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Blog

After Janus, Electrical Workers Show the Power is in Our Hands

… together, stronger for our shared struggle. Our future is and always has been in our own hands. We have never looked to Washington to strengthen or validate our movement. So while pundits rush to blather in front of a camera, we’re doing the painstaking business of organizing—building the labor movement, person by …
Blog

By Our Hands: Locked Out

… Ever heard of Allegheny Technologies Inc? Its stock trades as ATI, but you didn’t need to know that, and you can guess why last summer it locked out 2,200 ATI workers in six states. … The company says the people … To Jones, unionism is about fairness. It’s about steadiness, about making good decisions, safe workplaces and a strong work ethic. Apicket line can lift you up and then, just as fast, tear you down. Pizzas have been delivered anonymously by … to honor the picket line. We make the managers uncomfortable. I come down here every day. Sometimes my kids come with me. Right now, for me, where I’m at in my life…this picket line is the most important thing.” …
Executive Council Statement

Economic Recovery: Take Two

… challenge of fixing this economic mess is enormous – and urgent.  Creating good jobs that cannot be outsourced is central to the solution.   Despite much-touted “green shoots,” the prognosis for the U.S. economy keeps getting worse.  The official … or unemployed in June -- more than 25 million workers.  Almost 30 percent of unemployed workers have been out of work more than six months, and more than 600,000 will exhaust their unemployment benefits by September if nothing is done. … crisis.  At this critical juncture, the consequences of the government failing to act on a sufficient scale and in the right way could be catastrophic.   The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) was a bold and well-crafted program to …
Blog

By Our Hands: Can You Hear Me Now?

… Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam is baffled. Recently, he walked up to a picket line and told striking workers , “This makes no sense to anybody. To be honest, I’m not sure why you’re out … means I would be gone before the kids got up and maybe home for an hour before they go to bed — if I’m lucky. I already work a lot of overtime, as much as seven hours each week, because we’re so understaffed. Sometimes, Verizon asks us to work … to the costs involved with selling a home and buying a new one — if you’re lucky enough to be able to sell your house right away. Verizon has been telling the media that my annual pay and benefits package is valued at $130,000. Wow, that would …
Speech

Trumka: Biden a Champion in Every Sense of the Word

… the United States: I’m Rich Trumka, and on behalf of the 12.5 million members and 55 unions of the AFL-CIO, we are proud to endorse Joe Biden for President of the United States. We know Joe. And Joe knows us.  He’s been to our union halls. He’s marched on our picket lines. He is a champion in every sense of the word.  As our unions voted to endorse Joe, I couldn’t help but think back to when I was 12 years old, sitting on my grandfather’s porch in Nemacolin, …
Page

The Global Labor Movement's Response in the Face of the COVID-19 Crisis

… the AFL-CIO works alongside our union sisters and brothers around the world. In times like these, it’s even more important to stay united with working families on the front lines when essential work has to be done. As the world endures this health emergency and economic crisis, the AFL-CIO will play its part in … in calling on governments to fulfill their primary function of protecting people. Governments can and sometimes do the right thing. As the COVID-19 crisis accelerated, some national governments made clear that they would put protecting people …
Speech

At Northern Kentucky University Labor-Management Conference, Trumka Looks to the Future

… at the  Northern Kentucky University 36th Annual Labor-Management Conference :  Good morning, everybody. It’s a pleasure to be here. And it’s great to see my friend Tom Buffenbarger again. Tom, your lifetime of commitment to America’s working … to hearing Nick’s (Pinchuk) insight and perspective. On Thursday, the AFL-CIO launched our Commission on the Future of Work and Unions . The commission was formed by a unanimous vote of our convention last fall, and we are charged with … future of work. We're living it and pioneering it every single day. But our experience has also taught us that there is a right way and a wrong way to unleash new tools. Will we let the drivers of inequality pervert technology to foster greater …
Executive Council Statement

Removal of Social Security Commissioner Astrue

… the country’s retirement security, as well as the irresponsibility of former President George W. Bush’s policies in regard to this critical program. Bush’s anti-government ideology and commitment to putting the interests of his Wall Street contributors ahead of the retirement security of working families led him to … as the exclusive representatives of many bargaining unit employees at SSA. He refuses to meet and discuss important work-related issues with AFGE and the AALJ/IFPTE, adversely affecting sound labor relations and employee morale. Commissioner …
Executive Council Statement

Financialization, Financial Market Deregulation and the Credit Crisis

… housing market and the cascading crises in the credit markets are the direct consequence of a 30-year experiment of trying to create a deregulated, low wage economy where high consumer spending is propped up by easy credit and asset bubbles.  Real … the economic health of the American middle class through good jobs, health care, retirement security and a voice at work for all.  And an important part of the solution must be the thoughtful, comprehensive re-regulation of the financial … loan market, are frozen—the result of speculative excess and a massive loss of confidence in the information available to investors.  Only thoughtful re-regulation can restore that confidence and the ability of the markets to properly function. …
Executive Council Statement

Stop Unpatriotic Corporations from Shirking Their Taxes by Pretending They're Not American

… Dozens of large corporations have taken advantage of an outrageous loophole that allows them to dodge U.S. taxes when they renounce their U.S. citizenship. In recent months, several more corporations have announced … or if they are managed and controlled inside the United States and have substantial business here. Secretary Lew was right to suggest that Congress should make this fix retroactive to early May 2014, so corporations are on notice that any … our economic policies and dominating our politics, yet they have less and less loyalty to the people who actually live and work in America. They want to keep benefiting from all the things our government does for them that make it possible for them …