Labor Union Blog

Economic Report:

Older workers received some good news in January. The unemployment rate for workers 55 and older dropped from 7.2 percent to 6.8 percent, that’s according to a report from the AARP. 2009 was the first year in 60 years that the unemployment rate for those 55 and older broke 6 percent. In December 2007 the jobless rate for that age group was at a low 3.3. percent.

By Doug Cunningham

read more

A judge’s ruling has saved a one thousand machinist jobs in Connecticut. Jesse Russell reports:

read more

As kids, we all loved the sugar-coated fairy tales of handsome and brave princes rescuing beautiful princesses from despotic kings.

The new CBS “reality” show “Undercover Boss” that debuted last night after the Super Bowl is a 21st century sugar-coated fairy tale. But this time, the brave prince is actually a CEO who goes undercover as a regular worker near the bottom of the food chain. There he finds how hard and dirty the job is; how stifling and draconian the company’s workplace rules are; and how crappy the pay is.

Then after walking so many miles in an employee’s work boots, the boss sees the light and promotes workers, raises pay, eases rules and promises a new found respect for all workers.

(If your boss isn’t going undercover anytime soon, be sure to check out American Rights at Work’s new website, Fix Our Jobs, where you can vent about how lousy—and even how great—your job is and learn how to make it better. Click here to watch the video.)

But just like our childhood stories ignored the dark, bloody and scary Brothers Grimm originals, “Undercover Boss” ignores the grim reality of too many of today’s workplaces.

“Undercover Boss” is a sweet, happy-ending tale for a handful of workers, but make-believe for millions of others. The best way to make workplace improvement and worker rights a reality is with the Employee Free Choice Act, that would restore the right of workers to form unions and bargain for a better life.

The bosses portrayed on the show may indeed be sincere and a handful of workers will enjoy the benefits of their foxhole conversions. But what about the millions of workers whose CEO’s will never be on TV? That’s where unions come in: to ensure employees have a voice at the workplace, with family-supporting pay and affordable health care and retirement security.

Along with the restoring the freedom to form unions, rebuilding the middle class means fighting for health care legislation, strong enforcement of wage and hour laws, holding  Wall Street accountable and most importantly creating jobs. Unions and their members at the forefront of all these battles—out in the open—not undercover.

Alabama Republican Senator Richard Shelby is threatening to “blanket hold” President Barack Obama’s presidential nominations unless an earmark that would award a $35 billion contract defense contract to a French aerospace company is reestablished. The earmark would result in providing an advantage to Airbus over U.S. based Boeing in the bidding process.

read more

Lede: We begin this week with unemployment slightly lower than last week, but America's workers are still in a very deep jobs hole. Doug Cunningham has more.

read more

As Congress considers whether to renew unemployment insurance (UI) for long-term jobless workers and extend COBRA to help unemployed workers maintain health care, they should take time to find out about the experiences of workers beyond the Washington, D.C., beltway.

Richard Duncan, who works for the Tennessee AFL-CIO technical assistance program, has met many unemployed workers. The assistance program helps union workers who have been laid off (see video above).

I’ve traveled the state of Tennessee and seen an enormous number of union brothers and sisters lose their jobs. Since 2006, I’ve seen the same people. They lose their job at one facility. Then they go to another facility, then there’s an additional layoff and they lose their job again.  

The extensions for UI and COBRA expire Feb. 28. Click here to tell your lawmakers it’s time to act.

Duncan’s video highlights workers urging Congress to act on the AFL-CIO’s five-point jobs program. Union members across the nation are rallying behind the AFL-CIO plan to create jobs now and President Obama’s jobs legislation. As AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said after Obama’s state of the union address:

Now it’s time for all of us to get busy and work together to bring the big changes that are essential-starting with enacting a jobs bill that is big enough to create jobs for the millions of people who want to work and can’t find jobs.  The time for small change is long gone.

Looking for the latest in international labor news? Now it’s just a click away with the launch of RadioLabour.net and its Solidarity News program. The weekly podcast will focus on union and workers’ activities and issues from around the world with special emphasis on emerging market and developing countries.

A new report, hosted by labor educator Marc Belanger, debuts each Monday morning. RadioLabour reporters will provide regular weekly presentations, and the audio cast will feature reports from unionists on particular events.

For union activists interested in learning more about progressive podcasting, be sure to check out the Labour Podcasting group on UnionBook. 

Don’t forget these working family, union friendly broadcasts, all available live streaming or via podcasts on their websites. 

• Workers Independent News-The daily broadcast looks at top worker-oriented news.
• Building Bridges-The weekly one hour program covers local, national and international labor and community issues.
• The Rick Smith Show-Pennsylvania activist Rick Smith, a Teamster member and ILCA vice president, hosts a two-hour labor talk each Saturday and Sunday, 12-2 p.m., broadcast and webcast on WHYL AM.
• America’s Workforce-Ed “Flash” Ferenc host the nation’s only daily labor radio program,  from 4-5 p.m. on  Cleveland’s WERE AM.
• The Solidarity Effect-Every Friday on KNDS FM in Fargo, N.D., Machinists Kevin and Heather Murch engage in-studio guests and the listening audience “in the social issues of our times from a working class perspective and also play some great music as well     
• The Union Edge-Long-time AFGE member Charles Showalter hosts this daily labor talk show.  
• Democratic Talk Radio-The weekly broadcast on WGPA AM advocates for American workers and consumers.
• Inside Government-AFGE’s weekly one-hour radio program on Federal News Radio features interviews and commentary on a wide range of subjects that impact the lives and livelihoods of federal and D.C. government workers and the general public
• Heartland Labor Forum-The Institute for Labor Studies at the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) produces the weekly show for working people and has been “agitating on the air since 1989.”