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By Mike Hall AFL-CIO, on June 21st, 2011
Cross posted from the AFL-CIO blog.
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) this morning released proposed changes in the way union representation elections are conducted that the NLRB says will “reduce unnecessary barriers to the fair and expeditious resolution of questions concerning representation.”
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka says the proposed changes are a “modest step to remove roadblocks and reduce unnecessary and costly litigation—and that’s good news for employers as well as employees. But he adds:
The proposed rule does not address many of the fundamental problems with our labor laws, but it will help bring critically needed fairness and balance to this part of the process.
Trumka says the rules “appear to be a common sense approach to clean up an outdated system and help ensure that working women and men can make their own choice about whether to form a union.”
When workers want to vote on a union, they should get a fair chance to vote. That’s a basic right. But our current system has become a broken, bureaucratic maze that stalls and stymies workers’ choices. And that diminishes the voice of working people, creates imbalance in our economy and shrinks the middle
Continue reading New NLRB Rules ‘Modest Step to Election Fairness’
By rand wilson, on May 4th, 2011
Rite Aid Negotiating Committee after signing Tentative Agreement on May 1, 2011.Rite Aid workers at the company's massive Southwest Distribution Center in Lancaster declared victory on Sunday, May 1 in their five-year effort to form a union and improve working conditions.
Workers signed a 3-year tentative agreement with management on May 1 – subject to a May 12 ratification vote – that will improve conditions at the million-square-foot facility in California’s high desert by guaranteeing:
Health insurance rates that are fair for both individual workers and their families,
Job security provisions to prevent work from being sub-contracted,
A worker voice in production standards and ability to challenge unfair standards,
Protection against intense summer heat and winter cold, using innovative indoor-temperature standards,
A fair and impartial process for resolving disputes,
Wage increases in each of the next 3 years.
“We’re excited about winning this victory, even if it took longer than it should have,” said Carlos “Chico” Rubio, a 10-year warehouse worker who helped negotiate the union contract with a team of eight co-workers.
Employees decided to form their union
Continue reading Rite Aid workers win 5-year campaign to form union at giant Rite Aid distribution center
By Richard L. Trumka, on April 28th, 2011
 Original Posted on The Hill’s Cogress Blog 04/28/11 09:22 AM ET
Arizona and Wisconsin may seem like a world apart. But they have more in common than you think. In these states and many others, working people – immigrant and native-born alike – are under fierce attack by corporate-backed politicians.
From Arizona laws that mandate racial profiling to Wisconsin laws that strip workers’ rights to collectively bargain for a middle class way of life, working families everywhere are under assault. Corporate CEOs and the politicians they finance benefit from creating a toxic environment where immigrants, public employees and working men and women are scapegoated for all the problems we face. They tell us immigrants steal our jobs – hoping we forget the millions of American jobs they ship overseas. They say firefighters and policemen are overpaid – hoping we ignore Wall Street’s colossal bonuses, million-dollar salaries and endless corporate greed. They say immigrants don’t pay taxes – hoping we don’t notice that corporations like GE and Exxon Mobil rake in billions in profit and pay nothing in taxes.
Never mind the $11.2 billion in taxes immigrants just paid in
Continue reading Workers must unite for better immigration policy
By Chris Hicks, on April 8th, 2011
 On Monday, April 4th, over 200 students from University of Colorado Denver, Community College of Denver, and Metropolitan State College of Denver participated in a walkout and rally in support of labor and education. The action was in conjunction with the April 4th “We Are One” National Day of Action that SLAP, Jobs with Justice, and United States Student Association all actively participated in as a response to the recent attack on workers and students across the country.
In Colorado, two anti-worker bills earlier this February:
Senate Bill 12, by Sen. Bill Cadman, R-Colorado Springs, would have prohibited public entities from collectively bargaining with a labor union, or an employee association from acting as a bargaining agent for public employees.
Senate Bill 38, by Sen. Shawn Mitchell, R-Broomfield, would have prohibited an employee organization from being officially recognized as the exclusive representative of state employees, barred the state from negotiating with an employee organization to create an employee partnership agreement, and terminated any existing partnership agreements.
At a time when workers’ rights are under attack around the country, many students
Continue reading 200+ Denver Students Stage Walkout for Labor & Education
By Chris Hicks, on March 30th, 2011
By Curtis Hierro
March 19th through the 22nd, students from around the country gathered in D.C. for the United States Students Association’s 42nd annual Grassroots Legislative Conference. Over 400 students were able to attend workshops, hear speakers and march on the capital for National Student Lobby Day. This conference was more important than ever as campuses across the country are being forced to confront budget cuts that threaten our educational system and the very stability of America’s working class.
The Student Labor Action Project (a joint project between USSA and Jobs with Justice) gave workshops on media techniques, fundraising tactics and the importance of building ties between students and labor.
Labor was well represented throughout the four day event. The first woman Secretary-Treasurer for the Wisconsin state AFL-CIO, Stephanie Bloomingdale, ignited the crowd on the conference’s opening night, speaking of the importance of students partnering with labor to take on the corporate-political power structure. Stephanie dismantled the “ideology” behind Gov. Scott Walker’s attack on labor unions, identifying him as nothing more than a corporate sponsored puppet. Stephanie’s speech was great in articulating the integral role of labor unions in our democracy, as she said: “Collective bargaining is not only a
Continue reading USSA’s Legislative Conference Focuses in on Labor
By Jonathan Kissam, on March 23rd, 2011
Published in the Burlington Free Press March 11th
In the past weeks, anti-worker Republicans have bared their teeth. Republican leader Boehner’s budget proposal in Congress, and attempts by Republican governors in Wisconsin and Ohio to roll back the basic human right for public employees to organize, demonstrate clearly that their agenda is not simply one of “fiscal conservatism.” Instead, it is a highly ideological attack on many of our fundamental human rights. Leaving in place the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, Republicans — and many Democrats — are using the deficits created by those tax cuts to not only attack programs for the most vulnerable, but also to attack women’s reproductive health and prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from acting on climate change and the Federal Communications Commission from protecting net neutrality.
Vermont can be proud that many of our elected officials have stood up against this dangerous agenda. Senator Bernie Sanders galvanized people across the nation with his 8 1/2 hour “Filibernie” in December, and our state is poised to be the first to truly solve the healthcare crisis, supported by a strong grassroots movement around the state demanding Healthcare Is a Human Right. However, the state
Continue reading Defending and Expanding the Public Sector Benefits Us All
By Martin J. Bennett, on March 5th, 2011
A recent article in the Economist magazine titled “Tough Times for Everyone – Except Public Sector Workers” states that taxpayers are now learning about “the banquet public sector workers have been having at the expense of everyone else” and that many public employees can “retire in their mid-50s on close to full pay.”
These unsubstantiated claims–repeated endlessly in media–stand reality on its head. Such accusations are part of a systematic campaign by corporate America to mislead taxpayers and scapegoat public employees.
California public sector workers, such as teachers, public health nurses, firefighters, librarians, maintenance, park, transit, and social workers are not responsible for the economic crisis that makes drastic cuts to state and local governments necessary. These public employees earn modest, middle-class pay and benefits.
Rather, it was big business and the wealthy who gamed the deregulated financial system to make huge profits. Their speculation in the home mortgage markets triggered the Great Recession; then they proceeded to take billions in bailouts from the government; and last year, Wall Street’s leading investment and financial services firms paid out a record $144 billion in compensation and benefits.
These same corporate interests adamantly refuse to pay their fair share for vital public
Continue reading Don’t Blame California Public Employees!
By Chris Hicks, on February 25th, 2011
The United States Student Association and Jobs with Justice are excited to announce SLAP’s national Day of Action on March 2nd as a part of the Where’s the Funding? campaign.
Across the country students and workers are uniting in the fight against attacks to the public sector as conservative politicians push corporate agendas. Now is the time to step up and bring the student and labor movements closer together than we ever have as both are being targeted – sign up here to tell us what you’re doing on March 2nd.
As we fight back, what’s happening in Wisconsin has helped energize student labor solidarity nationally. Students, community, faith and unions have come under the same banner of social and economic justice and stood against the attacks on workers’ rights. “We are united in solidarity with our professors and teaching assistants, we fight for their rights. This is only the beginning for students, we will protect our education and Wisconsin’s education system,” commented Jolie Lizotte, United Council Board Member and UW-Madison undergraduate student. United Council of UW Students is an organization representing over 140,000 students on 20 campuses across the UW System and
Continue reading Students, Workers Unite to Save the Public Sector on March 2
By jwjnational, on February 25th, 2011
 Congratulations to all of the workers, students, faith leaders and community groups that have organized Jobs with Justice in solidarity with workers in Wisconsin and all the other states where workers are facing drastic cuts in their right to organize and collectively bargain. Your efforts have led to the recognition of Jobs with Justice and other groups among Glenn Beck’s top 10 list.
So, keep up the good fight! The most updated list of actions in below.
More details are coming in all the time, so check back for updates. Please post in the comments if you’re planning something or email us & we’ll add it to the list.
(Last updated February 25, 2011 at 2:30pm)
Juneau, AK Tuesday, February 22nd at 12:00pm, State Capitol
Little Rock, AR Tuesday, February 22nd at 11:30am, State Capitol
Phoenix, AZ Tuesday, February 22nd at 12:00pm, State Capitol February 26th -28th. Various. See website for details.
Tuesday, March 1st at 9:30 AM at State Capitol, 1700 W. Washington Day of Action
Tucson, AZ Friday February 25th at 5pm. University of Arizona, on the Mall
Los
Continue reading Jobs with Justice makes Glenn Beck’s Top 10
By Chris Hicks, on February 25th, 2011
I’ve been saying it, I’ll say it now, and I’ll say it again; the movement that is happening in Madison is creating a relative epicenter for the progressive movement in the U.S.
Walking into the Capitol one encounters elementary, middle, and high school aged children. There are students, staff, and faculty from higher education institutions across the state. I don’t think anyone could even begin to imagine the impact this is having on our young people as they truly experience the epitome of democracy in action.
But it’s not just students and teachers; labor unions are well represented. There are public AND private sector employees. There have been marches of police and fire personnel, sometimes with bagpipes, around the Capitol. Walking home from the Capitol today I saw a large tanker truck sounding its horn as it drove around the Capitol Square.
So how did this all begin, and how did so many young people get involved? Speaking specifically from the undergraduate perspective we began organizing on Friday night branding our campaign around the idea that Mr. Walker is limiting collective bargaining, thus affecting the basic rights of our
Continue reading We Will Not Be Defeated
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