Symposium: Building Bridges to Labor’s Community Allies
Marvin Bing, a member of the AFL-CIO Special Committee on Labor-Community Partnerships, sends us this report on a meeting of AFL-CIO constituency groups in Phoenix.
AFL-CIO constituency groups kicked off the “We Are One Moving America Forward” symposium late last week with a series of great speeches by William Lucy, Ben Jealous, George Gresham, Danny Ortega and Judith Browne-Dianis. A resounding theme: “We can’t let the 1 percent trick us into believing we are different—We are the 99 percent, we are one and if we don’t work together on issues that bring us together, we will fall together.” We are the people who fight for working families, we are the people who fight to protect our students, children, seniors and families. We are the labor movement and together with the community we are unbeatable.
Constituency members include: The Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU), A. Philip Randolph Institute (APRI), Pride At Work (PAW), Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW), Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA) and the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA).
Maria Elena Durazo, secretary-treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, closed the panel, “Organizing in Our Communities: How African Americans and Latinos Have Strength in Unity,” by saying: Read the rest of this entry »
Rallies Call for Robin Hood Tax on Wall Street
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Taking the stage in Lafayette Park across from the White House in front of nearly 1,500 union members and Occupy D.C., supporters, a not-quite Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner look-alike vowed “Never, Never, Never” to impose a Robin Hood (or financial speculation) tax on Wall Street.
He then launched into a nearly undecipherable litany of financial jargon, before German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who supports such tax, snatched the microphone away and accused Geithner of spouting “Avant garde financial psychobabble.”
The tongue-in-cheek skit was a re-enactment of a real press conference in Cannes with Merkel, Geithner and France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy, who also supports a Robin Hood tax. It kicked off the Washington, D.C., rally in support of a financial speculation tax on banks and financial institution to create jobs and rebuild the economy that Wall Street broke. Actions also are scheduled in Los Angeles and San Francisco, too.
Earlier today, nurses from National Nurses United (NNU) held a press conference in Cannes calling for adoption of a Robin Hood tax. The leaders of the world’s top economies—known as the G-20—are meeting there and many of the G-20 leaders support such a tax, but the United States does not.
Yesterday, when a financial speculation tax was introduced in Congress, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, who is Cannes for the G-20 meeting and meetings with labor leaders from those nations, said:
“Reckless Wall Street gambling has cost Americans trillions in lost wages, savings and household wealth. It is time to put Wall Street to work rebuilding Main Street with a financial speculation tax to create jobs, rein in speculation and lay the groundwork for long-term economic prosperity.”
At the Washington rally, Karen Higgins, an ICU nurse at the Boston Medical Center, who is co-president of National Nurses United, said a Robin Hood tax on Wall Street:
will put us back on the road to reclaiming Main Street….Its day has arrived.
World Premiere of New Mother Jones Play Opens Oct. 12
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The Theater of the First Amendment will present the world premiere of “Can’t Scare Me: The Story of Mother Jones at Washington, D.C.’s Atlas Performing Arts Center beginning with preview performances Oct. 12 and 13 and running through Oct. 30.
OBIE Award-winner Kaiulani Lee portrays Mother Jones in a riveting solo performance about the early days of the American Labor Movement. Mother Jones was called “the most dangerous woman in America,” and “educated, agitated, and organized” on behalf of child laborers, coal miners, steel workers, and all working people.
Through an artful blend of history, biography, and a liberal dose of Mother Jones’s famous wit, “Can’t Scare Me” brings out some urgent issues of yesterday and today in a riveting, passionate, and fiery solo performance.
The Metro Washington Council, AFL-CIO Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW) and the Labor Heritage Foundation (LHF) are co-sponsoring a special matinee on Sunday, Oct. 23 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $25 for the matinee but because there is a union discount the fee will be $20.
Three CLUW Chapters Win Berger-Marks Grants
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Three Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW) chapters have been awarded grants by the Berger-Marks Foundation to help them mentor and promote young women activist and trade unionists.
The grants are going to CLUW chapters in Denver, Detroit and Philadelphia. Berger-Marks President Linda Foley says that along with the three winning CLUW chapters,
there were many excellent projects proposed by CLUW chapters from around the country. Unfortunately, we could not fund all of them.
In Denver, the grant for the Mile High chapter will help the chapter’s outreach activities to women unionists and create a network within the Denver area. The foundation will assist with various programs focused on young women, as well as a targeted training to build women’s leadership and networking skills.
Tell Senate It’s Time to Pass the Paycheck Fairness Act—Now!
Time is running out for the Senate to follow the lead of the House of Representatives and pass the Paycheck Fairness Act (S. 182) to help close the wage gap between women and men. The Senate is back to work but could be gone for the fall elections in three weeks.
Call your senators today toll free at 1-877-667-6650 and urge them to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act before the end of September. Even if your senators are co-sponsors, they need to hear from you today, so the bill can be put on the Senate’s to-do list before adjournment.
The bill would deter wage discrimination by closing loopholes in the Equal Pay Act and barring retaliation against workers who disclose their wages to co-workers.
CLUW Looks Out for Men’s Health
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The Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW), which has long promoted preventive health care programs for women, wants to make sure that men know about programs available to them.
In an e-mail to the group’s e-activists, CLUW says:
Because women are often the health gatekeepers of the family, [we] are urging e-activists to help the men in our lives (especially men over 40) learn which preventive screening tests they need to get and when to get them.
CLUW is helping promote the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s (AHRQ’s) men’s preventive health care campaign. As part of Men’s Health Care Week (June 13-19) and coinciding with Father’s Day, AHRQ and the Ad Council launched a new series of public service advertisements (PSAs).
CLUW Honors 11 Union Women for ‘Extraordinary Achievements’
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In honor of Women’s History Month, the Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW) last night presented its first annual Working Women’s Awards to 11 women who have left their mark on and helped build the labor movement.
The ceremony, at the AFL-CIO in Washington, D.C., honored the women for their
extraordinary achievements, leadership, and for being exemplary models for working women who seek to advance in their workplace, union and community.
AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler, who received one of the awards, said it was thanks to the work and success of many of the women in attendance that she has been able to walk down the path they pioneered. Read the rest of this entry »
CLUW Highlights National Women’s Health Week
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Mothers always look out for their family’s health. During National Women’s Health Week May 10-16, you can encourage Mom to make sure she is healthy, too.
National Health Week is a weeklong health observance coordinated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office on Women’s Health. The nationwide “It’s Your Time” initiative encourages women to take simple steps for longer, healthier lives.
As part of its campaign to raise awareness about how to prevent cervical cancer, the Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW) is working with other community and women’s groups during National Women’s Health Week to educate women about steps they can take to improve their physical and mental health and lower their risks of certain diseases, particularly cervical cancer.
Colombian Workers Pay High Price for Flowers
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This Mother’s Day, remember the mothers in Colombia who grew, cut and trimmed the flowers you receive. Six days a week, Amanda Camacho and thousands of her co-workers at flower plantations in Colombia cut and trim at least 350 flowers an hour. In the weeks before holidays like Mother’s Day and Valentine’s Day, the work extends deep into the night—all for about $8 a day, less than the cost of a bouquet of carnations in the United States.
Speaking today at a brown bag luncheon at the AFL-CIO in Washington, Camacho, a Colombian union leader and activist, said the mostly female flower workers in Colombia are treated like slaves and the flower companies’ claims that they are treating their workers well are simply “lies.’
Camacho begins a national tour next week sponsored by the International Labor Rights Forum’s (ILRF) Fairness in Flowers campaign, Jobs with Justice (JwJ), the Coalition of Labor Union Women and U.S. Labor Education in the Americas Project (USLEAP).
Equal Pay Day: April 28
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April 28 is Equal Pay Day and workers across the country will commemorate the day by reaffirming their determination to make sure women are paid equally as men for the same work. Equal Pay Day symbolizes how far into the year a woman must work, on average, to earn as much as a man earned the previous year.
Equal Pay Day 2009 comes at an exciting time for those who support equal pay for women. President Barack Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act into law on Jan. 29 and established a White House Council on Women and Girls in March. Yet more than 45 years after the Equal Pay Act was signed, women in the United States still earn only 78 cents for every dollar a man earns—even with similar education, skills and experience—and African American and Hispanic women earn even less.
Members of the Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW) will commemorate Equal Pay Day with rallies around the country in support of the Paycheck Fairness Act and the Employee Free Choice Act. CLUW is urging all workers to wear red on Equal Pay Day to symbolize how far women and minorities are “in the red” with their pay!
