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Blog

America's Labor Movement Loses Champion Diann Woodard

… as a tireless advocate for quality public education for all children and for the rights of working people. … In addition to 36 years in the schools of Detroit as a teacher, counselor and administrator, Woodard quickly became active in her union, … Association of Secondary School Principals and the National Association of Elementary School Principals, that was key to securing congressional funding for training principals. AFSA Executive Vice President Ernest Logan lauded Woodard's advocacy for children and working people: Diann’s passing is a great loss to America’s labor movement. She personified the word leader in the fight for union rights and working families, though …
Speech

Shuler: The American Rescue Plan Delivers

… Tom, Norma and Tevita: We appreciate you so much. Thank you for sharing your experiences with us. And thank you for the work you do. Through the worst public health crisis in a century, through the worst economy since the Great Depression—with … since FDR. And we worked closely with Speaker Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Schumer and pro-labor stalwarts to deliver a rescue plan that's going to help all of us. With economic impact payments, tens of billions to facilitate … delivers. That’s America’s Rescue Plan. What’s next is America’s Recovery Plan. And the foundation is the Protecting the Right to Organize Act—PRO Act for short. We need it to remove barriers to organizing, so we can turn low-wage jobs into good, …
Speech

Shuler to Virginia AFL-CIO Labor Day Breakfast: Voting Is Our Superpower

… AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler delivered the following remarks to the Virginia AFL-CIO Labor Day Breakfast: Hello everyone, happy Labor Day! I’m zooming in from the road, talking to … here  Senator Tim Kaine . As a co-sponsor and with your help, we are going to pass the Richard L. Trumka Protecting the Right to Organize Act. Governor [Ralph] Northam and Lieutenant Governor [Justin] Fairfax , we appreciate your partnership and … I was out at sunrise visiting union members working at Dulles Airport. Did you know workers from more than 44 local unions work at Dulles?  Baggage handlers, pilots, cabin cleaners, ramp workers, check-point screeners, fuelers, flight attendants, …
Convention Resolution

Resolution 35: Reclaiming the Promise of Public Education

… HIGH-QUALITY PUBLIC EDUCATION is an economic necessity, an anchor of democracy, a moral imperative and a fundamental civil right. Without the foundation a strong education provides, our other rights can never be fully realized. We believe in and stand ready to fight for public education because it is the means by which we help all children dream their dreams and achieve them. All … good college, and those who worry about their parents getting deported—deserve the opportunity to succeed. The people who work in schools—teachers, support staff, administrators—help students build lives of great purpose and potential by …
Convention Resolution

Resolution 25: Criminal Justice Reform: A System of Corrections and Rehabilitation That Prioritizes Corrections and Rehabilitation

… These union members deserve safe and fair working conditions and the protections that come along with their ability to form and join in unions. These union members are part of the fabric of our society and the broader labor movement. They deserve to work in a fair system of corrections and rehabilitation that prioritizes corrections and rehabilitation. The United States …
Legislative Testimony

Mexico's Labor Reform: Opportunities and Challenges for an Improved NAFTA

… On behalf of our 55 affiliates representing more than 12.5 million working people, the AFL-CIO appreciates the opportunity to offer our comments on the opportunities presented by Mexico’s new labor law reform and the need to develop effective labor … abide by the conventions of the International Labor Organization (ILO) Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. 5 Mexico’s labor law reform and recent ratification of ILO Convention 98 on the right to organize and bargain collectively reflect an important first step in that direction, but its ability to effectively …
Blog

The Key to Genuine Equality? A Union Card

… Whenever I face adversity—when my faith is shaken or my confidence falters—I turn to a woman I carry in my heart every day. Too often forgotten in Dr. King’s shadow, Coretta Scott King embodied everything at … for civil rights could not stop at the voting booth. It had to be a fight for dignity in every facet of our lives—the right to stand tall at work and to live with security at home. … The day before she buried her husband, King had flown to Memphis to lead 50,000 …
Blog

‘They Have Forgotten the Lessons of Rana Plaza’

… after the April 24, 2013, disaster, Bangladesh garment worker-organizers say employers often are not following through to ensure worksites remain safe, and the government is doing  little to ensure garment workers have the freedom to form … be closed. Garment workers who survived the collapse say factory managers threatened their jobs if they did not return to work . Ziasmin Sultana, a garment worker who survived the collapse, recalls managers telling workers on the morning of April 24 the building was safe, even though “the previous day we had seen cracks [in the building] form right in front of our eyes.” Shortly after starting work, the electricity went out and the building began to violently shake. …
Press Release

A Fair Shot—How the PRO Act Would’ve Changed the Amazon Organizing Landscape

… TO: Members of the Media  FROM: AFL-CIO Communications Director Tim Schlittner DATE: April 12, 2021 RE: A Fair Shot—How the … Would’ve Changed the Amazon Organizing Landscape Heroic Amazon workers in Bessemer, Alabama, came together to claim their right to form a union, but antiquated federal labor law and a virulently anti-union company stood in their way. We all … benefit from broad and accessible union membership. Organizing a union should not be a trial by combat. The Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act will make it easier for working people to organize if we so choose.  Here’s how the campaign …
Blog

Service + Solidarity Spotlight: Labor Movement Fighting Anti-Asian Racism in All Forms

… Working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our regular Service + Solidarity Spotlight … these injustices. Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance National President Monica Thammarath (NEA) stated, “It is not right that Asian Americans are afraid to be alone in public, especially our elders who live in poverty and depend on access … must be stopped. To watch elderly people come under attack and no one come to their aid shows we still have so much more work to do. Humanity must prevail. As Martin Luther King Jr. said, ‘The time is always right to do what is right.’ We must …