AFL-CIO Blog

  • Working Families Need Your Help: In the States Roundup
    Working Families Need Your Help: In the States Roundup 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 AFL-CIO: California Labor Federation: Colorado AFL-CIO: Connecticut AFL-CIO: Florida AFL-CIO: Georgia AFL-CIO: Indiana State AFL-CIO: Iowa Federation of Labor: Maine AFL-CIO: Massachusetts AFL-CIO: Michigan AFL-CIO: Minnesota AFL-CIO: Missouri AFL-CIO: Montana AFL-CIO: Nevada State AFL-CIO: New Hampshire AFL-CIO: New Mexico Federation of Labor: New York State AFL-CIO: North Carolina State AFL-CIO: Ohio AFL-CIO: Oregon AFL-CIO: Pennsylvania AFL-CIO: Rhode Island AFL-CIO: Tennessee AFL-CIO Labor Council: Texas AFL-CIO: West Virginia AFL-CIO: Wisconsin State AFL-CIO: Kenneth Quinnell Wed, 06/09/2021 - 13:33 — Jun 9
  • Pride Month Profiles: Michael Golojuch Jr.
    Pride Month Profiles: Michael Golojuch Jr. For Pride Month, the AFL-CIO is spotlighting various LGBTQ Americans who have worked and continue to work at the intersection of civil and labor rights. Today's Pride Month profile is Michael Golojuch Jr. Michael Golojuch Jr. is active in Pride At Work Hawaii, the Hawaii State AFL-CIO and the Democratic Party of Hawaii. He has testified before the state legislature in support of bills and resolutions introduced by the state federation and union affiliates. He works as an administrative assistant to the director of the State of Hawaii Employees' Retirement System. Kenneth Quinnell Wed, 06/09/2021 - 09:41 — Jun 9
  • Service + Solidarity Spotlight: New Mexico Federation of Labor Elects a Worker Champion to Congressional District 1
    Service + Solidarity Spotlight: New Mexico Federation of Labor Elects a Worker Champion to Congressional District 1 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 these stories every day. Here’s today’s story. On Tuesday, June 1, union-endorsed candidate Melanie Stansbury won by a landslide in a special election to represent New Mexico’s 1st Congressional District, a House seat vacated by Deb Haaland, secretary of the Interior Department, with 60.3% to 35.7% of the vote. The New Mexico Federation of Labor kicked off a historic labor program by opening three staging locations to host phone banks and literature drops, at the state federation’s office and the union halls of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 611 and Laborers (LIUNA) Local 16. The state federation also recruited seven release staff from local affiliates, AFSCME District Council 18, American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Local 8029, LIUNA local 16, National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) New Mexico and SMART Local 49. Workers knocked on doors and dropped literature at the nearly 13,000 homes of union members and households. With almost 10,000 calls and mail pieces going out to more than 28,000 targeted union members and households in the 1st District, working families made the difference in this election. Kenneth Quinnell Wed, 06/09/2021 - 08:32 Tags: COVID-19, Community Service — Jun 9
  • Mexican Worker Tells Vice President: ‘There Is Still No Justice’
    Mexican Worker Tells Vice President: ‘There Is Still No Justice’   In a meeting today with Vice President Kamala Harris, Imelda Jímenez, a worker from the Teksid Hierro plant in Ciudad Frontera, Mexico, which makes engine cylinder blocks for the North American market, described the workers’ seven-year battle to form an independent union in the factory where the top wage is $2.50 per hour. “The workers went on strike in 2014 to protest the low wages and the corruption of the CTM union led by Tereso Medina,” Jímenez said. Medina, who heads the Confederation of Mexican Workers (CTM) in Coahuila, controls many labor contracts in the automotive industry, including the General Motors plant where the United States recently filed a complaint under the "rapid response" mechanism of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. After the strike, the workers organized with the independent National Mineworkers’ Union. “It took the government four years to hold an election between our union and the CTM, and we won 238-145,” Jímenez explained. “But the company refused to recognize the election and instead fired 123 union supporters.” Labor repression affects migration, she continued. “Some workers who were fired had to go to the U.S. because they were blacklisted and could not find employment anywhere.” In July 2020, a judge ordered the company to rehire Jímenez with back pay, “but they ignored the order,” she said. “And the Federal Labor Court ordered the company to recognize our union in November, but they still refused to negotiate with us,” she said. “After seven years of struggle, there is still no justice for the workers.” Kenneth Quinnell Tue, 06/08/2021 - 14:38 Tags: Mexico — Jun 8
  • Pride Month Profiles: Juston Larsen
    Pride Month Profiles: Juston Larsen For Pride Month, the AFL-CIO is spotlighting various LGBTQ Americans who have worked and continue to work at the intersection of civil and labor rights. Today's Pride Month profile is Juston Larsen. Juston Larson is a Starbucks barista at McCarran Airport in Las Vegas and has been a member for six years with the Culinary Workers Union, UNITE HERE Local 226. Larson has severe allergic asthma that requires him to carry medication at all times, even when he worked as a canvasser as his union helped win Nevada for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. "As an LGBTQ+ member, being a union member means unity to me," Larson said. "The union difference means that I am not alone because my union is so diverse. After the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, many workers like myself lost our jobs. For the last year, the Culinary Union is fighting for hospitality workers to have the right to return as the economy recovers. I'm grateful to be a part of my union!" Kenneth Quinnell Tue, 06/08/2021 - 09:41 — Jun 8