Seniors to Lawmakers: Protect Social Security, Medicare
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With Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid possibly on the budget cutting block, members of the Alliance for Retired Americans will celebrate the organization’s 10th anniversary this week by doing what they have done for a decade: fighting for for America’s seniors.
As part of the Alliance’s annual legislative conference which began this afternoon and runs through Sept. 9, hundreds of seniors will converge on Capitol Hill Sept. 8, just hours before President Obama’s address on jobs, to tell their representatives and senators to keep their hands off Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
Sweeney: Renewal of Social Justice Spirit Desperately Needed
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Working families in our country are in desperate trouble and in desperate need of the spirit and strength of Catholic social teaching which embraces social justice and the right of workers to form unions, AFL-CIO President Emeritus John Sweeney said today.
Sweeney delivered the keynote address at the Church, Labor and the New Things of the Modern World conference at Catholic University in Washington, D.C. The conference celebrates the 120th anniversary of the landmark papal encyclical Rerum Novarum (Of New Things). Written by Pope Leo XIII, Rerum Novarum laid the foundation for the Catholic Church’s longtime involvement in workers’ issues. Read the entire speech here.
Sweeney to Keynote Conference on 120th Anniversary of Landmark ‘Rerum Novarum’
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AFL-CIO President Emeritus John Sweeney will keynote a two-day conference celebrating the 120th anniversary of the landmark papal encyclical Rerum Novarum (Of New Things).
The Church, Labor and the New Things of the Modern World conference at Catholic University in Washington, D.C., May 2-3, will bring together top Catholic religious leaders and scholars, journalists Harold Meyerson and E.J. Dionne and others to discuss the relevance of Catholic social teaching in the modern world.
Sweeney’s keynote speech on “Renewing the Historic Partnership of Unions and the Catholic Church in an Anti-Worker Era” on May 2 will explore Catholic involvement in labor issues around the world guided by the principles outlined in Rerum Novarum. While the conference is free and open to the public, you must register. Click here to learn more about the conference and here to RSVP.
Sweeney Receives Medal of Freedom, Nation’s Highest Civilian Honor
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AFL-CIO President Emeritus John Sweeney today received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor during a White House ceremony.
Sweeney served as president of the AFL-CIO from 1995–2009 and transformed the union movement into a voice for all working Americans. Under his leadership, the AFL-CIO led efforts to strengthen the middle class, create good jobs for all Americans and fight corporate greed.
Sweeney said he was “profoundly honored to receive this award among so many exceptional recipients.”
Sweeney to Receive Presidential Medal of Freedom, Highest Civilian Honor
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President Obama today named AFL-CIO President Emeritus John Sweeney as a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. The award is presented to individuals who have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.
Sweeney was among 15 recipients, with President Obama stating that “these outstanding honorees come from a broad range of backgrounds and they’ve excelled in a broad range of fields,”
but all of them have lived extraordinary lives that have inspired us, enriched our culture, and made our country and our world a better place. I look forward to awarding them this honor.
Shailor Named to State Department Post
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Barbara Shailor, former international affairs director of the AFL-CIO, has been named U.S. State Department’s new special representative for international labor affairs.
Shailor will lead State’s efforts to promote worker rights, conduct liaison with the global labor movement and focus on strengthening the labor officer operations in U.S. embassies around the world.
Shailor led the AFL-CIO International Department for nearly 15 years, serving as senior adviser to AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and AFL-CIO President Emeritus John Sweeney on foreign and international policy issues. Prior to joining the AFL-CIO staff, Shailor served as international affairs director for the Machinists (IAM).
A State Department announcement says Shailor is
internationally recognized for her lifelong work to secure economic, social, and political rights for workers in the U.S. and throughout the world.
Sweeney: ‘Working People Want Action on Creating New Jobs’
The nation’s political leaders have a choice: They can strike out on a new economic course for America that will turn around the nation’s economy or they can give in to political paralysis and yield to the demands of the financial and corporate elites.
Speaking Friday before a Harvard University study group on “Working Class Revolt,” AFL-CIO President Emeritus and Harvard Fellow John Sweeney and AFL-CIO Policy Director Damon Silvers said policymakers failed to heed the union movement’s warnings against a campaign of radical federal deregulation and corporate empowerment—one that celebrated private greed over public service.
John Sweeney Named Harvard Fellow
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AFL-CIO President Emeritus John Sweeney has been named a resident fellow for the spring term at Harvard’s Institute of Politics. When Sweeney retired as AFL-CIO president in September, he vowed to become a “union warrior at large,” and now he will share his more than 50-years experience in the U.S. union movement with Harvard students.
The institute is part of the John F. Kennedy School of Government, and resident fellows participate in the intellectual life of the Harvard community and lead weekly study groups on a range of topics.
Sweeney, one of six resident fellows, will be joined by two mayors, Manny Diaz, former mayor of Miami and former president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, and Greg Nickels of Seattle, also former U.S. Conference of Mayors president. Michèle Pierre-Louis, former prime minister of Haiti, former Rep. Ernest Istook (R-Okla.) and Mary Catherine Andrews, a former Bush assistant and director of the Office of Global Communications, also are resident fellows.
In congratulating Sweeney, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said:
The Harvard Resident Fellowship offers John Sweeney an excellent opportunity to educate the nation’s next generation of leaders on the critical importance of unions. He will be a superb ambassador in representing union workers and their families.
American Rights at Work Honors Sweeney, Employee Free Choice Champions
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AFL-CIO President Emeritus John Sweeney received the top honor at last night’s 5th annual American Rights at Work Eleanor Roosevelt Awards for his long-term dedication on behalf of workers’ freedom to form unions.
Business Leaders for a Fair Economy and “West Wing” actor Richard Schiff also were recognized at last night’s event in Washington, D.C., where hundreds of labor activists and our allies gathered to celebrate their outstanding leadership.
Sweeney credited the union members, activists and advocacy groups who make up the coalition for making real progress on the Employee Free Choice Act:
You are the front-line fighters for social and economic justice, working towards a better future for America’s working families.
Speakers noted the tough fight ahead for passage of the bill but said we are closer than ever to passing the Employee Free Choice Act and making sure that the freedom to form a union and bargain for a better life is a reality.
Mass Work Stoppage Set to Protest Puerto Rico’s Layoffs, Union-Busting
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More than 200,000 people are expected to march in a mass rally tomorrow in San Juan, Puerto Rico, as part of a one-day work stoppage to protest Gov. Luis Fortuño’s plan to trim the budget deficit on the backs of workers.
Using recently passed legislation known as Public Law 7, the governor plans to lay off as many as 30,000 public employees and deny collective bargaining to the remainder of the island’s public employees. The U.S. Commonwealth, where unemployment is already at 15 percent, is set to receive $6 billion in federal economic recovery funds, more than enough to cover a projected $3.2 billion budget deficit.
Fortuño, a former Republican delegate to the U.S. Congress, is using the island’s deep budget deficit as a pretext to busting the union and privatizing public services, the Puerto Rican union movement says.
