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Letter Carriers' 'Stamp Out Hunger' Drive Is This Saturday
NALC
For the 27th year in a row, the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) will be conducting its "Stamp Out Hunger" Food Drive. Every year on the second Saturday in May, postal carriers, in addition to their regular workload, collect food from people in more than 10,000 cities across the country. Each year, it is the largest one-day food drive in the world.
Doing your part in the food drive is super easy. On May 11, leave bags of nonperishable food items by your mailbox. During their regular mail route, letter carriers pick up the bags and deliver the food to local food agencies with the help of countless volunteers.
Over time, more than 1.5 billion pounds of food have been collected and distributed through the drive, boosting pantries and agencies during one of their slowest periods for donations.
This year's partners include: the AFL-CIO, the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), the National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association, the U.S. Postal Service, United Way Worldwide, Valpak, Valassis, CVS Health and Kellogg's.
To learn...
Save Our Pensions: What Working People Are Doing This Week
AFL-CIO
Welcome to our regular feature, a look at what the various AFL-CIO unions and other working family organizations are doing across the country and beyond. The labor movement is big and active—here's a look at the broad range of activities we're engaged in this week.
A. Philip Randolph Institute:
New Report Names Nearly 4,000 Companies Profiting Off of Private Prison Industry https://t.co/dbtJPY3lA6
— APRI National (DC) (@APRI_National) May 6, 2019
Actors' Equity:
Tony award nominee @LilliCooper shares how she relates to the sacrifice that comes with being a performer. #TuesdayThoughts pic.twitter.com/zEgRZACOyT
— Actors' Equity (@ActorsEquity) May 7, 2019
AFGE:
The @DeptVetAffairs proposals are geared toward changing VA employees from “civil servants” into just plain “servants.” https://t.co/OJNoYyjB0U
— AFGE (@AFGENational) May 2, 2019
AFSCME:
A new rule...
Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Profiles: Chinese Railroad Laborers
Harper's Weekly, 1867
For Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, the AFL-CIO is spotlighting various Asian Americans and Pacific Americans who have worked and continue to work at the intersection of civil and labor rights. Our first profile this month features the Chinese laborers who helped build the first transcontinental railroad in North America.
May 10 marks the 150th anniversary of the completion of the first transcontinental railroad. As the Civil War ended, Congress passed legislation granting land and funding for the Union Pacific Railroad and the Central Pacific Railroad companies to begin construction on the western portion, which would connect with existing rail lines in the east. Central Pacific began building eastward from Sacramento, California, while Union Pacific worked westward from Council Bluffs, Iowa.
As the project ramped up, Central Pacific put out an ad to hire 5,000 workers, but only got hundreds of responses from white laborers. Those they did hire quickly tired of the low pay and hard work, and Leland Stanford and...
Colorado Legislature Votes to Protect Local Minimum Wage Laws
Denver Area Labor Federation
Last week, the Colorado Legislature passed a bill to repeal the state's 1999 law that prohibits local governments from setting a minimum wage higher than the state level. The Colorado law was part of a wave of measures nationwide pushed by corporate interests trying to keep wages low by preempting democracy. Since then, working people in Colorado have been working to overturn the limitations placed on the minimum wage and will finally do so when Gov. Jared Polis signs the bill, which he is expected to do in the coming days.
After the passage of the 1999 law, the state legislature kept Colorado's minimum wage at the federal level. In 2006, though, voters approved Initiative 42, which increased the state's minimum wage and required adjustments based on inflation. But by 2016, the state's minimum wage had only risen to $8.31 per hour, an amount that made it nearly impossible for working families to afford basic needs. In 2016, voters proposed and passed Amendment 70, which will raise the state minimum wage to $12 an hour.
But...
No Place for Violence: 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.
Violence Has No Place in the Workplace: "Violence should never be part of the job. But the reality is violence is now the third-leading cause of workplace deaths, resulting in nearly 29,000 serious injuries every year. Nurses, medical assistants, emergency responders and social workers face some of the greatest threats, suffering more than 70 percent of all workplace assaults. Women workers are also at particular risk, suffering two out of every three serious workplace violence injuries. The Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Services Workers Act (H.R. 1309, S. 851), introduced by Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.) and Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), would help protect these workers."
Paducah Unions Observe Workers Memorial Day by Helping Feed the Hungry: "Union families gather on Workers Memorial Day to remember men and women who lost their lives on the job the...
North Woods North Star
Dan Neumann
After years of dealing with an intransigent governor, the Maine AFL-CIO is advancing a pro-labor agenda in the state after victories at the ballot box last year. With their endorsed candidate for governor elected to the Maine House with strong union support, the door is now open for opportunities to pass meaningful legislation for the working people of Maine.
Meanwhile in the legislature, Senate President Troy Jackson, a member of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT), has been a strong advocate for a number of pro-worker policies. Along with a number of other union members elected to state office through the Maine AFL-CIO union candidates program, working people in Maine have a reason to believe that real change is achievable, and the Maine AFL-CIO is leading the way.
Working together with Machinists (IAM) District 4, the Maine AFL-CIO is supporting an effort by a group of North Woods loggers and wood haulers to urge lawmakers in Augusta to support a bill that would grant them the right to organize. The woods workers, who recently formed the New England Loggers Cooperative/IAM,...
Get to Know AFL-CIO's Affiliates: California School Employees Association
AFL-CIO
Next up in our series that takes a deeper look at each of our affiliates is the California School Employees Association (CSEA).
Name of Union: California School Employees Association
Mission: CSEA represents classified school employees across California in collective bargaining efforts while working to further the professional and legislative goals of its members, students and communities.
Current Leadership of Union: Ben Valdepeña is the 45th president of CSEA. He has worked as a custodian with the Yucaipa-Calimesa Joint Unified School District since 1983. He has held a variety of elected and appointed leadership positions locally and with CSEA. He also serves as an executive vice president of the California Labor Federation.
Keith Pace serves as executive director, Rob Feckner is vice president of the CalPERS Board of Administration, and Clyde Rivers represents CSEA on the AFL-CIO Executive Council and California Labor Federation Executive Board. The CSEA board of directors is made up of five officers and 10 area...
Paducah Unions Observe Workers Memorial Day by Helping Feed the Hungry
Berry Craig
Union families gather on Workers Memorial Day to remember men and women who lost their lives on the job the previous year.
“This year, we wanted to do something different,” said Kyle Henderson, president of the Paducah-based Western Kentucky AFL-CIO Area Council.
So on Saturday, about 30 members of council-affiliated unions grabbed shovels and helped start a living memorial to deceased workers. They planted about 40 dwarf apple trees whose fresh fruit will help feed the hungry.
(This year, Workers Memorial Day is Sunday. But many unions held observances on Saturday.)
More than 250 men, women and kids pitched in to boost Project Pomona, a city nonprofit started by Bryant Hileman.
He said many times local food pantries are swamped by the need for food. Project Pomona is designed to reduce the number of food insecure households by planting and cultivating orchards and donating the harvest to the food pantries.
Hileman named his nonprofit for the Roman goddess of fruitful abundance.
Project...
Economy Gains 263,000 Jobs in April; Unemployment Declines to 3.6%
The U.S. economy gained 263,000 jobs in April, and the unemployment rate declined slightly to 3.6%, according to figures released this morning by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Continued lower levels of job growth provide good reason for the Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee to express caution in considering any interest rate hikes.
In response to the April job numbers, AFL-CIO Chief Economist William Spriggs tweeted:
Though the unemployment rate fell to 3.6% the share of Americans holding a job remained steady. Labor force participation fell 0.2%. The number employed fell, pointing to a very mixed picture for workers. #JobsReport @AFLCIO #1u— William E. Spriggs (@WSpriggs) May 3, 2019
After a rough three months, the Black unemployment rate stabilized at 6.7%, unchanged from March; while the employment to population ratio edged up for men and women @CBTU72 @APRI_National @AFLCIO #1u— William E. Spriggs (@WSpriggs) May 3, 2019
Unemployment rate for LatinX fell from 4.7 to 4.2% but shows the bigger trend, drop in the number employed...
What (Guest-Worker) Women Want
We’re farm workers, crab pickers and cruise ship workers. We’re chocolate packers, engineers, veterinarians, nurses and teachers from all around the world. We are united by our motivation, yearn for knowledge and commitment to creating change in our communities. We stand with guest-worker women from around the world to ensure that the policies that affect us reflect our experiences.
In several different ways, we have all endured inequity and hardships in our journeys to the United States and in our workplace. Our hopes to provide a better life for our children and families have been met with deceit, discrimination and lack of access to opportunity. Many of us have suffered sexual harassment, one that doesn't let us live or work. Basic medical aid is nonexistent, with something as little as an aspirin being inaccessible to us. At our employment-provided housing, we are provided one bathroom for all and must take cold showers. We live and work in physical and mental isolation. We often don’t speak the language, nor know anyone beyond the employer. Many of our employers take our passports and visas upon arrival....
