Author Archive
It’s Time to ‘Take Back the American Dream’
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The middle class and the American Dream that created it are under attack as never before. But there is a real uprising sweeping the nation to save the middle class.
The Campaign for America’s Future (CAF) is teaming up with Van Jones’ “Rebuild The Dream” organization for the “Take Back the American Dream” conference Oct. 3-5 in Washington, D.C. This year, the CAF annual conference will focus on adding gas to the grassroots fire that has already been lit in Wisconsin and town halls all over the country.
(Online registration for the conference is now closed. You may still register on-site starting at 8 a.m. on Monday at the Washington Hilton, 1919 Connecticut Ave, N.W. For an agenda, list of speakers and other conference information, click here.)
New Database Compares Nation’s Budget with Real Needs
At a time when Congress is focusing on cutting federal spending, the National Priorities Project has launched a new interactive tool that offers people across the nation a way to understand and respond to national budget decisions.
Because federal budgets affect millions of Americans each day, the Federal Priorities Database helps users compare the way our nation spends money with the social impact of these expenditures. The database tracks both federal spending and social indicators like poverty rates, renewable energy usage and enrollment in the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, as well as information at the state, county and school district level.
More Working People Joining Wall Street Protests
Some of New York City’s largest unions and community groups are joining the “Occupy Wall Street” protests. For three weeks a core group of 200 to 300 people have kept a constant vigil on Wall Street to hold the financial industry accountable for the schemes and reckless games that led to the economic collapse. (Follow the action on Twitter with the hashtag #occupyWallStreet.) You can support the protestors by donating so they can buy pizzas to keep up their campaign. To donate, click here.
This morning, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka expressed support for the protests. Earlier this week, more than 700 uniformed pilots, members of the Air Line Pilots (ALPA) , took to the streets outside of Wall Street demanding better pay.
The executive board of the New York Transit Workers Union/Transport Workers Local 100 voted unanimously to support Occupy Wall Street. Local 100 has 38,000 active members and covers 26,000 retirees, according to its website.
Responding to a question after his speech at the Brookings institution this morning, Trumka said: Read the rest of this entry »
Young Workers to March for Good Jobs
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Hundreds of young people from across the country will march through downtown Minneapolis this afternoon to call for good jobs and a middle-class economy. Starting at 5 p.m. CDT, the group will march from the Hilton to the City Government Plaza Light Rail Station.
The young working people, students and activists are among the 800 participants at the second national Next Up Young Worker Summit hosted by the AFL-CIO. They will deliver the message that workers didn’t create the economic mess we are in, but we are poised to fix it.
This economic crisis has disproportionately impacted young people and will have long-term repercussions on their ability to raise families, buy homes and live the American Dream. But as a panel of young activists this morning told participants, young people can help make needed change.
Lisa Jordan, education director for the United Steelworkers (USW) said the short-sighted economic policies of the last 30 years that favored deregulation and privatization cost the nation millions of manufacturing jobs. We lost millions more in industries that supply and support manufacturing, she said. Any real economic recovery will require restoring the manufacturing base, she said. Read the rest of this entry »
Trumka: America Faces Historic Decisions that Will Shape Our Future
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America is facing historic choices that will shape our economy, our society and our democracy for decades to come, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said today.
Speaking at the prestigious Brookings Institution, he said, “Our nation does not have a debt crisis. We have a jobs crisis.”
America isn’t broke. Our nation’s basic promise—an ever-rising, ever-widening prosperity—is being broken.
It is being broken by three decades of a contradictory economic strategy based on low wages and consumption, he said. As a result, the rich have gotten much richer, the poor have gotten poorer and those left in the middle are struggling to hang on. U.S. trade policies have decimated our nation’s manufacturing base and our tax policies promote inequality.
Shuler: Fresh Generation of Activists Needed to Turn America Around
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The economic and social problems, the hate and the fear we see around us today can only be solved by a fresh generation of committed, smart, tireless and creative activists, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler told the nearly 800 young workers, activists and student at the Next Up Young Workers Summit today.
“And—I’m going to go out on a limb here—but I think you are those people,” she said.
In her keynote address to the conference, which opened today in Minneapolis, Shuler said the situation in the global economy is dire. Massive change is needed to turn it around. Young workers are being told to “suck it up” and live in a world without jobs, she said.
We’re being told that America can’t afford teachers—but we can afford CEO tax cuts. We’re being asked to accept a society that rewards wealth and punishes work. A society that makes it harder for young people to go to college. A society where hate is growing and targeting people of color, people of different faiths, people who are LGBTQ [lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer], immigrants–it’s shameful.
Shuler urged the participants to create coalitions back home to build a movement to take back the American Dream. Read the rest of this entry »
Next Up Young Workers Summit: Helping Those in Need
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Nearly 800 young working people, activists and students from across the country kicked off the AFL-CIO Next Up Young Workers Summit in Minneapolis today by doing what union members do best—helping others in need.
The young working people partnered with the service organization Tubman and the AFL-CIO Community Services Network to create back-to-school care packages for children who live in the Twin Cities. Tubman helps women, children and families struggling with relationship violence, substance abuse, trauma and mental health issues.
Tubman also provides safe shelter, legal services, mental and chemical health counseling, youth programming, elder care resources and community education to more than 54,000 people across the Twin Cities metro area.
Health Care Costs Rising; Employers Pass Increases to Working People
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The Kaiser Family Foundation”s latest survey of health care costs shows half of workers at small firms with individual policies now face annual deductibles of $1,000 or more. In 2006, that figure was 16 percent. At large firms, the share has grown from 6 percent to 22 percent over the same five years.
As health care insurance costs continue to rise, Congress should look at ways to curb health care costs rather than leaving it to private employers who have never done a good job of that, says Drew Altman, president of the Kaiser Family Foundation. In fact, Congress has a good example of ways to lower costs right under its nose, Altman writes.
Watch Live Webcast of Shuler and Solis at Next Up Summit
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AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler and U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis will kick off the second annual Next Up Young Workers Summit in Minneapolis tomorrow. Hundreds of young working people, including organizers and students from across the country, will meet in Minneapolis Sept. 29-Oct. 2 for the Summit, part of the AFL-CIO’s efforts, led by Shuler, to reach out to working people under age 35.
You can watch a live webcast of Shuler and Solis here this Thursday beginning at 5:00 p.m. CDT.
Another highlight of the summit will be appearances by actors Lucas Neff (left), star of the Fox sitcom “Raising Hope” and RJ Mitte (left) from the TV show “Breaking Bad.” Both are members of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA). In March Neff joined actors Susan Sarandon and Tony Shalhoub in Madison, Wis., for an all-day series of rallies that sent a message to Republican legislators and Gov. Scott Walker that the assault on working people will not stand and their struggle is far from over. Neff told the crowd: Read the rest of this entry »
UAW Members Ratify New GM Contract
Members of the UAW working at General Motors Co. (GM) voted by two-to-one to ratify a new four-year collective bargaining agreement with the company. The two sides had reached a tentative agreement Sept. 16.
The contract will create 6,400 new jobs in the United States, provide jobs for UAW members who have been laid off over the past several years and bring work back to the United States and to UAW GM plants that had been moved to Mexico and other parts of the world. The 6,400 GM jobs mean another 57,600 jobs will be created in suppliers and other businesses related to the auto industry, since auto manufacturing jobs create and support so many other jobs.
“The UAW and GM entered into this set of bargaining as America struggles with record levels of unemployment and an economy that shows little sign of improvement,” said UAW President Bob King.
Because of President Obama’s and the American taxpayers’ backing of our jobs and our companies, we were determined to work together with GM management to grow jobs in the U.S. and to get more Americans back to work and we are doing just that.
The contract provides significant gains for entry-level workers, bringing wages to $19.28 over the term of the agreement. It also improves profit sharing, replacing the old plan with a new, more simple and transparent plan, with higher payouts in profit sharing.
UAW Vice President Joe Ashton, who directs the union’s GM Department, said:
In these uncertain economic times, we were able to win an agreement with GM that guarantees good American jobs at a good American company. When GM was down, our members sacrificed and saved GM. Now that GM is posting strong profits, our members, as a result of this agreement, are going to share in the company’s success.
The new four-year contract is effective immediately and covers more than 48,000 employees at GM.
