labor

Nation's Largest Union: Change Health Care Bill Or Else

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 15:25:58 -0500

by Sam Stein

The nation's largest union group said Thursday that it will not support the Democratic health-care bill unless "substantial changes" are made to the current Senate version.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said in a statement to reporters that without a public option for insurance coverage or an employer mandate - and with a tax on high-end insurance plans that some union members get - the health care legislation supported by Senate Democrats falls far short of meeting his group's standards.

Nurses Unions Join Together for More Clout

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 09:36:25 -0500

by Victoria Colliver

Nurses from three unions, including the powerful California Nurses Association, have founded a new national union to influence national health care policies and try to extend California's patient ratio law into other states.

Organizers said the 150,000-member National Nurses United, the largest professional union for registered nurses in the country, will also flex its power to push for a stronger voice in the health care overhaul process going on in Congress and the expansion of representation for nonunion nurses.

Labor Fight Ends in Win for Students

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 09:34:43 -0500

by Steven Greenhouse

The anti-sweatshop movement at dozens of American universities, from Georgetown to U.C.L.A., has had plenty of idealism and energy, but not many victories.

Until now.

The often raucous student movement announced on Tuesday that it had achieved its biggest victory by far. Its pressure tactics persuaded one of the nation's leading sportswear companies, Russell Athletic, to agree to rehire 1,200 workers in Honduras who lost their jobs when Russell closed their factory soon after the workers had unionized.

The New Faces of Day Labor

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 10:29:07 -0500

by Timothy Pratt

It sounds like a George Lopez joke.

“Times are so bad that I saw an Anglo day laborer standing outside Home Depot the other day.”

Except it’s true.

In the latest sign of the Las Vegas Valley’s economic free fall, U.S. citizens are starting to show up in the early mornings outside home improvement stores and plant nurseries across the Las Vegas Valley, jostling with illegal immigrants for a shot at a few hours of work.

Experts say the slow-starting but seemingly inexorable trend is occurring nationwide.

Stalled Agenda Irks Labor Leaders

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 11:23:17 -0400

by Susan Milligan

WASHINGTON - With Democrats in control of Congress and the White House, organized labor had hoped to be celebrating a long list of legislative successes this year. Instead, labor's agenda has been pushed down on the priority list by the very lawmakers they helped elect, leaving some union backers frustrated.

Labor is eager to win passage of a "card check'' bill, a measure that would make it easier for workers to form unions, but the White House and Congress took up a Wall Street bailout plan first.

Hey Rahm: Twist An Arm in Support of the Public Option, Not Against It

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 11:56:40 -0400

by Jane Hamsher

We hoped it wasn't true. We hoped that when Richard Trumka committed to back a public option and threatened to withhold support from Democrats who wouldn't vote for one that it wasn't just pre-convention rhetoric.

Crystal Lee Sutton, Dead at 68: Union Activist Inspired 'Norma Rae'

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 10:56:40 -0400

Crystal Lee Sutton, whose fight to unionize Southern textile plants with low pay and poor conditions was dramatized in the film "Norma Rae," has died. She was 68.

Sutton died Friday in a hospice after a long battle with brain cancer, her son, Jay Jordan, said Monday.

"She fought it as long as she could and she crossed on over to her new life," he said.

Actress Sally Field portrayed a character based on Sutton in the movie and won a best-actress Academy Award.

Labor Day 2009 - Change and Opportunity

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 09:54:01 -0400

by Tom Gallagher

The parades, picnics and breakfasts that once marked this end-of-summer holiday have faded some in recent years, but one Labor Day tradition that seems to have survived intact is that on this one day of the year it is allowed to mention such a thing as the "working class" and raise the question of just how well America's economic system treats the people who work for someone else - and perhaps even to also dream about something better. This, of course, is what the American labor movement does 365 days a year - or at least is supposed to.

Why Honor Organized Labor?

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 01:35:48 -0400

by Jim Goodman

Labor Day, to most people, is little more than the end of summer. Labor Day commemorates the labor union movement, the demand for an eight hour work day, better working conditions, fair wages and an end to child labor.

In 1894 Labor Day became a federal holiday celebrated as a “workingman's holiday” on the first Monday of September honoring the contributions of working men and women to America.

Freedom to Organize at Work Worldwide Recognized on Labor Day

Thu, 03 Sep 2009 10:20:33 -0400

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 3, 2009

International Labor Rights Forum

Across the country as people celebrate Labor Day, workers around the world continue to face obstacles as they try to create a better life for themselves and their families. The global economic crisis has deeply affected workers who face massive job losses, plunging millions of families into poverty and leading to questions about the sustainability of our economic policies. At the same time, many workers are experiencing violations of their right to organize labor unions to protect their interests.