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#HeroesActNow: In the States Roundup
AFL-CIO
It's time once again to take a look at the ways working people are making progress in the states. Click on any of the links to follow the state federations on Twitter.
Alaska State AFL-CIO:
#Alaskans are mailing @lisamurkowski and @SenDanSullivan to pass the #HeroesActNow to provide essential funding for the USPS. #SaveThePostOffice @AFLCIO #1u @NALC_National @APWUnational pic.twitter.com/LPEi5X0Xxr
— Alaska AFL-CIO (@AKAFLCIO) July 29, 2020
Arizona AFL-CIO:
Vote for Senator @Rios_Rebecca for AZ Senate in #LD27 in the August 4th Primary! #AZLabor2020 #Labor2020 #VOTE pic.twitter.com/OBcuZynIYV
— Arizona AFL-CIO (@ArizonaAFLCIO) July 13, 2020
California Labor Federation:
ICYMI: The vote for California Child Care Providers United represents a massive win for workers. #UnionsForAll #ChildCareisEssential https://t.co/LPalsABeis @SEIU @AFSCME @SEIULocal99
— California Labor Federation #BlackLivesMatter (@CaliforniaLabor) July 30, 2020
Colorado AFL-CIO:
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Service + Solidarity Spotlight: Union Members Work on Missouri Power Plant
UA Local 562
Members of United Association of Union Plumbers and Pipefitters (UA) Local 562 continue to deliver quality work, despite the challenges of working during the pandemic.
The UA and its leaders recognized their members who are working at the Portage Des Sioux Power Plant in Missouri. “It is amazing to walk on the site and see our men and women doing such quality work. They really do make each jobsite better every day. [We’re] very proud of everyone for their hard work,” said Local 562 Business Representative William Doherty.
Kenneth Quinnell
Thu, 07/30/2020 - 16:12
Tags:
COVID-19, Community Service
Report: Retail Banks Must Take Urgent Steps to Protect Employees and Customers
CBB
A new report released by the Committee for Better Banks (CBB) shows the urgent need for major financial institutions to protect the physical health of employees and customers and to protect customers' economic assets. CBB analyzed 12 of the nation's top banks, with combined total assets of $8.5 trillion and $155 billion in profits last year. The report ranked banks according to worker protections, lending policies, consumer protections and charitable contributions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nick Weiner, lead organizer for CBB, said:
Throughout the pandemic, CBB has heard from bank workers across the country about the lack of safety measures and financial protections both for employees and their customers. This led us to do a deep, comprehensive review of how U.S. banks have responded to COVID-19 and ensure that, as new cases are skyrocketing, bank executives know what they must improve. While banks’ poor grades did not surprise us, the inconsistencies across the banking industry around worker and customer protections is truly...
Executive Paywatch: 1,000-to-1 Pay Ratio CEOs Furlough Workers
AFL-CIO
AFL-CIO's Executive Paywatch report, released today, shows that the imbalance between the pay of corporate CEOs and working people persists as a problem. In particular, the report shines light on the 20 companies with pay ratio disparities higher than 1,000-to-1 that furloughed workers in 2020.
AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler (IBEW) expanded on this new feature of the report:
With the COVID-19 shutdowns earlier this year, we saw many CEOs take salary cuts as a token of their solidarity with furloughed workers. While these CEO salary cuts made for good headlines, they are mostly window dressing. Base salary makes up less than 8% of total compensation for CEOs of S&P 500 companies. Most CEO pay is in equity awards. The real story in executive compensation was that companies ramped up their equity awards to senior executives at the beginning of this year. Meanwhile, millions of working people have been furloughed or laid off due to COVID-19 related shutdowns. This disparity represents a fundamental imbalance in our economy. Working people are...
Service + Solidarity Spotlight: Machinists Rally for BIW Strikers in Maine
IAM
Working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our regular Service + Solidarity Spotlight series, we'll showcase one of those stories every day. Here's today's story.
Members of Machinists (IAM) Local S6 in Maine are entering their sixth week on strike against shipbuilder Bath Iron Works (BIW), but they are staying strong. On Saturday, IAM International President Robert Martinez Jr. and IAM General Vice President Brian Bryant addressed hundreds of Local S6 members and community allies at a rally, saying that Bath Iron Works, a subsidiary of General Dynamics, “is showing the nation what corporate greed looks like.” Martinez said, “This company is taking our Maine jobs and subcontracting them to outside contractors who take their paychecks back to Alabama, Mississippi and other places outside our state….I think we need to stand up and question [BIW President] Dirk Lesko on this $45 million tax break.” Some 4,300 members of IAM are on strike in the largest current...
Service + Solidarity Spotlight: Members of Rockford United Labor Help Build a ‘Strong Neighborhood House’
Rockford United Labor
Working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our regular Service + Solidarity Spotlight series, we'll showcase one of those stories every day. Here's today's story.
Members of Rockford United Labor, led by President Bill Corey (UBC), are working with contractors to build a new United Way “Strong Neighborhood House” in Rockford, Illinois. The Strong Neighborhood House is being built to create a safe place for residents of the area to interact with law enforcement, obtain human service resources they may not be directly connected to and to provide children with learning experiences that may not otherwise be readily available. Contractors are donating the supplies and union members are providing the labor.
Kenneth Quinnell
Tue, 07/28/2020 - 11:55
Tags:
COVID-19, Community Service
Labor Radio–Podcast Weekly: Manufacturing, Union Dues and More
Labor Radio-Podcast Weekly
The latest episode of the "Labor Radio–Podcast Weekly" features manufacturing, union dues and more.
On the latest Activate LIVE podcast, Owen Herrnstadt, chief of staff at the Machinists (IAM), takes a look at presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden's new manufacturing proposal: "We are tired of hearing about all the jobs that are being re-shored. When we know our members are out of work, when we know their jobs are still going to China, when we know their jobs are still going to Mexico and what we really need are real solutions that are going to put U.S. workers back to work and put our economy back together."
On the Firefighter Kingdom podcast, arson investigator Capt. Ramon Martinez: "Our specialty is fire. We don't go out and look for pulling people over for DUI’s. We don't look for domestic violence, but when we do show up on scene, it's, it's incredible because we have the knowledge of being a fireman and we're able to see the fire for what it is."
Labor Express Radio host Jerry Mead-Lucero highlights reports...
Service + Solidarity Spotlight: Apprentices Help Conserve Marine Life in the Chesapeake Bay
Union Sportsmen's Alliance
Working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our regular Service + Solidarity Spotlight series, we'll showcase one of those stories every day. Here's today's story.
Earlier this month, apprentices at the Plasterers and Cement Masons (OPCMIA) Local 592 training center in New Jersey finished constructing 60 reef balls that were loaded up and sent off to their new home in the Chesapeake Bay. The Coastal Conservation Association will place them there to provide an improved aquatic habitat for a wide range of marine life. The reef balls were built as part of the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance’s Work Boots on the Ground program, putting union members’ skills to work and fulfilling the mission of the program by uniting the labor movement through conservation.
Kenneth Quinnell
Mon, 07/27/2020 - 11:55
Tags:
COVID-19, Community Service,...
Service + Solidarity Spotlight: Fire Fighters Rack Up Organizing Wins Across the South
IAFF
Working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our regular Service + Solidarity Spotlight series, we'll showcase one of those stories every day. Here's today's story.
The Fire Fighters (IAFF) union has organized four new bargaining units in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia over the past few weeks. These are significant organizing wins for the union and part of its strategy to increase membership within the IAFF across the South. The IAFF has been organizing firefighters in large- and medium-sized cities to help bring the power of collective bargaining to unrepresented workers. “We decided to organize not only to formalize our relationship with the fire board, but also to develop a health and wellness program,” said David Silva, president of the newly formed IAFF Local 5271 in Irmo, South Carolina. “Our members want to focus on cancer prevention and to protect their overall health.”
Kenneth Quinnell
Fri, 07/24/2020 - 10:18
On the Passing of the Rev. C.T. Vivian and the Hon. John Lewis
AFL-CIO
Over the weekend, the civil rights community suffered the loss of two giants in the movement—the Rev. C.T. Vivian (95) and Rep. John Lewis (80). As the nation grapples with protests and demands for racial equality, we remember their unwavering commitment to social, racial and economic justice. Both friends to labor and colleagues of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., their lives were the embodiment of “good trouble, necessary trouble.”
AFL-CIO
John Lewis, a revered member of Congress serving in Georgia’s 5th District for more than three decades—and the longest-serving member of the Congressional Black Caucus—carried his passion for equal rights throughout his career. He began his fight for civil rights by using his young voice to dismantle the Jim Crow South. At age 23, Lewis was the youngest person to speak at the historic 1963 March on Washington. He also participated in lunch counter sit-ins, joined the Freedom Riders in their quest to register Black voters, and helped found the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Most notably, Lewis was...
