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Recent News

AFL-CIO Calls Trump’s Economic Speech Ironic and Deceitful

Following Donald Trump’s Michigan speech detailing his long-awaited economic plan, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka issued the following statement:

“Donald Trump has spent his life getting rich by hurting working people. Now he returns to Michigan for an economic speech almost one year to the day after he suggested automakers move production from Michigan to states with lower wages. It’s ironic, deceitful, and offensive.

“Donald Trump will say he speaks for all Americans, but his all white, all male, Wall Street banker economic team proves his intentions. Trump has chosen to get his real advice from people just like him—people who have made millions off the backs of hardworking families.

Recent News

Academy Honors AFM Musicians

JoAnn Falletta of Local 125 (Norfolk, VA), music director of the Buffalo Philharmonic and the Virginia Symphony, and legendary saxophonist Wayne Shorter will be inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in October.

Wayne_ShorterA recipient of many of the world’s top conducting awards, Falletta’s recordings have also garnered two Grammy awards and multiple Grammy nominations. She is frequently invited to guest conduct nationally and abroad, with performances in Montreal, Spain, and Finland, as well as recordings with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra and the London Symphony. 

Jazz saxophonist Shorter of Local 802 (New York) is equally known for his talent as a composer, with many of his pieces are considered jazz standards. He has played with every major jazz artist and maestro, most notably Miles Davis (along with Local 802 members Herbie Hancock and Ron Carter, and Tony Williams) in the classic Second Great Quintet. In the 1970s, he cofounded the influential jazz fusion band, Weather Report.

Recent News

Canada Post Employees March on Trudeau’s Montreal Office

Hundreds of unionized postal workers and their supports, some bused in from Ottawa and Quebec City, marched at the Montreal office of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to call attention to the lack of progress in negotiations. The Canadian Union of Postal workers is hoping to the Liberal government will pressure Canada Post to negotiate in good faith.

Though Canada Post withdrew its threat of a worker lockout in July, talks are stalled on key issues. Canada Post wants to bring the pension plan more in line with the private sector, under a defined contribution plan, which reduces company costs and provides no guaranteed set retirement.     

The union would like to change how suburban and rural carriers are paid, to bring their pay more in line with urban letter carriers. Currently, suburban carriers, who are 70% women, are paid by how many packages they deliver, while their male urban counterparts are paid by the hour and earn about 28% more.

The two sides have been negotiating since 2015.

Recent News

Led Zeppelin Will Not Recoup Legal Fees

While Led Zeppelin did win the copyright war over “Stairway to Heaven,” it will not be compensated for its $800,000 in legal fees. In the ruling Judge R. Gary Klausner found that the copyright lawsuit against the band was not frivolous and that there was no indication that the plaintiff “harboured nefarious motives.” The plaintiff, trustee of the late Randy Wolfe (aka Randy California), had claimed that Jimmy Page and Robert Plant had lifted the introduction to “Stairway to Heaven” from an obscure instrumental that Wolfe wrote.

Recent News

Halifax Chronicle Herald Striking Workers Channel Their Talents Online

The strike of journalists, photographers, and editors at the Halifax Chronicle Herald, Canada’s oldest independent newspaper, has passed the 100-day mark with no end in sight. During the strike, the newspaper has hired freelance strikebreakers whose unbylined stories have compromised the paper’s reputation with questionable reporting and a lack of editorial oversight. The paper has even resorted to presenting paid advertorials as fact-based stories.

The Halifax Chronicle workers, who first organized Halifax Typographical Union (HTU) in 1999, saw a round of layoffs and early retirements in 2009, which left 60 people to do the work of 100. Now, HTU was asking remaining workers to accept a contract that would see overtime pay start at 48 hours.

Meanwhile, the striking Halifax workers have channeled their skills onto HTU’s online news site, Local Xpress. This spring the site announced it was now a complete, online, nonprofit newspaper. Though they are not yet receiving wages beyond strike pay, the site is giving the workers an expanded online presence.

Recent News

Public Service Alliance of Canada Calls for Fix for Workers Damaged by System

Following the introduction of the Canadian federal government’s introduction of its new Phoenix payroll system in February, some federal workers have faced serious financial difficulties. The unions say temporary, term, casual and student contractors have been most affected, and in some cases, gone months without pay.

The Professional Institute of the Public Service is now approving loans to members who are having trouble paying their bills as a result of the pay transformation. The union will loan up to $5,000 free of interest. Unions and workers complain federal departments and the pay program’s call centre have been very slow to respond.

The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) reminds its members to keep all records, including receipts, copies of statements, and financial records related to any financial hardship caused by Phoenix.

Recent News

Trump Taj Mahal to Close after Labor Day

Trump Taj Mahal, the beleaguered Atlantic City, New Jersey, hotel-casino once owned by GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, will close for good after Labor Day weekend. The Taj Mahal’s owners—including billionaire investor Carl Icahn—blame striking UNITE HERE Local 54 workers for preventing a “path to profitability.” WARN Act (layoff) notices were sent to the casino’s more than 2,400 workers announcing they would lose their jobs October 10. The Taj would be the city’s fifth casino to close since 2014.

A thousand of the casino’s service workers have been on strike since July 1. According to Local 54 President Bob McDevitt, “For a few million bucks, [Icahn] could have had labor peace and a content workforce, but instead he’d rather slam the door shut on these long-term workers just to punish them and attempt to break their strike.”

In a statement, McDevitt called out Icahn for his promise to put $100 million into the Trump Taj Mahal. “He told the workers they were the most important asset of the property. Now, rather than negotiate with those same workers, he decided he would rather close down. We have not had an offer from Icahn since the evening of June 30, when workers rejected that proposal and voted to strike. It has been nothing but the usual my way or the highway from Carl Icahn. That’s not trying to reach an agreement; that’s punishing working people for standing up to injustice.

Recent News

Southwest Airlines Flight Attendants Picket Love Field

Pilots, mechanics, ramp workers, and flight attendants picketed Southwest Airline’s Dallas Love Field home base, calling for the replacement of CEO Gary Kelly and COO Mike Van de Ven, following July’s system-wide technical outage that disrupted thousands of flights and left flight attendants stranded at airports. Workers’ unions are critical of current management for not adequately investing in the company’s operations and putting the needs of shareholders ahead of employees during a time of record profitability.

“The recent technical outage was kind of the last straw for us,” says Audrey Stone, president of Transport Workers Union Local 556, which organized the picket. Several unions have been attempting to negotiate new contracts with Southwest for almost four years. Aside from financial issues, the negotiations center on quality of life issues—scheduling, length of workdays, and vacation.

The Love Field picket coincided with demonstrations at other Southwest crew bases, including airports in Houston, Chicago, Denver, Atlanta, Baltimore, Las Vegas, Oakland, and Orlando.

Recent News

Bakers End 50-Year Business Relationship with Wells Fargo

Oregon and Washington unions are under attack by the Freedom Foundation, a business-funded organization targeting government employee unions. The anti-union group has filed numerous lawsuits against unions and has campaigned vigorously to get workers to drop union membership, even producing a weekly anti-union radio show.  

One of the group’s largest funders is Vancouver-based M. J. Murdock Charitable Trust, led by three trustees, one of whom is Wells Fargo senior executive Jeffrey T. Grubb.

In a counter move, the union established Northwest Accountability Project, which has publicly criticized Murdock, a big funder of other right-wing groups such as the anti-gay-rights legal group, Alliance Defending Freedom.  

In his rebuke to Wells Fargo, Local 114 Secretary-Treasurer Terry Lansing says, “We feel strongly that Mr. Grubb’s support for these groups, through his paid role as one of three trustees, undermines many of the values we hold dear as labor activists in the Pacific Northwest.” Opened in 1963, the union’s Wells Fargo account has now been transferred to IBEW and United Workers Federal Credit Union.

Recent News

AFL-CIO Commits to Mobilizing Women in 2016

Women make up more than half of the US electorate and vote at higher rates than men. From now until November, the AFL-CIO will be talking to women voters about the issues that impact them the most to ensure that women remain at the forefront of the conversation.

Today, the AFL-CIO Executive Council reinforced its commitment to advancing the rights of all working women and men—union or non-union—with the adoption of the Economic Agenda for Working Women and Our Families. The labor movement will continue to fight for equal pay, family friendly policies, high-quality education, and the right to negotiate better working conditions.

According to the AFL-CIO, “This year we are going to elect pro-worker, pro-woman, and pro-family candidates. Hillary Clinton’s historic nomination for president shattered the glass ceiling, and we stand behind her.”

To read the full Economic Agenda for Working Women and Our Families click here: www.aflcio.org/working-women-economic-agenda