Republicans: No Time for Jobs, Attacks on Workers Come First

by Mike Hall, Nov 5, 2011

In 2011 alone, anti-worker legislators in Congress have launched nearly 50 attacks on the National Labor Relations Board and the nation’s labor law—the National Labor Relations Act—according to a new report from American Rights at Work (ARAW).

The assaults on workers’ rights comes at a time when most Americans say jobs are the nation’s No. 1 priority.

ARAW’s Zoe Bridges-Curry breaks down the attacks by Republican lawmakers on workers and their unions: 

They’ve introduced 24 bills and amendments; approved one continuing resolution; held eight hearings; and tied up the agency with eight threatening letters, four official requests for documents, and one subpoena—none of which created a single job. So it’s clear that their ultimate aim is to eliminate the rights and protections that ensure the 99 percent a fair shake in the workplace.

Click here for a detailed chart and here, here and here for a closer look at some of the attacks on workers and their unions. 

Permalink >>

Print This Article | E-Mail This Article | Comments (15)

American Rights at Work Offers Unions 101

by Mike Hall, Oct 28, 2011

Understanding unions, collective bargaining  and labor laws can get confusing enough without all of the misinformation that’s regularly spread around. But our friends at American Rights at Work have put together Unions 101, a handy guide to what unions do and why workers having a voice matters in today’s economy.

Unions 101 is a great resource for answering the questions your friends, colleagues and family might have about unions. The quick tutorial gives the nuts and bolts about what a union is—and isn’t—from what unions do to why join a union to laws that regulate unions.

Click here to visit the website and here to download a printable PDF of Unions 101.

Permalink >>

Print This Article | E-Mail This Article | Comments (1)

Join Twitter Action Asking Boehner: Where are the Jobs?

by Tula Connell, Sep 30, 2011

Permalink >>

Print This Article | E-Mail This Article | Comments (1)

Documentary: CAFTA Led to Workers’ Rights Violations in Honduras

by James Parks, Sep 26, 2011

Ever since it was passed five years ago, the Central America Free Trade Agreement-Dominican Republic  (CAFTA-DR) has led to an increase in unemployment, violations of worker rights and discrimination against women in Honduras, according to an about-to-be-released documentary.

In late July, members of the advocacy group STITCH hosted an all-women’s labor solidarity delegation to Honduras to assess the impact of CAFTA-DR on women in the region. During the 10-day delegation, participants met with women union leaders in various industries, including women in the textile and banana sectors, as well as women leaders from the Honduran National Resistance Front.

Read the rest of this entry »

Permalink >>

Print This Article | E-Mail This Article | Comments (4)

Study: U.S. Has Weakest Labor Protections Among Rich Nations

by James Parks, Sep 15, 2011

A new international comparison makes it clear just how weak  protections are for working people in the United States. University of Missouri-St. Louis associate professor Kenneth Thomas reviewed numbers from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and found that in 21 categories,

U.S. workers are more vulnerable than workers in any [OECD] members (rich industrialized democracies) or even the so-called growing BRIC countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China…to being fired unfairly, to not getting severance pay, to getting the least notice on mass layoffs or being fired, to being stuck on a mouse wheel of temporary positions.

Thomas also compared the United States labor protections with those in Estonia, Indonesia and South Africa for good measure. The result, in every case, Thomas says on his blog Middle Class Political Economist, is that

not only is the United States in last place, it isn’t even close.

Check out the numbers here.

Permalink >>

Print This Article | E-Mail This Article | Comments (18)

AFL-CIO, King Center Symposium on Jobs and Justice Set for Aug. 26

by James Parks, Aug 19, 2011

The AFL-CIO and the King Center is hosting a national symposium on jobs, justice and the American Dream on Aug. 26, two days before the official dedication of the historic Martin Luther King Jr. memorial in Washington, D.C.

We will live webcast the two featured panels of notable civil rights activists, worker-activists, elected leaders, academics and young people. We’ll let you know the webcast URL next week.   

You can participate in this historic symposium by submitting a question for the panelists. Just click here to ask your question. Panelists will select from among the questions submitted.

Read the rest of this entry »

Permalink >>

Print This Article | E-Mail This Article | Comments (1)

Human Rights Watch: Bahrain Illegally Fired 2,000 Workers

by James Parks, Jul 15, 2011

More than 2,000 workers in Bahrain have been dismissed from their jobs since late March, apparently for  participating in or supporting pro-democracy demonstrations, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said.

The labor movement in Bahrain has asserted that the dismissals have violated Bahraini labor laws.  Human Rights Watch adds the dismissals may also violate international standards, in particular those banning discrimination on the basis of political opinion.  HRW called on Bahrain’s government to reinstate and compensate the workers if an investigation finds they were illegally fired.

Read the rest of this entry »

Permalink >>

Print This Article | E-Mail This Article | Comments (2)

Clarence Darrow Knew Workers’ Rights are Civil Rights

by James Parks, Jul 15, 2011

With reactionaries like Wisconsin’s Gov. Scott Walker leading attacks on working people, Andrew Kersten, a University of Wisconsin-Green Bay history professor, says  famed 19th and 20th century labor lawyer Clarence Darrow would remind us that “labor rights are civil rights” and are “fundamental to the quest for equality, equity and freedom.”

In a Point of View column for the AFL-CIO, Kersten, who has written a biography of Darrow, says the lawyer would have scoffed at and shamed Walker for saying “collective bargaining was a an expensive entitlement.” Says Kersten:

In terms of the law, the idea that workers have rights to organize and collectively bargain is as old as the nation itself. 

Such a statement would be fighting words in most of the United States where workers are battling to keep their jobs, to maintain their wages and benefits and to remain connected to politics. Darrow’s message would be particularly poignant in Wisconsin, where we can already see what life is like without the ability to exercise labor rights.

Read the rest of this entry »

Permalink >>

Print This Article | E-Mail This Article | Comments (0)

ILO Takes Big Step Toward Domestic Workers Rule

Domestic workers from around the world celebrate agreement on an ILO convention on domestic worker rights.

Devon Whitman of the AFL-CIO Field Department reports on a huge victory for domestic workers at the International Labor Organization (ILO) meeting in Geneva, Switzerland.

Last night, following a week of intense negotiations, governments, employers and workers from across the globe reached agreement on the 19 articles which will make up the first international convention on domestic work at the 100th annual conference of the International Labor Organization (ILO). While the final vote of the ILO’s general body will take place on June 16, the victory last night marked a major achievement on the road to winning a strong international convention setting out the rights of domestic workers the world over.

An ILO “convention” sets an international labor standard. Governments  must ratify the convention for it to become the law in that nation.

Juana Flores, of Mujeres Unidas y Activas (Women United and Active) of San Francisco, said:

So many women throughout the world have never been recognized for their labor. With this convention the world is recognizing, for the first time, that domestic workers are workers like any other and deserve the same treatment.  I feel incredibly proud to have been able to represent the domestic workers of the United States in this process.

Read the rest of this entry »

Permalink >>

Print This Article | E-Mail This Article | Comments (2)

Rulings In Two Countries Affirm Immigrant Workers’ Rights

John See of AFT’s Public Affairs Department reports on two important rulings that protect the rights of immigrant workers.

Teachers across the globe are fighting back against abuse and exploitation. With the assistance of AFT and partner unions in the Philippines, the rights of teachers who came to the United States on temporary visas were affirmed recently  in rulings in  two countries.

The rulings involve more than 300 teachers who were recruited to come to Louisiana from the Philippines to teach in public schools. AFT began assisting the teachers last year and helped them file complaints with the U.S. Labor Department and Louisiana state labor officials. In the complaints the teachers said their passports were held by Universal Placement International (UPI), the recruiter that brought them to the United States, and they were threatened with deportation unless they paid thousands of dollars in excessive and illegal fees.

Read the rest of this entry »

Permalink >>

Print This Article | E-Mail This Article | Comments (2)