Workers Across Nation Choose a Voice with AFL-CIO Unions
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County workers, professional employees, bakery workers, airborne pilots and “ghost” pilots and sheriff’s deputies are among the latest workers to choose a voice at work with AFL-CIO unions.
In Utah, more than 400 Salt Lake County workers won a union voice with AFSCME Local 1004. The 408 county employees—skilled trades, maintenance and service workers—could vote for union representation only after AFSCME fought and won passage of a county collective bargaining ordinance last year.
John Farrer, a Highway Department worker, says:
This is definitely a positive thing for workers, and that’s why they voted it in. With all that’s happened, the wage cuts, benefits going down and insurance going up, we need a strong union voice to represent the interests of working families.
IUPA Celebrates 30 Years of Fighting for Safety of Public
As state and local governments struggle to provide services in this tight economy, the role of unions like the International Union of Police Associations (IUPA) is more important than ever.
IUPA, which is celebrating its 30-year anniversary, assists law enforcement locals, including those in “right to work” states, negotiating contracts for and providing benefits to locals in more than 35 states. The union has negotiated contracts that give officers access to good benefits, wages, leave and time off.
In a press release, IUPA President Sam Cabral says officers and their families need representation that protects them during times of duress and need.
Workers at American Airlines Protest CEO Bonuses, and More Bargaining News
Workers at American Airlines protest massive stock bonuses for top execs—and more updates from the “Bargaining Digest Weekly.” The AFL-CIO Collective Bargaining Department delivers daily, bargaining-related news and research resources to more than 900 subscribers. Union leaders can register for this service through our website, Bargaining@Work.
WORK STOPPAGES AND JOB ACTIONS
TWU, American Airlines: Thousands of mechanics and ground workers at American Airlines, represented by the Transport Workers (TWU), protested outside the carrier’s Fort Worth, Texas, headquarters in reaction to the stock bonuses for top executives and managers that were paid out on April 16.
The Warmer Side of Police Officers
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For most of us, our image of a police officer is usually associated with something unpleasant.
But Scott Baker, a former New York City officer, and freelance writer Tom Philbin say most people don’t see police officers as real people with cares, worries and, most of all, concern for the people they serve.
In their book, A Warmer Shade of Blue: Stories From New York’s Finest at Their Finest, they tell the stories of New York City police officers who have gone out of their way and sometimes stretched the rules to help people.
Some of the stories are extraordinary—officers risking their jobs to help people, such as the cop who drove his patrol car out of Manhattan to Bergen County, N.J., to aid a sick child. But all the stories have one common aspect: They touch the heart and perhaps in some small way make people look at the police differently.
Other stories are quite ordinary, everything from a policeman changing an old lady’s tire in the rain—after which she hands the officer, who is dripping wet, a handkerchief to dry himself—or another officer buying a pizza for a family who could not afford to eat.
