AFL-CIO
Labor leader Shuler touts union support as possible auto strikes loom
Support for unions is growing amid shifting working conditions and labor disputes around the country, according to Liz Shuler, the president of the largest labor group in the country. In Shuler’s comments Tuesday at the AFL-CIO’s first State of the Unions event in Washington, she cited polling that showed support for unions cut across party […]
States, cities turn to community organizations to battle wage theft
About five years ago, most of Minneapolis’ Subway, Little Caesars and McDonald’s franchise restaurants did not comply with city wage standards. Now workers at each of the locations that violated the law receive the required minimum wage and time off when they’re sick. This is all thanks to a co-enforcement program, where the city’s labor […]
Workers’ COVID-19 lawsuits could be quashed under GOP push in Congress
WASHINGTON—A wrongful death lawsuit filed in connection with a Tyson meat packing facility in Iowa alleged that managers secretly took bets on how many employees would get sick from COVID-19. Tyson fired seven managers at the Waterloo pork processing plant following an independent investigation into the betting allegations and a wave of national publicity. But […]
Backed by science, advocates legally challenge Labor Secretary Cherie Berry over COVID-19
After the state Department of Labor in November rejected a petition to mandate emergency workplace rules, several North Carolina advocacy groups are asking the Wake County Superior Court for a judicial review of the denial. “Anything we can do to mitigate the transmission of that virus from someone is really essential,” Dr. David Wohl, professor […]
Workers, advocates speak up for Black lives, call for passage of federal HEROES Act
As the twin plagues of COVID-19 and police violence continue to inflict a disproportionate toll on the lives of people of color in North Carolina and around the country, local workers and worker advocates are speaking up and demanding change. A powerful recent example took place yesterday during a virtual event hosted by the North […]
Workers Memorial Day: Honoring those lost, fighting for safety
Rev. Jennifer Copeland opened a memorial service for workers killed on the job Friday with a quote from the Book of Genesis and a personal meditation on death. “People die all the time,” Copeland said “It’s a fact of life that from the moment we are born, we are in the process of dying. But […]
NC lawmakers, advocates launch new effort to allow collective bargaining by public employees
More than 600,000 public employees throughout North Carolina would obtain a right that’s been denied to them for 60 years under a pair companion bills introduced in the North Carolina House and Senate and highlighted at a press event this morning in Raleigh. House Bill 710 and Senate Bill 575 would repeal North Carolina General […]
AFL-CIO unveils its 2019 “Good Jobs Policy Agenda”
The good people at the North Carolina AFL-CIO are unveiling the group’s “Good Jobs Policy Agenda” for 2019 today at a conference in Raleigh that Gov. Roy Cooper is expected to attend and address. Among the highlights of the agenda: Raising our poverty-level state minimum wage, as a majority of states have done. Raising the […]
Remembering MLK on the 50 year anniversary of the Memphis garbage workers strike
Cross-posted from the good folks at the AFL-CIO of NC: February 1 National Moment of Silence On February 1, 1968, Memphis sanitation workers Echol Cole and Robert Walker huddled in the back of their truck to seek shelter from a storm. Suddenly, the truck’s compactor malfunctioned, trapping Cole and Walker and crushing them to death. […]
AFL-CIO formally joins fight against climate change
Good news from the good folks at the NC League of Conservation Voters: Climate change action gains key ally Thanks to collaboration between citizen conservationists, labor, and other progressive voices, action to address climate change has just gained a very important ally. At its annual national convention in late October, the AFL-CIO, the nation’s leading […]