May 2012
4 posts
Senate Republicans Block Student Loan Relief—But...
http://www.aflcio.org/Blog/Political-Action-Legislation/Senate-Republicans-Block-Student-Loan-Relief-But-Young-People-Make-Their-Voices-Heard
As college tuition steadily increases by an average of about 8 percent each year, more and more students and their families rely on student loans to help pay the escalating costs of obtaining a college degree. One in three college students takes out...
Protests At Bank Of America Shareholder Meeting
Activists from Occupy Wall Street, the environmental movement and labor unions, along with victims of home foreclosures, staged demonstrations at Bank of America’s shareholder meeting in Charlotte, N.C., on Wednesday morning.
Inside the Bank of America meeting, disgruntled shareholders attempted to force votes on proposals that would curb the bank’s political spending and force it...
WE ARE WISCONSIN – THE FILM
http://www.wearewisconsin.org/thefilm/
Young Workers Struggle to Find Jobs, Pay Student...
Reposted and excerpted from:http://www.aflcio.org/Blog/Economy/Young-Workers-Struggle-to-Find-Jobs-Pay-Student-Debt
By: Tula Connell
“For Most Graduates, a Grueling Job Hunt Awaits,” The Wall Street Journal writes. Over the weekend, The New York Times sounded the alarm about employers’ growing use of unpaid internships in fields that typically have never exploited free labor.
So, how bad is...
April 2012
18 posts
Justice for AAmerican Workers
Under cloudy skies on Monday, over 700 union members gathered in New York City’s Battery Park to protest American Airlines (AMR) legal motion that seeks to abrogate their collective bargaining agreements. From across the country, flight attendants, fleet service workers, mechanics and others came to New York to voice their personal opposition to the company’s abhorrent request in bankruptcy...
Worker’s Memorial Day
On Saturday, April 28, people across the globe will commemorate, International Worker’s Memorial Day. Workers across the US will be remembering co/workers that have died as a result of a fatal job-related injuries and diseases.
To find a Workers Memorial Day event near you go here.
Local 100 Holds May 1 Rally
On May 1st, TWU Local 100 and others will stand as one on Workers’ Rights day as they gather at Union Square at 4 p.m. and march at 530 to the NYCT Headquarters to demand a fair contract as well as a transit system that serves the needs of the 99%.
View more event details here.
Local 234 members Rally Against Violence on the...
As assaults have more than doubled in the last year, Local 234 and community members will rally at noon this Thursday at SEPTA headquarters as part of its Stand Up to Transit Violence campaign and demand SEPTA take proactive steps to stop the violence and maintain its mission to provide safe transit.
View more event details here.
CEO Pay and the 99%
The 2012 AFL-CIO Executive PayWatch site—now called CEO Pay and the 99%—which includes the most comprehensive data accessible on 2011 executive pay. All of the data available is searchable by industry, by state and by the top 100 highest-paid CEOs. Check it and help us share it widely.
CEO Pay and the 99% shows that a CEO of a company in the S&P 500 Index, on average, received $12.9 million...
Justice for AAmerican Workers
This coming Monday April 23, stand in solidarity with the Transport Workers Union for the 1st day of American Airlines bankruptcy trial against labor. Join us as we say “No” to the outsourcing of jobs and the voiding of collective bargaining agreements.
Monday, April 23
9AM-11AM
New York City
GATHER IN BATTERY PARK (NE CORNER AT BROADWAY & STATE ST)
MARCH TO BOWLING GREEN PARK (ACROSS...
The American Workplace
Hard working TWU members keep American Airlines and American Eagle operations going every day - rain or shine. In spite of AMR’s bankruptcy and the company’s latest filing to abrogate AA’s labor contracts, TWU -members continue to perform as airline professionals, doing their best for our passengers every day, 24-7. Feel free to share the link with coworkers and friends – sign the pledge:...
Standard & Poor's: Congress Endangering Biz Credit...
Reposted and excerpted from: http://www.aflcio.org/Blog/Political-Action-Legislation/Standard-Poor-s-Congress-Endangering-Biz-Credit-by-Not-Funding-Transportation
Uncertainty over whether Congress will fund transportation infrastructure not only endangers drivers and airline passengers, but creates a credit risk for companies involved, according to a new study by Standard & Poor’s.
...
Tax Day Actions Demand 1% and Corporations Pay...
Reposted and excerpted from: http://www.aflcio.org/Blog/Political-Action-Legislation/Tax-Day-Actions-Demand-1-and-Corporations-Pay-Their-Fair-Share
Mike Hall
David Watson knows a thing or two about taxes. You don’t get to be a millionaire without learning the ins and outs of the tax system. This morning on the steps of the federal building in Sacramento, Calif., Watson—a member of the Patriotic...
Richard Branson Is Quite Busy Not Owning Virgin...
Reposted and excerpted from: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/edward-wytkind/richard-branson-is-quite-_b_1413233.html
U.S. law requires that the “actual control” of U.S. airlines is in the hands of American citizens. So, why is mega-billionaire and United Kingdom citizen Richard Branson preaching the evils of unionization in a video message to the flight attendants at the supposedly U.S.-owned and...
Introducing MTA: Money Thrown Away
Reposted and excerpted from: http://www.twulocal100.org/story/introducing-mta-money-thrown-away
Hey, MTA, the jig is up! Buried in obscure financial reports (check out page 14 via the link) is a fact that should alarm and anger all transit riders: You’re paying $63 million each year for a fancy office building you don’t need. 2 Broadway costs you plenty – and you’re moving executives into it...
Get Ready for 99% Spring Tax Wealth, Not Work,...
Reposted and excerpted from: http://www.aflcio.org/Blog/Political-Action-Legislation/Get-Ready-for-99-Spring-Tax-Wealth-Not-Work-Actions
This week, some 100,000 activists from unions and community, faith and other progressive groups are in 99% Spring training sessions around the country, learning how to take back the economy from the 1%. Their first big round of actions is set for Tax Day, April...
4 Reasons Conservatives Hate Public Transit
Reposted and excerpted from: http://www.care2.com/causes/4-reasons-conservatives-hate-public-transit.html
Written by Jason Mark
Once upon a time — in a political environment that seems otherwordly compared to what we have in the United States today — the federal transportation bill was a bi-partisan endeavor. Now things are different. Congress went into spring recess last week and once again...
American Rights at Work Launches Union-Made Guide
Reposted and excerpted from: http://www.aflcio.org/Blog/Other-News/American-Rights-at-Work-Launches-Union-Made-Guide
Our friends at American Rights at Work (ARAW) have just launched a new feature to help consumers find union-made products. The Union Shop: A Guide to What’s Union-Made (click here) breaks products into sections from Apparel to Home Improvements, Sweets and Snacks and many more to...
99% Spring
Next week, April 9-15, in small towns and big cities all across America, 100,000 people will come together for an unprecedented national movement-wide training. We’ll learn to tell the story of our economy and what went wrong, and we’ll learn how we can take action, make the voices of the 99% heard, and create great change in this country. The “99% Spring” is a massive wave of...
In Albany, Lawmakers Say Zeroes Not Right for...
http://www.twulocal100.org/story/albany-lawmakers-say-zeroes-not-right-transit-workers
Influential legislators addressed a full Hart Theatre on TWU Lobby Day, saying that they believe zeroes are not enough to compensate transit workers in our new contract. Republican Marty Golden, who was a co-sponsor of last year’s MTA Lock Box bill, drew loud applause when he said that “Three zeroes...
CEO Pay Rose in 2011. Again.
Reposted and Excerpted from:http://www.aflcio.org/Blog/Corporate-Greed/CEO-Pay-Rose-in-2011.-Again
Vineeta Anand
While millions of 99% Americans continue to be jobless and the nation’s unemployment rate hovers around 8.3 percent, chief executive officers of the nation’s largest companies received a 2 percent pay raise last year. While that may not seem like much of an increase, it came on top...
Recall elections ordered for Walker, Kleefisch, 4...
Reposted and Excerpted from: http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/elections/it-s-official-recall-elections-ordered-for-walker-kleefisch-gop/article_97b6f274-7a74-11e1-bd58-001a4bcf887a.html#ixzz1r0AuUUrG
MARY SPICUZZA -Wisconsin State Journal
It’s official.
Gov. Scott Walker will be Wisconsin’s first governor to face a recall after the historic election was...
March 2012
24 posts
TWU Fights Back Against Attacks on Transit Workers...
“What do we want? Safe buses. When do we want it? Now!” could be heard loud and clear this past Monday as members from Local 234 in Philadelphia continue to demanded justice for victims of transit violence. The demand for justice comes after another attack on a bus operator occurred on March 17th when the operator was dragged from his bus and assaulted leaving him with a broken nose and other...
Working Women’s Committee Conference
This past weekend Local 100 and 234 co-hosted the Transit, Utility, University and Rail Working Women’s Committee Conference which brought together women from TWU Locals 171, 101 and numerous other unions, such as the Teamsters and SEIU. The conference was a 3-day event that consisted of speakers, plenary sessions and an awards ceremony recognizing women and their roles in their union and...
The Rich Get Even Richer
Reposted and excerpted from: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/26/opinion/the-rich-get-even-richer.html?_r=3 By STEVEN RATTNER
New statistics show an ever-more-startling divergence between the fortunes of the wealthy and everybody else — and the desperate need to address this wrenching problem. Even in a country that sometimes seems inured to income inequality, these takeaways are truly stunning....
A Civil Right to Unionize
Reposted and Excerpted from: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/01/opinion/a-civil-right-to-unionize.html?scp=1&sq=%22civil%20right%20to%20unionize&st=cse
By RICHARD D. KAHLENBERG and MOSHE Z. MARVIT
From the 1940s to the 1970s, organized labor helped build a middle-class democracy in the United States. The postwar period was as successful as it was because of unions, which helped enact...
Wall Street Admits It’s to Blame For Public...
Reposted and Excerpted from: http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2012/03/26/wall-street-admits-its-to-blame-for-public-perception-survey/?mod=google_news_blog By David Benoit
Wall Street firms finally may be ready to admit that the public perceptions do matter.
They may even accept the blame for why the public, and Occupy Wall Street, are so up in arms.
The question is whether they will do anything...
ITF welcomes return to negotiations at Ports of...
Reposted and excerpted from http://www.itfglobal.org/news-online/index.cfm/newsdetail/7204/
The ITF is welcoming the news that Ports of Auckland Limited is halting plans to make nearly 300 wharfies redundant before contracting out stevedoring services and will be re-entering into negotiations with the Maritime Union of New Zealand over a collective agreement for workers. The announcement is being...
Crisis in Alabama: The Devastating Effects of...
Last week, at the annual AFL-CIO Executive Council meeting, leaders responded to a report delivered by a recent delegation of African American Labor Leaders that traveled to Alabama on a fact finding mission, to investigate and document the effects of HB56. The delegation identified that this Anti-Immigrant law and those like it are part of a much broader agenda, to deny workers of their...
Ryan Budget Resolution Would Devastate...
Edward Wytkind, President of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), offers the following statement in response to the House FY 2013 budget resolution released by Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI):
“The Ryan budget resolution released today is the worst for transportation that we have ever seen.
“It not only turns a blind eye toward programs that would create millions of...
More of the Same: Voter Suppression in Pa.
Reposted and Excerpted from AFLCIO: http://www.aflcio.org/Blog/Political-Action-Legislation/More-of-the-Same-Voter-Suppression-in-Pa
Pennsylvania has become the latest state to pass a voter ID law in the Republican-led nationwide effort to deny the vote to millions. H.B. 934, which Gov. Tom Corbett signed into law last Wednesday, will effectively disenfranchise 691,000 Pennsylvanians who do not...
The Power of Recalls in Wisconsin
By John Nichols Reposted and Excerpted from http://www.thenation.com/blog/166872/power-recalls-wisconsin
With Wisconsin recall elections looming against four Republican state senators—as well as Governor Scott Walker and Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch—the state’s politics was thrown for another loop Friday when a targeted senator up and quit.
State Senator Pam Galloway, a Tea Party...
101 Years Later
On Friday, March 23 people will gather on Washington Place and Green Street in New York from noon to 1 p.m. for the 101st Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Commemoration.
The commemoration is for the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire that occurred on March 25, 1911 when a fire erupted on the top floors of a shirtwaist factory in a Manhattan that in just 30 minutes would take the lives of 146...
Transportation Spending: Good for Workers, Good...
Monday, March 12, 2012
Excerpted and Reposted from the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO http://www.ttd.org/index.asp?Type=B_PR&SEC=%7B226285D3-5189-400D-B809-3839A9F80C4E%7D&DE=%7BC261600B-FEC2-46E8-958E-DDC64893CD7B%7D
ORLANDO, FL—Leaders from 32 transportation unions gathered here to forge a transportation investment, jobs and safety agenda vital to a strong industry and...
TTD Applauds Senate Bipartisan Effort on Surface...
WASHINGTON, DC—Edward Wytkind, President of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), issued the following statement in response to Senate passage, by a vote of 74-22, of the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century surface transportation bill (S.1813) or MAP-21. “The Senate today has proven that bipartisanship can boost the economy, fix our failing transportation system and put...
TWU Wins Freeze of Pension Plans at American...
Published 07 Mar, 2012 AMR Drops Demand to Shift Pensions to U.S Gov’t Agency; Backs off Demand for Additional Concessions in Return Dallas — In a major development in the ongoing AMR bankruptcy case, TWU members at American Airlines have won a freeze of current pension plans. “The company initially wanted to terminate our pension plan, shift the cost to the government, and put our...
CU union workers rally on Broadway
On Wednesday, March 7, hundreds of Local 2110 members at Columbia University, Teachers College and Barnard rallied in Morningside Heights to demand a fair contract that protects the benefits we have won and preserved through our Union over many years of struggle.
CU union workers rally on Broadway By Casey Tolan Published March 7, 2012 Excerpted and Reposted from...
Local 100 Lobby Day
On Tuesday, March 27, Local 100 will take the contract fight to Albany for its Lobby Day.
Normally going to Albany with a list of a dozen bills, this year they are going because they can’t afford and won’t accept three zeroes or the big increases in health care contributions or part-time work.
Whether the MTA does the right thing is not an economic decision, it is a political decision. It’s an...
Making History in Alabama
Excerpted and reposted from AFL-CIO http://www.aflcio.org/Blog/In-The-States/Making-History-in-Alabama
by Deepak Bhargava
This past week, I had the privilege of joining with thousands of people from Alabama and around the country who walked from Selma to Montgomery to commemorate the historic march 47 years ago that forced Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act and that changed our country...
200 Marchers Carry on Selma-Montgomery Journey
200 Marchers Carry on Selma-Montgomery Journey Excerpted and reposted from AFLCIO Blog http://www.aflcio.org/Blog/In-The-States/200-Marchers-Carry-on-Selma-Montgomery-Journey
More than 200 marchers—including college students from as far away as Idaho—yesterday carried on the Selma to Montgomery march in Alabama, where activists in the labor, civil rights and faith communities on...
I Support American Jobs:Miami Members Mobilize To...
Miami Members Mobilize To Help One Another Through Bankruptcy Hardships Watch the latest video interviews of TWU members from the Miami area who express their reactions about the bankruptcy and how it affects their future. When AMR filed for bankruptcy in November, the news hit working families like a corporate torpedo. It has now been three months since the dismal news was announced, but TWU...
Local 100 & Occupy Wall Street Mic Check MTA Board
Fifty demonstrators from Local 100 and Occupy Wall Street packed the MTA’s public seating to capacity at the Authority’s monthly board meeting on February 29th. A dozen speakers brought Board Members’ attention to the fact that the MTA is choosing not to tap a reserve fund known as GASB-45, which has $490 million in surplus funds. Making the case that revenue exists to restore service and the...
Reclaim Wisconsin March
Reclaim Wisconsin March Excerpted and reposted from http://wisaflcio.typepad.com/wisconsin-state-afl-cio-blog/2012/03/reclaim-wi-march.html
Join us in Madison on Saturday, March 10 for the Reclaim Wisconsin March.
On Saturday March 10, Wisconsinites will return to the Capitol to mark the one year anniversary of the passage of Gov. Walker’s union-busting bill.
The people of Wisconsin...
Donate Now to Help Tornado Victims
Donate Now to Help Tornado Victims Excerpted and reposted from AFLCIO Blog http://www.aflcio.org/Blog/Community-Service/Donate-Now-to-Help-Tornado-Victims
The Indiana State AFL-CIO and United Way have established a disaster relief fund to aid the victims of the deadly tornadoes that ravaged Southern Indiana.
You can click here to donate online via credit card or send a check to:
Indiana...
Richest 1 Percent Account For Nearly All Of U.S....
Richest 1 Percent Account For Nearly All Of U.S. Recovery
By Alexander Eichler
Excerpted and reposted from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/05/1-percent-income-inequality_n_1321008.html
Technically, the economy has been in recovery for two years. But it turns out the rich have been doing most of the recovering.
In 2010 — the first full year since the end of the Great Recession...
Republican Attacks on Workers Backfire in Ohio
Republican Attacks on Workers Backfire in Ohio
By Manny Herrmann
March 6, 2012
Excerpted and reposted from AFLCIO Blog http://www.aflcio.org/Blog/Political-Action-Legislation/Republican-Attacks-on-Workers-Backfire-in-Ohio
Remember when Ohioans overwhelmingly voted to repeal Senate Bill 5—Gov. John Kasich’s attack on middle-class jobs that was designed to destroy collective bargaining rights in...
February 2012
26 posts
Walker Won’t File Challenges to Recall Signatures,...
Wisconsin’s recall election came one step closer to reality yesterday, as Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker decided not to challenge any of the over 1 million signatures filed to recall him. Monday was the deadline for him to file challenges.
The Walker campaign said that instead of filing challenges themselves, they will call on the state’s Government Accountability Board (GAB) to strike...
American Workers Fighting for American Jobs
TWU members and their allies are fighting back against AMR’s proposals to terminate workers’ pensions and eliminate 13,000 jobs. TWU members and supporters will hit American Airlines and American Eagle with coordinated pickets around the country tomorrow, Wednesday February 29, at airports in Atlanta, Boston, Dallas-Fort Worth, Detroit, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, New York City, Saint Louis,...
Global Days of Action for Union Rights in Mexico
Global days of action supporting trade union rights in Mexico took place last week, from February 19-25. The days of action brought together union members, students, and human rights activists from around the world.
February 19, 2012 marked the 6th anniversary of an explosion at a mine site owned by the 2nd richest man in Mexico, German Larrera. The explosion killed 65 workers in an act of what...
Mitt Romney: Let Detroit Go Bankrupt
With Michigan’s Republican primary happening today, a new ad by the Democrats shows Detroiters slamming Romney for turning his back on autoworkers and betting against his home state of Michigan. Meanwhile, Romney continued to underwhelm the state’s voters. For a campaign rally on Friday, he rented the home of the Detroit Lions, the 65,000-seat Ford Field. The turnout was embarrassing, to...