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Blog

Pride Month Profiles: Juston Larsen

… For Pride Month, the AFL-CIO is spotlighting various LGBTQ Americans who have worked and continue to work at the intersection of civil and labor rights. Today's Pride Month profile is Juston Larsen. … Juston Larson is a … workers like myself lost our jobs. For the last year, the Culinary Union is fighting for hospitality workers to have the right to return as the economy recovers. I'm grateful to be a part of my union!" …
Press Release

GOP Health Care Plan Taxes Workers and Destroys Care

… Richard Trumka on the House Republican health care plan: Millions of people will lose their health care coverage thanks to a plan introduced by Congressional Republicans. This haphazard “repeal and replace” effort would result in painful taxes on working families, cuts to Medicaid, and tax giveaways for the super-rich. Of all the bad ideas in this flawed plan, forcing workers to pay a … of wealth from working people to Wall Street. For more than a century, the labor movement has fought to make health care a right for every American. The Republican plan contradicts this very idea by making care less affordable and accessible. It’s …
Press Release

Statement by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka on Indiana’s Discriminatory “Religious Freedom” Law

… of the so-called “Religious Freedom” law is deeply disappointing and troubling. No one should have a government-backed right to deny services to any targeted group, especially under the guise of religion.  And in another sign that Governor Pence’s … gender identity. And we believe that Hoosiers -- along with all Americans -- deserve higher wages, not less pay for more work. Working people call on Governor Pence to repeal the Religious Freedom law, and other governors should veto any similar …
Blog

Remembering Memphis

… workers that drew support from civil and labor rights leaders across the nation. Martin Luther King Jr., in town to organize a march in support of those strikers, was assassinated on April 4 of that year. This post commemorates these anniversaries and the historic links between civil rights and workers' rights, especially at a time when the right of public-sector workers to unionize is being argued in front of the U.S. Supreme Court. This post is excerpted from a … nexus of the promise of the civil rights movement and the American labor movement; a logical co-mingling of race and work in the context of a democratic nation. At the 1961 AFL-CIO Convention, King warned that black people should be skeptical …
Convention Resolution

Resolution 10: Encouraging Union Members to Run for Local Public Office

… directly oversee the delivery of public services, the education of our children, and the first responders who diligently work to keep us safe. Local governments also enact policies fostering the procurement of American- and union-made goods and … working people’s freedom to prosper. Since 2009, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, West Virginia and Wisconsin have enacted “right to work” laws, crippling people’s ability to secure fair, equitable treatment at work. In many states, the freedom to …
Legislative Alert

Letter Opposing the Confirmation of Sen. Jeff Sessions as U.S. Attorney General

… Dear Senator Grassley and Ranking Member Feinstein: I am writing on behalf of the AFL-CIO to express our opposition to the confirmation of Senator Jefferson Beauregard Sessions, III (R-AL) as the 84th Attorney General of the United States. … bipartisan criminal justice reform efforts; and made statements suggesting that he considers any history of civil rights work enough to render a nominee unfit for government service. We are alarmed by the nomination of Senator Sessions for …
Speech

Trumka at DNC LGBTQ Pride Reception: We are Never Going Back

… Thank you, Stuart [Appelbaum] for that introduction and for your leadership at the RWDSU and UFCW. I am proud to call you my brother. I want to thank the DNC, the RWDSU and Pride at Work for hosting this reception. I want to recognize DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, DNC LGBT Caucus Chair Earl Fowlkes, … Let’s declare tonight loudly and proudly that 2016 will be a year of progress. And let’s put Donald Trump and his ideas right where they belong: in the trash bin of history. So with that, I want to thank all of you again. I hope you have a …
Convention Resolution

Resolution 3: The Values That Unite Us as a People and a Movement

… AFL-CIO Executive Council Ensuring Economic Security Protecting and Strengthening Income Security Extending Opportunity to All Fulfilling the Promise of Equality   WE ARE A MOVEMENT BUILT UPON VALUES— and a movement that fights for what we … for us. We also fight for the values that shape economic security and opportunity for America’s working families. We value work and respect for workers. We believe our nation, blessed with such rich material and human resources, can and must create … particularly for low-income families and the broad middle class, Congress and the president should take the time to get it right and avoid drastic and irreversible changes to the benefit structure. Questions about how to finance Social Security …
Speech

Trumka at ETUC Congress: Move Forward as One Global Labor Movement

… President De Leeuw and General Secretary Visentini, thank you for the opportunity to say a few words on behalf of the 12.5 million members of the AFL-CIO. We all know the profound danger of rising inequality, and the threat it poses to economies, societies and democracies around the world. Right now, international economic rules are balanced in favor of the world’s largest corporations. At the same time, global … head on from climate change to technology to social mobility. That’s why the AFL-CIO is deeply committed to continuing our work together to strengthen the global labor movement and the rights of working people around the world. The need is as great …
Blog

Trump's Supreme Court Nomination of Brett Kavanaugh Is Deeply Troubling

… the workplace. On Monday night, President Donald Trump rejected working men and women by selecting Judge Brett Kavanaugh to fill the vacancy created by Justice Anthony Kennedy’s retirement. … After a thorough review of Kavanaugh’s record, we are … v. AFSCME, Council 31, acts as a “black-robed ruler overriding citizens’ choices.” Working people expect the Supreme Court to be the fairest and most independent branch of government in America. Any senator who believes Supreme Court justices … claiming that the firing was protected under the Speech or Debate Clause of the Constitution. Kavanaugh rejects the right of employees to receive employer-provided health care: In Seven-Sky v. Holder, he argued in a dissent that a president …