Right to Work

Missourians Get Nearly Triple the Needed Signatures for November Right to Work Repeal Referendum

St. Louis RTW Rally
Greater St Louis Central Labor Council AFL-CIO

Extremists and outside interests representing big corporations rammed through a "right to work" bill against the will of the people of the state. The bill was signed into law by Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens in February. Today, Missourians spoke up loudly and, pending the certification process, a ballot referendum on right to work will appear on the November 2018 ballot.

Civil Rights

Trumka Leaves Presidential Business Council

Rich Trumka speaks at Machinists Convention.
AFL-CIO

This week, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka resigned from President Donald Trump's Manufacturing Jobs Initiative. The move came after Trump responded to the racist terrorist attack in Charlottesville, Virginia. In resigning from the Initiative, Trumka said:

His response to the white supremacist violence in Charlottesville was the last straw. We in the labor community refuse to normalize bigotry and hatred. And we cannot in good conscience extend a hand of cooperation to those who condone it.

Civil Rights

Working People in the States Reject Hate and Terror

White House vigil
Wikimedia Commons

In the wake of the terrorist attack in Charlottesville, Virginia, that led to the deaths of Heather Heyer and two Virginia state troopers, Lieutenant H. Jay Cullen and Trooper-Pilot Berke M.M. Bates, and the injuring of more than 30 others, organizations representing working families in numerous states have spoken out rejecting the violence and the ideas that precipitated the violence.

Here are the statements of AFL-CIO state federations:

Civil Rights

Why I Quit Trump’s Business Council

Richard Trumka
AFL-CIO

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump stood in the lobby of his tower on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan and again made excuses for bigotry and terrorism, effectively repudiating the remarks his staff wrote a day earlier in response to the white supremacist violence in Charlottesville, Virginia. I stood in that same lobby in January, fresh off a meeting with the new president-elect. Although I had endorsed Hillary Clinton for president, I was hopeful we could work together to bring some of his pro-worker campaign promises to fruition.