street

Posted on November 05, 2010
The Federal Reserve?s announcement this week that it will purchase $600 billion of Treasury debt, also known as ?treasuries,? to help stimulate the economy should be a wake-up call to lawmakers that government needs to spend more, not less, to create jobs, economists say...

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Piedmont Workers Buck Anti-Union Attacks, Vote CWA by 2 to 1

Posted on November 04, 2010
Despite a massive and vicious anti-union campaign by the notorious, hired-gun union-busting firm, Labor Relations Institute, (LRI) the 3,000 fleet and passenger service agents at Piedmont Airlines voted by a two-to-one (1,170-638) margin to join Communications Workers of America (CWA)...

MSHA Seeks Closure of Massey Kentucky Mine for Pattern of Safety Violations

Posted on November 04, 2010
A Massey Energy Co.-owned mine in Kentucky, which has amassed nearly 2,000 safety violations since June 2008, is ?one accident away from tragedy? and needs to be shut down, say federal mine safety officials. No coal mine has ever been shut down for a pattern of safety violations, but the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) asked a federal court yesterday to shut down a mine?Freedom Energy?s Mine No...

House Republican Agenda: Make Big Banks More Profitable

Posted on November 04, 2010
    Payback time. Wall Street wants House Republicans to remember who brought them to Congress.          When the Republicans take over the U.S. House in January, one of the first things on their agenda is payback to those who helped get them in office: Wall Street...

Union Leaders Say New Congress Must Follow Through on Jobs, Economy Promises

Posted on November 04, 2010
      Voters gave Republicans control of the U.S. House of Representatives following Tuesday?s election, says AFSCME President Gerald McEntee, because they say ?much more must be done to put America back to work.? In a Huffington Post column, McEntee writes that with a majority in the House, Republicans must demonstrate that their priority is working families, rather than corporate interests and the very rich...

On Eve of G-20 Summit, Global Unions Call On Korea to Honor Workers? Rights

Posted on November 04, 2010
When the leaders of the world?s top 20 economies, also known as the G-20, meet Nov. 11?12 in Seoul, Korea, the global union movement will shine a light on the Korean government?s repeated violations of workers? rights. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka today joined the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) in calling on the Korean government to honor its international commitments and respect workers’ rights...

Corporate-Backed, Anti-Union ?Secret Ballot? Measures Pass in Four States

Posted on November 04, 2010
      While most voters were focused on the economy in Tuesday?s elections, a corporate front group slipped in constitutional amendments in four states?Arizona, South Carolina, South Dakota and Utah?in an orchestrated attempt to pre-empt the proposed federal Employee Free Choice Act...

Trumka: Be Proud of Union GOTV Effort, Get Ready Again to Fight for Jobs

Posted on November 03, 2010
       In a post-election video message, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka tells union members he is proud of what we had been able to do?and ?our fight for working families and for jobs begins again now.” “We?ve got an economy to rebuild...

Election About Jobs, Not Republican Mandate

Posted on November 03, 2010
      Last night?s election, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka told reporters today in a conference call, ?was about jobs, plain and simple. It was a mandate to fix the economy and create jobs. But here?s what it wasn?t?: It wasn?t a mandate for the policies most Republicans campaigned on...

Flight Attendants to Challenge Delta Vote

Posted on November 03, 2010
The Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA-CWA) plan to challenge the vote announced today in which flight attendants at Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines rejected union representation by a margin of fewer than 300 votes out of a total of more than 18,000 ballots cast...

Trumka: Tuesday?s Vote Was About Jobs, Not Republican Agenda

Posted on November 03, 2010
      America’s voters are angry about the economy and the lack of jobs, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said this morning during a discussion at the National Journal?s ?The Day After? conference. And if Republicans don?t listen to what the voters were saying, they will be thrown out in 2012...

Working Families Vote: Election 2010 Thread

Posted on November 02, 2010
    Pennsylvania union members getting out the vote.             AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and Mark Brault of USW Local 2-213 leaflet a plant in Madison, Wis.         11: 38: Results for the Nevada U.S. Senate race between Sen...

Vote!

Posted on November 02, 2010
       It?s crunch time. The polls are open around the country and today?s the day to cast your vote for candidates who will fight for working families?not candidates funded by the corporations that flooded this election year with record amounts of secret contributions...

Sky Chefs Workers Rally for Better Contract

Posted on November 02, 2010
    Sky Chefs workers want action on a fair contract that addresses concessions they made four years ago.         Four years ago, employees at LSG Sky Chefs, the world?s largest airline catering company, took wage cuts and agreed to pay more for health care coverage to help the company survive...

Take the Pledge to Vote!

Posted on November 01, 2010
      The polls open in less than 24 hours in an election that will either keep the nation on a path of economic recovery or turn it back to the same Republicans who drove the economy into the deep ditch that we are starting to climb out of. The election comes down to the untold tens of millions of dollars in secret corporate campaign contributions versus our boots on the ground and our butts at the ballot box...

?Our Fiscal Security? Offers Solutions, Not Slogans to Revive Economy

Posted on November 01, 2010
A project launched last week, Our Fiscal Security, offers a new framework for thinking about the federal budget that balances fiscal responsibility with priorities designed to strengthen the American economy. The project, a partnership of the Century Foundation, Demos and the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), points out that while a growing middle class is the foundation of any growing and healthy economy, the U...

Nearly One-Third of Black High School Grads Can?t Find a Job

Posted on November 01, 2010
    In this recession, almost one-third of young African American workers with a high school diploma are unemployed.         In this recession, a high school diploma or even a college degree is no guarantee that you will have a job or a decent income...

N.Y. Times Profiles New Jersey State AFL-CIO Candidate School

Posted on November 01, 2010
      Last week, The New York Times discovered what we in the union movement have known for a long time (click here and here): The New Jersey State AFL-CIO?s  Labor Candidate School?with more than 500 union members elected to office since 1997?is a unique and resounding success...

Layoff Plans Begin for 2,000 N.Y. State Employees?and More Bargaining News

Posted on November 01, 2010
New York Gov. David Paterson began implementing his plan to lay off 2,000 state 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...

Majority of Public Supports Health Care Reform

Posted on November 01, 2010
      Whatever happens  in tomorrow?s elections, one’s thing’s already clear: Americans support the recently passed health care reform.  Despite Fox News’ rhetoric, there is no mandate to repeal health care reform. If anything, there is a public mood for more real reform...

Check Laws To Learn If You Can Take Time Off to Vote

Posted on October 31, 2010
Each American citizen 18 years old or over has a right to vote and most?not all?have the right to take time off to vote. Thirty-three states have laws on the books requiring employers to give workers time off to cast a vote. The District of Columbia and 17 states do not...

Workers Getting Out the Vote as Election Clock Ticks

Posted on October 30, 2010
There are only three days to go before an election fueled by the largest-ever recorded amount of secret corporate campaign contributions along with tens of millions of dollars from wealthy extremists an anti-worker Republican candidates. But for workers and their unions, it’s always been about people power, says Gerry Kelly, business manager of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 22 in Omaha, Neb...

Find Your Polling Place for Election Day

Posted on October 29, 2010
      On Nov. 2, there is one thing that tops all our ?To-Do? lists: Voting. But sometimes polling places are moved, or maybe you?re new to the neighborhood. Don?t worry, we?ve got you covered. Click here and all you?ll have to do is enter your home address and Zip code and the Google Election Center will look up your polling place, give your directions and provide a list of candidates among other information...

Massey Officials Plead Fifth; CEO Is In Denial

Posted on October 29, 2010
At least six officials at Massey Energy pleaded the Fifth?asserting their constitutional right against self-incrimination?and declined to testify in a joint state and federal investigation into the deadly Upper Big Branch mine explosion in April, according to a report on NPR...

AFL-CIO-Mexico Action Plan Focuses on Economy, Labor Rights

Posted on October 29, 2010
    Members of the United Steelworkers and supporters protested then- Mexican President Felipe Calderon?s visit to Washington, D.C., in May 2010.         The AFL-CIO and the major independent Mexican labor federation, Unión Nacional de Trabajadores (UNT), have agreed on a joint action plan to bring  economic and social development to both countries...

Check Out the Latest Green Labor Journal

Posted on October 29, 2010
      The economy of the future is green and  the global race to create new green jobs is fast. In the new online edition of the Green Labor Journal, Rachel Emas, a graduate student at Florida International University, profiles the eight U.S...

On Nov. 2, Workers Will Be Ready to Vote. Will You?

Posted on October 29, 2010
      Two great get-out-the-vote videos out today, one by Transport Workers (TWU) and one by Boilermakers. TWU highlights how the hands of working men and women built America ?on assembly lines, on factory floors, in airplanes and on railroads...

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