AFL-CIO Staff

Pittsburgh played host last week to the inaugural E.U.-U.S. Trade and Technology Council meeting. Leaders from the European Union and the United States, including co-chairs of the council Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, discussed issues ranging from technology standards to global trade to supply chain security during the day-and-a-half conference.

If we're going to Build Back Better in the U.S., paid leave has to be part of the solution. Not only does paid leave save jobs, it boosts our economy. Investing in paid leave is just an important part of our infrastructure as investments in roads and bridges.

The AFL-CIO Executive Council today elected Liz Shuler, a visionary leader and longtime trade unionist, to serve as president of the federation of 56 unions and 12.5 million members. Shuler is the first woman to hold the office in the history of the labor federation. The Executive Council also elected United Steelworkers (USW) International Vice President Fred Redmond to succeed Shuler as secretary-treasurer, the first African American to hold the number two office. Tefere Gebre will continue as executive vice president, rounding out the most diverse team of officers ever to lead the AFL-CIO.

Richard Louis Trumka dedicated his entire life to making sure every institution he touched—the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA), the AFL-CIO, the U.S. government and the world community—served working people and the public interest, comforted the afflicted and afflicted the comfortable.

Mary Kate O’Sullivan is a registered nurse at Maine Medical Center in Portland, Maine. She and her co-workers fought for the right to organize with National Nurses United for eight months, during which time management bullied and harassed them.

Last year was a challenging one for working people. The COVID-19 pandemic put millions out of work through no fault of their own and the financial impact on working people will be felt for years to come. Unless you were a CEO of a large company. During a painstaking year of unspeakable loss and economic turmoil, AFL-CIO's 2021 Executive Paywatch report shows that the average S&P 500 CEO saw their pay increase more than $700,000 last year. The Executive Paywatch website, the most comprehensive, searchable online database that tracks CEO pay, shows that the CEO of an S&P 500 company received, on average, $15.5 million in total compensation in 2020. The average S&P 500 company CEO-to-worker pay ratio was 299-to-1.