Author Archive
Shuler Talks with Students at Occupy Wall Street
Yesterday, I had the opportunity to head to New York where Occupy Wall Street is now entering its third week. I had just flown into New York City from Minneapolis and was coming off the enthusiasm and passion of 800 young workers at the AFL-CIO Next Up Summit. Young workers at the Summit issued a statement of support for Occupy Wall Street, and I had to see and experience the movement first-hand.
I spoke to several students from Rutgers University about why they were participating in the movement. They were concerned about the imbalance in the economy and the runaway greed they’re seeing in the financial economy. While the anger and frustration is what’s rightly getting the attention, we also talked about the importance of focusing on solutions. And when we start talking about that, it was clear there are real policy changes that can put power back in the hands of the 99 percent – things like the financial speculation tax that would help pay for the creation of jobs, the Buffet rule and holding banks accountable for corrupt foreclosure practices.
I was inspired by what I saw — people of all stripes are expressing their anger and frustration at the lack of attention paid to “the other 99 percent.”
It’s so exciting to watch a new generation mobilize an organic movement for social justice — it gives me tremendous hope and optimism that we can get our country back on track now and for the future.
Milestone for World’s Domestic Workers
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Today, at the International Labor Organization’s 100th annual conference in Geneva Switzerland, the global community took a major collective step towards achieving economic and social justice for some of the world’s most vulnerable workers with the overwhelming adoption of the Decent Work for Domestic Workers Convention and accompanying recommendation.
More than 80 percent of the world’s governments, workers and employers voted in favor of the convention’s adoption, with 90 percent supporting the accompanying recommendation. In practice the convention and recommendation set out basic minimum rights and protections to which domestic workers within countries that ratify the convention are legally entitled. Symbolically, however, these instruments achieve much more.
Young Workers: Hit Hard, Hitting Back
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As the newly elected secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO, I traveled the country this fall, talking with workers and hearing their concerns. The economic crisis is causing a lot of pain. So many people have no jobs, no health care—and many are losing their homes. And as I looked into the faces of young workers, the reality hit home that these young people are part of the first generation in recent history likely to be worse off than their parents.
This is a tragedy.
The AFL-CIO and our community affiliate, Working America, recently surveyed young workers—and I’m not talking about 17- and 18-year-olds. I’m talking about 18- to 34-year-olds. In the past 10 years, young workers have suffered disproportionately from the downturn in the economy:
- One in three young workers is worried about being able to find a job—let alone a full-time job with benefits.
- Only 31 percent make enough money to cover their bills and put some aside—that is 22 percentage points worse than it was 10 years ago.
- Nearly half worry about having more debt than they can handle.
- One in three still lives at home with parents.
