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Pride Month Profiles: Marsha P. Johnson
AFL-CIO
Throughout Pride Month, the AFL-CIO will be taking a look at some of the pioneers whose work sits at the intersection of the labor movement and the movement for LGBTQ equality. Our next profile is Marsha P. Johnson.
Marsha P. Johnson was an LGBTQ activist who became well known in New York City by being herself and fearing no judgment on her comfort as a black trans woman. She lived in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village, a socially liberal area where most LGBTQ people felt acceptance and salvation.
In 1968, a riot broke out at the Stonewall Inn, a popular LGBTQ bar, when police officers raided the building. This became known as one of the most important events that sparked the LGBTQ rights movement, commonly referred to as the Stonewall Riots or, more accurately, the Stonewall Uprising.
Author David Carter wrote that Johnson was one of three key figures leading the resistance, but Johnson modestly downplayed her role, saying, “I was uptown, and I didn’t get downtown until about two o’clock. When I got downtown, the place was already on fire, and there was a raid...
Sticking with the Union: The Working People Weekly List
Every week, we bring you a roundup of the top news and commentary about issues and events important to working families. Here’s this week’s Working People Weekly List.
Working People Across the Country Reject Janus Ruling, Say We're 'Sticking with the Union': "After a narrow majority ruled against working people in the Janus v. AFSCME case, we have come together to reject attacks on our rights by corporate interests and their allies in government. All working people deserve a chance to prosper on the job and beyond. Unions are the answer. Learn more at FreedomToJoin.org."
Stand Up for All Workers' Rights: "Hardworking immigrant women and men were detained last week while simply trying to do their jobs at Fresh Mark meat processing plants in Ohio."
Baseball Food That’s Always a Hit: "A ball game just isn’t a ball game without the hot dogs, the salty snacks, the sodas and the beer. To best enjoy these goodies, we recommend ethical brands made by companies that treat their employees fairly. If you’re headed to the stadium, you can bring your own snacks (but don’t try this...
Stand Up for All Workers' Rights
Hardworking immigrant women and men were detained last week while simply trying to do their jobs at Fresh Mark meat processing plants in Ohio.
Working people who do these incredibly difficult jobs should be treated with dignity, respect and fairness, no matter where they were born. This Saturday, June 30, working people will rally all over the country to address the broken policies that have led to the systemic violation of working families’ rights.
Click here to let us know that you’d like to RSVP for this Saturday's rally at Lafayette Square in Washington, D.C.
These raids destroy communities. No matter what side of the political aisle you fall on, this is wrong. Seeking a better life for yourself and your family is not a crime. We cannot allow a climate of fear that leaves workers too afraid to stand up for their rights on the job and in their communities to continue. The attacks on these workers call to question the freedom of all working people.
Any system that would allow immigrant families to be torn apart at our borders while politicians back the devastation of working families...
Working People Across the Country Reject Janus Ruling, Say We're 'Sticking with the Union'
AFL-CIO
After a narrow majority ruled against working people in the Janus v. AFSCME case, we have come together to reject attacks on our rights by corporate interests and their allies in government. All working people deserve a chance to prosper on the job and beyond. Unions are the answer. Learn more at FreedomToJoin.org.
Here's what working people advocates from around the country are saying about Janus and the next steps we must take as working people.
Alaska AFL-CIO President Vince Beltrami:
Today, we commit to not only sustaining the labor movement, but building and strengthening it so more working people can negotiate a fair deal in return for their hard work. Despite this decision, Alaska’s unions will continue to lead the fight for a balanced economy that gives everyone a fair shot.
Allegheny–Fayette Central Labor Council President Darrin Kelly:
Today’s ruling by the US Supreme Court went against 40 years of legal precedent and obliterated current laws in nearly half the states in the nation. It...
Baseball Food That’s Always a Hit
Labor 411
A ball game just isn’t a ball game without the hot dogs, the salty snacks, the sodas and the beer. To best enjoy these goodies, we recommend ethical brands made by companies that treat their employees fairly. If you’re headed to the stadium, you can bring your own snacks (but don’t try this with the beer)! If you’re watching at home, consult the list of products below and make it an ethical baseball feast. Let’s all support good middle-class jobs as we slug, throw and pitch our way to a stronger America.
Hot Dogs and Franks
Ball Park
Butterball
Farmland
Farmer John
Hebrew National
Oscar Mayer
Beer
Budweiser
Coors
Miller
Pabst
Samuel Adams
Peanuts
Frito-Lay Salted In-Shell Peanuts
Popcorn
Act II
Orville Redenbacher
Soft Drinks
Barq’s Root Beer
Coca-Cola
Dr. Pepper
Mountain Dew
Pepsi
And hundreds more. Check out our listings at Labor411.org.
This post originally appeared at Labor 411.
Kenneth Quinnell...
Congress and the President Need to Listen to Workers on Trade
AFL-CIO
If you read this blog regularly, you already know that the United States has a ginormous, humongous trade deficit with China. The goods trade deficit with China reached $375 billion in 2017. This deficit has cost 3.4 million U.S. jobs between 2001 and 2015. About 2.6 million of those lost jobs were in manufacturing, including more than 1.2 million in computer and electronic manufacturing. You probably also know that the loss of all these jobs pulls down wages, and that bad trade policies lower an average U.S. worker’s pay by $2,000 every year.
The labor movement has been working to fix U.S. trade policy for more than 20 years. After years of having our trade recommendations ignored by both Democratic and Republican presidents and Congresses, President Donald Trump has started to take some of our advice. He announced tariffs on China to deter it from stealing patents and copyrights and pressuring companies to transfer technology and jobs from the United States (many companies are ready to outsource anyway—working people don’t need extra threats from...
Working People Stand Resolute in the Face of Janus Ruling
AFL-CIO
While a narrow and ideologically driven majority on the Supreme Court ruled against working people in Janus v. AFSCME, Council 31, working people will not allow this attack to silence our collective voices. We will continue to organize and bring our collective voices together in opposition to the ongoing assault on our rights.
Advocates for working people soundly rejected the ruling in Janus. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka:
The Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision in Janus v. AFSCME, Council 31, abandons decades of commonsense precedent. In this case, a bare majority of the court, over the vigorous dissent of four justices, has conceded to the dark web of corporations and wealthy donors who wish to take away the freedoms of working people. Until it is overturned, this decision will be a political stain on what is intended to be the most honorable, independent body in the world. But more importantly, it will further empower the corporate elites in their efforts to thwart the aspirations of millions of working people standing together for a better life....
Intertwined: The Labor Movement and LGBT Rights
Through all the celebration of LGBTQ Pride this month, there’s been a valuable opportunity to reflect on the hard-fought victories, brutal setbacks, and tenacious struggles that have ultimately delivered so much for so many. And just as importantly, there has been time to think about what lies ahead in that fight for justice.
By the time I was elected president of the United Mine Workers of America in 1982, the fight for LGBTQ rights was already in full swing. Thirteen years after the Stonewall riots, activists were marching, shouting and organizing for the basic dignities they had been denied for so long. It was a groundbreaking movement for equal treatment in all the fundamental facets of life, from employment and housing to health care and personal safety.
These pioneers knew that change wasn’t simply going to be handed down from the halls of power or granted as an act of corporate benevolence. Change would only come when a diverse and united front stood together to demand it. In the face of unrepentant bigotry and blind loyalty to the status quo, grassroots organizing led the way...
World Cup 2026 Offers FIFA an Opportunity to Live Up to Its Human Rights Commitment
Last week, the international governing body for football, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), awarded the 2026 World Cup to a joint bid from Canada, Mexico and the United States. The planning and execution of one of the world's top sporting events will provide a test to the human rights commitment of FIFA.
The bidding process for the 2026 World Cup required much stronger commitments to human rights for the hosts and organizations that participate in the planning and execution of the massive event. The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), with consultation from the AFL-CIO and other advocates for working people, pushed FIFA to include strong human rights protections in the process. FIFA's commitment to this and other improvements in the process show some progress, but there is still a long way to go.
ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow spoke about the 2026 process:
None of the three host countries has a perfect record on workers’ rights, with Mexico and the USA ranking poorly in the ITUC Index. The ITUC will...
Working People Say Neither the U.S. nor Canada Gets Trade Policy Right
FLANKER/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS/PUBLIC DOMAIN
Working people can’t afford any more trade policies written by and for corporations. But neither should we be pawns in a misguided power struggle that antagonizes allies or empowers corporations but fails to fix our economy.
A recent Global News/Ipsos poll revealed that more Americans support Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s actions on trade than President Donald Trump’s. In part, that may be because Trudeau seems more "likable." It may be because Americans have been treated to a steady stream of pundits who—like the global corporations who profit from unfair trade—oppose all forms of trade enforcement and who are purposely trying to make trade enforcement a dirty word. Wall Street has been working overtime to spook us with the specter of a "trade war," and the scare tactics have apparently been working.
The truth is that Trudeau, likable though he may be, is hurting Canadians by advancing the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) trade deals,...
