Executive Council Praises Middle East Workers Fighting for Freedom
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The AFL-CIO Executive Council today praised the role workers and independent trade unions are playing in the popular mobilizations against corrupt, oppressive regimes in Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain and throughout the Middle East and North Africa.
Meeting at the National Labor College in Silver Spring, Md., the council said in a statement:
After enduring decades of repression exercised by governments with the support of the West, including the United States, the workers and people of Tunisia and Egypt have mobilized by the millions for democracy and fundamental rights. The AFL-CIO and the global labor movement salute the independent trade union movements in both of these countries and support their aspirations for social justice.
Read the full statement here.
Taxi Workers Seek AFL-CIO Membership
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Saying “a worker is a worker,” Bhairavi Desai, executive director of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance (NYTWA), and several taxi drivers from New York City today told the AFL-CIO Executive Council they want to be a part of the national labor federation.
They said drivers work 60 to 70 hours a week in one of the most grueling and dangerous jobs around—at minimum wage. They have no job security. Employers routinely misclassify them as “independent contractors” and deny the drivers protections given to traditional employees, including the freedom to form a union. They risk their health and safety daily, from sitting in a stationary position for hours to the real possibility of being assaulted, robbed or even murdered by a passenger or street thugs. And they’re completely uninsured, unprotected.
Nearly 85 Percent of TSOs Vote for Union
In one of the biggest union elections in recent years, nearly 85 percent of the transportation security officers (TSOs) voted to join a union. AFGE led the voting and will face a runoff with another union to determine who will represent the 43,000 TSOs at 450 of the nation’s airports.
The ballot offered three choices: AFGE, no union or NTEU, an unaffiliated union. The voting began March 9 and ended April 19. In order to win, one of the choices had to gain 50 percent plus one vote of all the TSOs voting. No date has been set for the runoff.
Even though the TSOs did not have collective bargaining rights, more than 12,000 TSO members are currently in 40 AFGE local unions across the country. It took 10 years before the TSOs finally gained the right to bargain. At its March meeting, the AFL-CIO Executive Council approved a statement supporting the officers right to bargain, which said, in part:
Having won the right to bargain collectively, TSA (Transportation Security Administration) workers are now poised to elect their exclusive union representative…. With the support of AFGE, which has worked so persistently and aggressively on their behalf, and with the full backing and assistance of the AFL-CIO, these workers will be successful.
The AFL-CIO also is asking union members to speak with the TSOs whenever you’re in an airport and urge the workers to “Vote Yes for AFGE.”
Mexico’s Mineros to Receive Meany-Kirkland Award
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Over the past five years, the Mexican government has unleashed a systematic attack on workers’ rights. Despite the continuing repression, Mexico’s independent, democratic unions organize and represent the rights of workers. Some of the most egregious attacks have been on the Mine, Metal and Steel Workers Union (SNTMMSSRM), also known as Los Mineros.
The AFL-CIO is awarding Los Mineros and their leader, Napoleón Gómez Urrutia, the 2011 George Meany-Lane Kirkland Human Rights Award. The award will be formally presented later this year. Click here to read the resolution in English and here for Spanish.
Gómez was first elected general secretary of the SNTMMSSRM in 2002 and immediately began challenging government policies of low wages and flexible labor markets, and building alliances with the global trade union movement.
Hanley and Guffey Named to AFL-CIO Executive Council
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| Larry Hanley | |
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| Cliff Guffey | |
The AFL-CIO Executive Council welcomed Larry Hanley and Cliff Guffey as new members today.
Hanley was elected Sept. 30 as president of the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU), succeeding Warren George, who retired and also resigned from the Executive Council.
Hanley began his union career in 1978 as a 21-year-old bus driver in Brooklyn. He served as president of ATU Local 726 from 1987 until 2002. He then joined the staff of the international union and most recently served as an ATU vice president.
Guffey was elected last October as president of the Postal Workers (APWU). He began his postal career in 1971 as a letter carrier in Oklahoma City. He served as APWU vice president since 2001. Before joining the APWU on the national level, Guffey was president of APWU’s Oklahoma City local. He succeeded William Burrus, who retired and resigned from the Executive Council.
The Council approved a statement saying, George “has demonstrated that a commitment to organizing can change a union.” Under his leadership, ATU created an organizing department, hired an organizing director and extended the benefits of union membership to transit workers the union had not reached before.
The Council praised Burrus for his “hallmarks of fairness, flexibility and safety.” In a statement, the Council credited Burrus and former APWU President Moe Biller with transforming the union into a progressive political force. Burrus led APWU to become one of the first to endorse Barack Obama.
Martin Luther King III: Labor Has Unique Opportunity to Rebuild
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| Martin Luther King III’s daughter, Yolanda, and his wife, Arndrea, join AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker at We Are One event in Atlanta. | |
This morning, I interviewed Martin Luther King III after he spoke to the AFL-CIO Executive Council, meeting here today in Washington, D.C.
Question: What issues did you discuss with the Executive Council this morning?
King: I never thought that in 2011, 43 years after my father’s passing, that we would have to be engaged in a serious campaign to protect and preserve the rights of workers, to make sure collective bargaining is maintained. It’s a sad day in America, but that sad day also creates a unique opportunity for labor and civil rights organizations to work together like we’ve never worked before. Some of that began on April 4, when over 1,500 demonstrations occurred in America and across the world.
Question: You say in your guest column on the AFL-CIO website that your father would be marching in Wisconsin today. Why is that?
King: We have economic challenges in this country and we blame the folks who are working and placing no blame on the corporations that have farmed out jobs around the world and these CEOs who have runaway paychecks. The elected leaders are putting the responsibility on the people who are making this country work. My father always stood up for justice and righteousness. So he would certainly be in the forefront of those saying collective bargaining is a right, that workers should not be mistreated.
Shook and Wise Named to Executive Council
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The AFL-CIO Executive Council welcomed Veda Shook and Walter Wise as new members today.
Shook took office Jan. 1 as president of the Flight Attendants-CWA, succeeding Patricia Friend, who retired and also resigned from the Executive Council. An AFA-CWA member since 1991, Shook says she plans to keep right on flying. Before her election as president, she served as an AFA-CWA vice president since 2007.
Wise was appointed president of the Ironworkers in February. In more than 35 years as an ironworker, he has served his union as general organizer, president of the Mid-Atlantic States District Council, general vice president and general treasurer. He was appointed president in February after Joseph Hunt retired. Hunt also retired from the Executive Council.
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The council approved a statement thanking Hunt for his service and especially “his wise counsel and commitment to and leadership of organizing.” It also cited how as the Ironworkers’ leader, he steered the union through a difficult period of political and economic turmoil with a steady hand and strong vision. Hunt continues to serve working people as chairman of the Union Labor Life Insurance Co.
The council praised Friend as “a leader in the struggle for the advancement of women and people of color to the entire union movement.” Under her leadership, the council said, AFA-CWA fought for, and won, whistleblower protections for aviation employees, increased penalties for passengers who interfere with crew member duties, a smoking ban on international flights, an extension of the Family and Medical Leave Act to cover all flight crew members, seniority protections for flight attendants in the event of a merger and an opened door for occupational safety and health protections for all flight attendants.
Labor’s Next Gen Moves Forward with Young Worker Advisory Council
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Nora Frederickson, AFL-CIO Media fellow, sends us this report on the first Young Worker Advisory Council meeting.
The union movement’s young workers are getting ready to shake things up.
Working off of the short- and long-term goals laid out at last summer’s Next Up Summit, the brand-new Young Worker Advisory Council met in Washington, D.C., this week to put together a three-month plan to engage the next generation of young workers.
The council emerged out of discussions held during the Next Up Summit. Young union workers and activists expressed their desire to have a greater voice in the development of AFL-CIO’s national outreach program for young workers.
Activists Launch Week of Action for DREAM Act
With the U.S. Senate set to vote next week on the DREAM Act, a group of student, progressive and immigrant activists launched a national week of action to urge lawmakers to vote for the bill.
Momentum for passage picked up significantly after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) announced earlier this week that the legislation will be attached to the Defense authorization bill when it comes up for a vote. If enacted, the Development Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, would allow undocumented students who have lived in the United States for at least five years and have graduated from high school or received a graduate equivalency diploma (GED) to legalize their immigration status by pursuing a college education or serving in the U.S. military.
In a telephone press conference this morning, Carlos Saavedra of the United We DREAM Coalition said the group, along with its allies, will hold actions across the country in senators’ home states to try and secure 60 votes to cut off a possible Republican filibuster against the bill. He pointed out that with the November elections just a few weeks away, immigrant voters will pay close attention to how senators vote on this issue.
Growing Inequality Threatens Middle Class and Democracy
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Here’s why the One Nation movement is so important. The growing inequality between the super-rich and the rest of us is not only shrinking our middle class, it’s threatening our democracy.
One Nation is a multi-racial, civil and human rights movement whose mission is to reorder our nation’s priorities to invest in our nation’s most valuable resource—our people. One Nation is holding an Oct. 2 rally at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., with tens of thousands of activists, including thousands of union members, taking part.
Speaking at Harvard University this past April, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka warned that massive unemployment and growing inequality are fueling the forces that are spreading hate and misinformation. Saying “the stakes couldn’t be any higher,” Trumka told the audience:
If you care about defending our country against the apostles of hate, you need to be part of the fight to rebuild a sustainable, high wage economy built on good jobs—the kind of economy that can only exist when working men and women have a real voice on the job. Read the rest of this entry »
