Praise for Wisconsin Workers’ Protests
UAW President Bob King says he and the union’s members fully support Wisconsin workers’ “courageous efforts”:
to fight back against this thinly veiled, purely partisan effort to destroy unions in favor of a system [Gov. Scott]Walker and his well-heeled political pals will control.
Also in a story on the UAW website, UAW Local 469 member Mike Bink, who works at Master Lock in Milwaukee, says the governor is merely paying back his political supporters from the business community.
Destroying unions has nothing to do with getting Wisconsin’s fiscal house in order or bringing jobs and revenue to the state. Teachers, nurses, librarians and other public workers should not be sacrificed to satisfy the governor’s corporate cronies.
Click here for the full story.
New Jersey State AFL-CIO President Charles Wowkanech and New Jersey federation Secretary-Treasurer Laurel Brennan say, “The attacks on Wisconsin’s public employees are deplorable.”
Human Rights Day: Workers Ask, ‘What’s Gone Wrong at Chase?’
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Today is International Human Rights Day and hundreds of union members, religious leaders, activists, farm workers and victims of bank home foreclosures are protesting at 100 JPMorgan Chase Bank branches across the country to demand the bank respect the basic human rights of people to have decent places to live and work.
Large banks such as Chase are flush with cash and protestors handed out fliers asking, “What’s Gone Wrong at Chase?” and demanded the bank declare a one-year moratorium on home foreclosures. The Wall Street Journal reports that Chase has $19.5 billion worth of home loans in foreclosure, more than any other bank.
ILCA Conference Nov. 19 Features Awards, Social Media Panel
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The nation’s labor press will come together in Washington, D.C., Nov. 19 to celebrate the best in their craft and to learn about new and better ways to deliver the union message at the International Labor Communications Association’s (ILCA‘s) annual conference.
The Media Awards luncheon highlights the event, with keynote speaker Ed Ott, former executive director of the New York City Central Labor Council, set to discuss trends in nontraditional organizing drives and how theses techniques have been used successfully to help service workers win respect on the job.
During the luncheon, Jennifer Berkshire, a writer for the Massachusetts AFT Advocate, will receive the 2010 Max Steinbock Award, the highest honor given by the ILCA. In her story, We Wanted a Voice,” she recounts the successful effort by teachers at Conservatory Lab Charter School in Brighton, Mass., to form a union.
Union Support Pouring in for Haiti
The support by union members continues to pour in to help the survivors of last week’s massive earthquake in Haiti. You can take action now to help the Haitian survivors by clicking on the AFL-CIO Haitian Disaster Relief site here.
As of yesterday, nearly $13,000 had been donated to the Solidarity Center’s Earthquake Relief for Haitian Workers’ Campaign. Several unions have pledged thousands more to the fund.
And in cities across the country, liaisons of the AFL-CIO Community Services Network are working tirelessly to organize volunteer efforts and donations to help Haitian workers in need.
More Die on Job in New York State Because of Bush’s Safety and Health Cuts
Eight years of Bush administration cutbacks in funding for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), particularly for an adequate inspection force, puts New York state workers at greater risk of dying on the job, a new report reveals.
“Dying for Work in New York,” released yesterday, also says immigrant, minority and nonunion workers are at greater risk on the job. The report was sponsored by the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (NYCOSH), the New York State AFL-CIO and the New York City Central Labor Council.
