Every week, we bring you a roundup of the top news and commentary about issues and events important to working families. Here’s this week’s Working People Weekly List.
Post-Election Survey: Democrats Can Still Reach Trump Voters: "As Donald Trump’s popularity with white working-class voters became vexingly apparent a year ago, the pro-labor organization Working America sent its canvassers out to have 'front-porch conversations' with more than a thousand voters in Ohio and Pennsylvania. The AFL-CIO–affiliated group found trouble: Twenty-five percent of the Democrats they contacted said they would be voting for Trump. His appeal wasn’t about specific issues, Working America Director Karen Nussbaum told me last year. 'They have a strong feeling that government isn’t working for them, and they want political leadership that helps them. If we move them to clarify who’s really to blame and who really will help, we can help make sense of a frightening situation.'"
Veterans Call On Iowa Lawmakers for Benefits, Bargaining Rights: "It’s important to preserve those jobs, labor union representatives said at a Statehouse news conference Wednesday afternoon. 'It’s only through having access to a good job—a career—that a veteran is enabled to live out the American dream we fought to protect and defend,' said Will Fischer, a Marine Corps veteran and executive director of the AFL-CIO Veterans Council."
AFL-CIO Calls Members to Action: "On a national conference call with regional, state and local union leaders and activists, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka laid out the federation’s plan of defense against the coming attacks that will be led by Trump and his toxic Cabinet picks. Trumka highlighted three areas to be focused on immediately: health care; Trump’s Cabinet nominees; and state legislative and political battles."
AFL-CIO Among 80 National Groups Opposing HHS Nominee Tom Price: "The AFL-CIO is joining more than 80 other national organizations in opposition to the nomination of Rep. Tom Price as Trump’s health and human services secretary. A petition opposing the nomination is available online at the AFL-CIO site and others. Price’s nomination hearing is Wednesday."
Conference Examines Clash Between U.S. Culture, Catholic Social Teaching: "Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, closed the conference with a commitment by organized labor to stand with immigrants and their right to remain and work in the United States. 'What Trump proposes tears at our values, and we will resist it and refuse to be divided into us versus them,' he said. 'Pope Francis has called on Catholics to be a true sanctuary. The next few years will define who and what we really are, as a labor movement and as a church. Will we stand true to our moral values when it could really cost us something? We will be tested.'"
Unions Appeal DOT Approval of Norwegian Air: "Unions representing 100,000 aviation workers have asked a federal appeals court to overturn the Transportation Department’s decision allowing Norwegian Air International to fly to and from the U.S.…The AFL-CIO, Air Line Pilots Association, Allied Pilots Association, Association of Flight Attendants-CWA and Transportation Trades Department fought Norwegian since the airline applied for approval in December 2013."
Lack of Just Wages, Benefits a Threat to Human Dignity: "So I truly understand and support the labor movement. Without organized labor, workers are so vulnerable. The recent elections reveal the crisis of income inequality in our country. The waning of organized labor is a huge factor. A generation ago, CEOs earned 25 times what the average worker earned. Today it is up to 325 times of what the average worker gets. As a young priest here in D.C., I used to participate in the annual Labor Day."