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No Enforcement, No Treaty: 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:
Attention all brothers and sisters, AND Youth Members! Please find the application for the A. Philip Randolph Institute 2019 NEC here!! If you have any questions, please direct them to Jaida Curtis at jcurtis@apri.org. Looking forward to seeing you all!
— APRI National (DC) (@APRI_National) April 10, 2019
Actors' Equity:
Ballots for the upcoming referendum vote will be sent out during the last week of April. Make sure your contact information, including your email and mailing address, is up to date in the Member Portal. https://t.co/KlcvpKvaYM pic.twitter.com/Tr4bTGehY7
— Actors' Equity (@ActorsEquity) April 18, 2019...
‘State of the Unions’ Podcast: Can't Stop, Won't Shop
AFL-CIO
In the latest episode of "State of the Unions," podcast co-hosts Julie and Tim talk to Kristen Johnson, a deli manager and shop steward at the Stop & Shop in Somerville, Massachusetts. Kristen and more than 30,000 of her co-workers, members of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), are out on strike for fair pay, benefits and respect on the job.
"State of the Unions" is a tool to help us bring you the issues and stories that matter to working people. It captures the stories of workers across the country and is co-hosted by two young and diverse members of the AFL-CIO team: Mobilization Director Julie Greene and Executive Speechwriter Tim Schlittner. A new episode drops every other Wednesday featuring interesting interviews with workers and our allies across the country, as well as compelling insights from the podcast’s hosts.
Listen to our previous episodes:
Talking about the #StampOutHunger food drive with Brian Renfroe, National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) executive vice president, and Christina Vela Davidson, NALC...
Stand with Stop & Shop Workers: 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.
Support Stop & Shop Workers: "Some 31,000 members of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) are on strike at Stop & Shop supermarkets across New England, walking off the job to fight back against slashed health care benefits. Stand with our brothers and sisters today and sign UFCW’s petition demanding that executives agree to a fair contract that reflects the true value of their workers."
Protecting the Most Vulnerable: In the States Roundup: "It's time once again to take a look at the ways working people are making progress in the states."
Meet the First Woman President of the Wisconsin AFL-CIO: "Elected the first woman president of the Wisconsin AFL-CIO, Stephanie Bloomingdale has more than two decades of experience in labor as an organizer, negotiator, trainer and activist. She served as secretary-treasurer of the Wisconsin AFL-CIO for...
Get to Know AFL-CIO's Affiliates: BCTGM
AFL-CIO
Next up in our series that takes a deeper look at each of our affiliates is the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM).
Name of Union: Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM)
Mission: The primary goal of the BCTGM has not changed in more than 130 years—to bring economic justice in the workplace to all workers in our jurisdiction and social justice to workers throughout the United States and Canada.
Current Leadership of Union: David B. Durkee has served as BCTGM international president since September 2012. Prior to his election as international president, Durkee served as international secretary-treasurer, international executive vice president, international director of organization and international representative.
Durkee began his life as a BCTGM activist in 1973 when he joined Local 280 (Evansville, Indiana) as a baker at Lewis Brothers Bakery. He was re-elected as international president by delegates to the BCTGM international constitutional conventions in...
Support Stop & Shop Workers
AFL-CIO
Some 31,000 members of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) are on strike at Stop & Shop supermarkets across New England, walking off the job to fight back against slashed health care benefits. Stand with our brothers and sisters today and sign UFCW’s petition demanding that executives agree to a fair contract that reflects the true value of their workers.
Thanks to the tireless labor of tens of thousands of working people, Stop & Shop is thriving. Its parent company, Ahold Delhaize, recorded profits of more than $2 billion last year. Over the past three years, its shareholders have pocketed $4 billion in stock buybacks.
Yet, Stop & Shop executives want even more—and they’re targeting the same workers who built that immense wealth. Going nearly two months without a contract, UFCW members have faced threats to their wages, health care, retirement and overall livelihoods.
Walking out of more than 240 stores throughout New England, working people are standing up for their most fundamental rights and dignities in the country’s largest private-sector...
Protecting the Most Vulnerable: 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.
Alabama AFL-CIO:
11th annual "Road Kill BBQ" is getting off to a great start. #1U pic.twitter.com/Cm9BXBUSX0— Alabama AFL-CIO (@AlabamaAFLCIO) April 3, 2019
Alaska AFL-CIO:
Thank you, @AKHouseMajority for protecting Alaska's most vulnerable. #akleg https://t.co/UTA3jaTd8r— Alaska AFL-CIO (@AKAFLCIO) April 7, 2019
Arizona AFL-CIO:
Proposal to lower minimum wage for young workers dead https://t.co/aGJRsWeL9N— Arizona AFL-CIO (@ArizonaAFLCIO) April 8, 2019
Arkansas AFL-CIO:
The official vote for HB1955. Thank the 52 members who voted to keep in place the very limited protections for injured workers & surviving families. #arpx #arleg501-682-6211 pic.twitter.com/KKQkGV37BN— Arkansas AFL-CIO (@ArkansasAFLCIO) April 5, 2019
California Labor Federation:
"Side hustles are not simply a new version of working as a “wage slave” so that we can do what...
Meet the First Woman President of the Wisconsin AFL-CIO
Wisconsin AFL-CIO
Elected the first woman president of the Wisconsin AFL-CIO, Stephanie Bloomingdale has more than two decades of experience in labor as an organizer, negotiator, trainer and activist. She served as secretary-treasurer of the Wisconsin AFL-CIO for eight years before her election as president in September 2018. Previously, she was director of public policy for the Wisconsin Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals, working on behalf of nurses and health care workers throughout the state. Bloomingdale has a statewide reputation as a tenacious fighter and tough negotiator, skills she says she had to develop to survive 20 years of arbitrations, grievance hearings and battles in the legislature.
What is the state AFL-CIO? What is its role?
The Wisconsin AFL-CIO is a federation of many different labor unions from many different sectors, public and private, service workers, manufacturing, building trades, retail, health care, transportation...people doing all types of work come together in the AFL-CIO to maximize our collective power.
You...
Rutgers Faculty Picket Board of Governors Meeting at University’s Newark Campus
New Jersey AFL-CIO
“An injury to one is an injury to all!”
“Rutgers is for education! We are not a corporation!”
The chants of frustrated faculty members disrupted an otherwise quiet campus in Newark on Tuesday, as hundreds gathered outside of the Rutgers University Paul Robeson Center to picket the board of governors meeting.
Rutgers AAUP-AFT, the school’s largest faculty and graduate employee union, organized Tuesday’s picket as a "final warning" to Rutgers University President Robert Barchi and his administration. After more than a year of negotiations, the Barchi administration refuses to meet the union’s demands for a fair contract.
AAUP-AFT’s demands include more full-time faculty, equal pay for female staff, increased staff diversity and a salary increase for graduate workers. The union is also pushing for the school to hire more librarians—a position that is currently in jeopardy due to proposed budget cuts to the library system.
While members protested outside the Paul Robeson Center, union officials and...
#StampOutHunger: 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.
‘State of the Unions’ Podcast: #StampOutHunger: "In the latest episode of 'State of the Unions,' podcast co-host Tim Schlittner talks to Brian Renfroe, National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) executive vice president, and Christina Vela Davidson, assistant to the president for community services, about #StampOutHunger, the annual one-day drive that has collected more than 1 billion pounds of food for the hungry."
The Center of Victory: "The labor movement helped elect a wave of union members and pro-worker allies across the country last night. We proved that if you support working people, we’ll have your back. And we sent a resounding message to every candidate and elected official that if you seek to divide and destroy us, we’ll fight back with everything we have."
It's Time for Equal Pay: "Equal Pay Day serves as a reminder of how far we still have to go to close...
Get to Know AFL-CIO's Affiliates: American Postal Workers Union
AFL-CIO
Next up in our series that will take a deeper look at each of our affiliates is the American Postal Workers Union (APWU). The series will run weekly until we've covered all 55 of our affiliates.
Name of Union: American Postal Workers Union
Mission: Through collective bargaining, legislative action and mobilization of its members and the public, APWU fights for dignity and respect on the job for postal workers throughout the postal industry—for decent pay and benefits and safe working places, for defense of the right of the people to public postal services and for solidarity with all workers, at home and abroad.
Current Leadership of Union: Mark Dimondstein was elected president of APWU in 2013 and won a second term in 2016. He began his postal career in 1983. In 1986, he was elected to the first of six consecutive terms as president of the Greater Greensboro (N.C.) Area Local. Beginning in 2000, he served as APWU's national lead field organizer. He won AFL-CIO's Southern Organizer of the Year Award in 2001.
Debby Szeredy serves...
