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Service + Solidarity: The Working People Weekly List
AFL-CIO
Every week, we bring you a roundup of the top news and commentary about issues and events important to working families. Here’s the latest edition of the Working People Weekly List.
Service + Solidarity: Meet Michelle: “Michelle Simmons is a letter carrier who lives and works in Grand Island, Nebraska, and is a member of the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC). Grand Island is a COVID-19 hot spot with one of the highest density rates of contagion anywhere in the country.”
Service + Solidarity: Meet Brent Kirby: “Brent Kirby is a musician based in Cleveland and a member of the American Federation of Musicians (AFM) Local 4. In addition to his solo career, Kirby performs with Brent Kirby & His Luck and the Jack Fords, and leads a monthly Gram Parsons revival. Kirby recently performed in a virtual concert series produced by the Cleveland Federation of Musicians Local 4 and the Local 4 Music Fund.”
Tammy Johnson Leads Wyoming’s Labor Movement, Fighting for Struggling Workers and the Unemployed: “With the Wyoming Legislature scheduled to...
Tammy Johnson Leads Wyoming’s Labor Movement, Fighting for Struggling Workers and the Unemployed
Wyoming State AFL-CIO
With the Wyoming Legislature scheduled to begin an emergency session later this week, Wyoming State AFL-CIO Executive Secretary Tammy Johnson (USW) is taking the lead fighting for workers in her home state. Policymakers are considering a bill that includes three major components: unemployment insurance (UI), workers’ compensation and rent relief. The UI provisions would hold employers harmless as the state provides additional money to cover the increase in UI claims, and the rent relief portion would provide additional eviction protections for tenants.
However, Johnson and the state federation are working to change the state’s workers’ compensation system so that all front-line workers who get infected will be presumed to have been infected on the job. Currently, most employers are exempted from the state’s workers’ compensation system unless their employees are performing “extra hazardous” jobs. Johnson said legislators were surprised to learn that many grocery store workers in Wyoming would not be...
Service + Solidarity: Meet Michelle
Michelle Simmons is a letter carrier who lives and works in Grand Island, Nebraska, and is a member of the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC). Grand Island is a COVID-19 hot spot with one of the highest density rates of contagion anywhere in the country.
She speaks here about what it feels like to be considered "essential."
Kenneth Quinnell
Thu, 05/14/2020 - 10:36
Tags:
COVID-19
Labor Is Pioneering a New Kind of Relief Effort in the Twin Cities
UFCW
Scores of workers across America have been laid off through no fault of their own, and still many of them are not eligible for federal benefits during these unprecedented times. In Minnesota’s Twin Cities, the Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation (MRLF) is organizing to provide support to those workers who can’t get the support they need from our federal government.
Led by President Chelsie Glaubitz Gabiou (UFCW), the MRLF is pioneering a new kind of initiative focused on filling that gap. The Twin Cities Hospitality Relief Effort is specifically designed to help laid-off hospitality workers who are being left behind. The labor federation is giving direct one-on-one assistance to dozens of these workers who need immediate help with health care, housing and money to survive.
“A lot of hospitality workers are not eligible for government assistance for a number of reasons: they receive much of their income from tips, they have families with mixed immigration status, they received a combination of wages and 1099 forms, or they worked for many...
Labor Radio–Podcast Weekly: Fire Fighters and COVID-19, the Longest Wildcat Strike and More
Labor Radio-Podcast Weekly
The latest episode of the Labor Radio-Podcast Weekly features firefighters during COVID-19, the country’s longest wildcat strike, a new show and more. This week’s highlights include:
IAFF Podcast: Hosts Mark Treglio and Doug Stern talk with members of the Fire Fighters health and safety division about how their members are dealing with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic: “Our firefighters and paramedics are used to risking their lives and safety every day when they go to work, but the sheer scope of the virus, combined with the lack of PPE in some communities, creates a very anxiety-provoking situation.”
Working People: Track laborer and writer John Tormey interviews working-class Kentucky artist, writer and radio host Terry Tapp about his latest book, “A Serf’s Journal: The Story of the United States’ Longest Wildcat Strike.”
En Masse: A teaser from our very latest network member, an exciting new podcast called En Masse that’s dedicated to telling “stories of struggle and hope from the...
A Chuukese Registered Nurse’s Story During #NursesWeek
Let’s uplift Marina Robinson, a Chuukese registered nurse in Honolulu working in the OB-GYN department. She is proud to bring the idea of aterenges, or family, into her care work. She keeps pregnant people and their families safe during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Like so many others, Robinson is concerned that worker protections are not being prioritized in the nation’s response. Her concerns are heightened because of the high number of essential workers and the prevalence of existing chronic health conditions in Pacific Islander communities. Some states and counties are beginning to report that Pacific Islanders are disproportionately affected by COVID-19, including California and Nevada. Our society’s inequities are especially revealed during this pandemic.
That’s why we are fighting for major changes that will bring us through the COVID-19 health crisis as safe as possible and build strong and prepared communities for the future.
Join us to protect essential workers.
Kenneth Quinnell
Tue, 05/12/2020 - 10:09
Tags:
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Service + Solidarity: Meet Brent Kirby
Brent Kirby is a musician based in Cleveland and a member of the American Federation of Musicians (AFM) Local 4. In addition to his solo career, Kirby performs with Brent Kirby & His Luck and the Jack Fords and leads a monthly Gram Parsons revival. Kirby recently performed in a virtual concert series produced by the Cleveland Federation of Musicians Local 4 and the Local 4 Music Fund.
These concerts are part of a fundraiser for the Musicians’ Relief Fund, a fund working to assist northeast Ohio musicians who have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. All donations received by the Local 4 Music Fund will go toward the Musicians’ Relief Fund and to the assistance of our cultural community.
Donate here: go.aflcio.org/afm.
Kenneth Quinnell
Mon, 05/11/2020 - 11:06
Tags:
COVID-19
AFSCME: Strong Public Services Needed to Beat Pandemic, Reopen Economy
AFSCME launched two ads calling on Congress and President Trump to send aid to state and local governments to keep front-line public service workers on the job. AFSCME President Lee Saunders said: "Front-line health care workers, corrections officers, home and child care providers, sanitation workers and other public service workers put their lives on the line every day to save ours. America refuses to thank them with pink slips. Public service workers and the services they provide are essential to beating this pandemic and opening the economy."
Kenneth Quinnell
Mon, 05/11/2020 - 08:11
Hoosiers Need Help from Mike Pence, Not a Visit and Photo-Op
Indiana AFL-CIO
Brett Voorhies (USW) is president of the Indiana State AFL-CIO, a federation of more than 400 local unions representing nearly 300,000 working Hoosiers.
When [Vice President] Mike Pence returns to Indiana on Thursday, he’ll find Hoosiers in the grips of a crisis unlike anything we’ve witnessed in generations. Cases of the coronavirus are climbing, our health care system is being overwhelmed and countless working people are being forced to choose between our health and a paycheck.
We need more than a photo-op. We need help, and we need it now.
Unions are working to empower and protect those in harm’s way, but we should not have to do this alone. Our government must do its part to protect working people from infectious diseases.
But for months, President Donald Trump has stood in the way of the full-scale federal response that this moment demands. He ignored his own advisers, downplayed the virus, and wasted precious time that could have been used to prepare for the coming pandemic. He did not heed the labor movement’s early...
Economy Loses 20.5 Million Jobs in April; Unemployment Jumps to 14.7%
The U.S. economy lost 20.5 million jobs in April, taking payroll employment back to levels last seen in spring 2011 when the economy was recovering from the Great Recession, and the unemployment rate jumped by a historic amount to 14.7%, according to figures released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The unemployment rate for white males is 12.4%, the largest for white men in the post-World War II era and the first time it has been in double digits since that era.
In response to the April job numbers, AFL-CIO Chief Economist William Spriggs tweeted:
The unemployment rate in April jumped for all education categories, Less than high school from 6.8 to 21.2%, high school grads from 4.4 to 17.3%, some college and associate degree holders 3.7 to 15.0% and college grads 2.5 to 8.4%. @AFLCIO— William E. Spriggs (@WSpriggs) May 8, 2020 In another measure of labor market stress, among the 51.3% with jobs, the jump in part-time work for economic reasons was from 5,765,000 to 10,887,000; most of that reflecting slack business with a reduction in...
