Solis to Receive Top Award at MLK Event
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Tonight in Detroit, where hundreds of activists are gathered for the annual AFL-CIO Martin Luther King Jr. Day Observance, participants will honor several individuals for their outstanding contributions to working people. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis will receive the top honor for her extraordinary dedication and commitment to improving the lives of workers throughout her lifetime. The At the River I Stand award is given to a national leader who has demonstrated an unyielding commitment to civil rights and workers’ rights.
Since her 2009 appointment as labor secretary, Solis has worked to end wage theft, improve job safety by holding employers accountable and spotlight abuses like sexual harassment, workplace violence and gender discrimination. She also has significantly broadened the department’s outreach by holding a series of webinars, parterning with Facebook to help people find jobs and launching an app to help workers track their hours and how much they should be paid.
AFL-CIO’s King Observance Focuses on Economic, Social Justice
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In Detroit—a historic crossroads for both the labor and civil rights movements—more than 550 activists and leaders of those movements will honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at the AFL-CIO’s annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Observance and National Conference.
The Jan. 12-16 observance will serve as an opportunity to recommit to working toward King’s cornerstone goals of economic and social justice. AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker says union, civil rights and community activists can honor King’s legacy by:
Redoubling our efforts to make real his prophecy our time—his message of justice for all, his message that the American Dream is for all of us.
The conference opens tonight and includes an awards presentation to civil rights veteran and lawmaker Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.). Conyers, who has been in office since 1964, is one of the founding members of the Congressional Black Caucus.
Solis Highlights Plight of Vulnerable, Underpaid Workers
With a new webcast series, Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis is shining a spotlight on the plight of the nation’s most vulnerable workers. This month’s edition focused on perils faced by women who work in restaurants, where the pay for most is low and benefits nonexistent. Addressing the webcast panel discussion, Solis said:
[R]estaurant jobs provide poverty wages and little access to benefits, such as paid leave when a parent or their child gets sick. And because the majority of restaurant workers are women, the pay gap issue that affects all of us, affects them even more adversely. The gender pay gap for female restaurant workers is 86 cents on the dollar compared to male restaurant workers.
As we reported, the National Restaurant Association, a trade organization Read the rest of this entry »
National Taxi Workers Alliance Gets AFL-CIO Charter at Future of Work Event
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The National Taxi Workers Alliance made history when its leader, Bhairavi Desai, accepted the organization’s charter as a member of the AFL-CIO during an event today on “The Future of Work.” Highlighting the changing shape of the union movement, the event opened with remarks by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis. Desai then took part in a panel discussion which included representatives of other labor organizations that represent workers who are either traditionally excluded from coverage by labor law, or for whom the changing shape of the economy means the protections they have on paper mean little.
Joining Desai were Ai-jen Poo, director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance; Justin Molito, director of organizing for the Writers Guild of America, East; and Bill Cruice, founding executive director of the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals, NNU. The panel was rounded out by economist David Weil, a professor at Boston University, who discussed how changing business models affected the exercise of employee rights. Before the program began, dozens of exuberant taxi workers, wearing T-shirts emblazoned with ”Justice, Rights, Respect, Dignity” crowded around Solis, Trumka and Desai. Trumka said the taxi workers are:
an inspiring example of how working people are organizing even in the face of employment relations that have eroded all of our rights.
Don’t Miss Live Webcast of AFL-CIO Future of Work Forum
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Tune in TODAY from 3-5 p.m. EDT, for a live webcast of the special AFL-CIO forum on The Future of Work and New Ways to Build Power. You can click here for the webcast and follow on twitter with the hashtag #thefutureofwork.
The forum will feature AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, Boston University professor David Weil and leaders from unions who are developing new organizing strategies:
- Bill Cruice of the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals (PASNAP);
- Bhairavi Desai of the National Taxi Workers Alliance (NTWA);
- Justin Molito of the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE); and
- Ai-jen Poo of the National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA).
The new National Taxi Workers Alliance will receive its AFL-CIO charter.
Celebrating Latino Heritage Month
Brenda Loya in AFL-CIO Media Affairs sends us this report.
As a Latina working at the AFL-CIO, I take particular interest in the impact Latinos have had on our nation and on our union movement. I am honored to join my colleagues, labor and community leaders today to celebrate the contributions of Latino working families in the United States.
From the start, Latinos have played an integral part in the labor movement. My grandfather did so, while working in the California fields for 35 years and organizing for more equitable wage standards and the right to form a union. He was part of the Brazero Movement, where the United States recruited Mexican workers to pick the California fields and work on the railroad.
Today, America is a richer and more vibrant country and our union movement is stronger because of the contributions of Latino working families. Latino Heritage Month offers a time to recognize the stories of the nearly 47 million Latinos living in the United States and to highlight the issues facing our working families.
Next Up: Young People Take Action to Address Economic Inequality
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Emmelle Israel, AFL-CIO Media Outreach fellow, is in Minneapolis for the Next Up Young Workers Summit and sends us this report.
Along with 800 young workers, students, and activists, I marched down the streets of downtown Minneapolis, calling for “Good Jobs Now!” during the 2011 AFL-CIO Next Up Young Workers Summit.
The march from the summit to the City Government Plaza Light Rail Station was nearly a mile long. Next Up attendees chanted and raised signs to make their demand of “Good Jobs Now!” known the whole way.
Several taxi drivers, postal delivery workers and bus drivers honked their horns in support as the group marched to the light rail station.
Once at the City Government Plaza Light Rail Station, Jessica Hayssen of the AFL-CIO Young Workers Advisory Committee and the Minnesota AFL-CIO MCed the rally. First up was Mike O’Brian a.k.a. OB, from Steelworkers (USW) Local 6500, who performed his original rap, “One Day Longer.” The song was about a strike his union went through and encourages those on the picket line, telling them that “One day longer” makes them “One day stronger.”
Next, Mike Stenberg, a Metro Transit Operator from ATU Local 1005 in Minneapolis, spoke about how the union job he has now improved the lives of him, his wife and their two young children. He said:
I worked jobs before that were non-union. I wasn’t able to support my family… But now with Metro Transit I’m able to supply my family with a better livelihood. My American dream can come true where before I couldn’t see that happening.
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.
Solis to Headline Next Up Summit Panel
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U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis will headline a panel, along with AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler at the second annual AFL-CIO Next Up Young Workers Summit beginning later this week. Since taking office in 2009, Solis, the daughter of union members, has changed the direction of the Labor Department from one that favored employers to one that protects working people.
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.
