Labor Union Blog

More than 200 high school seniors received scholarships from the Massachusetts AFL-CIO.

Higher education is no longer a far off dream parents once had for their children but a necessity in today’s economy—and an expensive necessity at that. Recent studies show workers with a college degree earn 45 percent more than those with a high school diploma. Yet college tuition costs are at an all-time high, making it harder for working families to afford it.

The union movement has historically been a strong supporter of educating workers to create a better life for themselves, their families and communities. Many unions, state federations and central local bodies and labor groups sponsor scholarship programs, including Union Privilege. Click here to learn more about Union Privilege’s scholarship program.

The union movement also created the National Labor College, the nation’s only accredited institution of higher learning dedicated to educating union members.

WIN Week In Review May 9-11, 2008

By Doug Cunningham

For four months in a row now, U.S. workers have suffered a net loss of jobs. Lawrence Mishel of the Economic Policy Institute says working people are in for more of the same.

[Mishel]: “The last six months the economy barely grew at all and as a consequence we’re gonna see persistent loss of jobs for months to come and steadily rising unemployment. Whenever that happens, and we’re already seeing it, wages grow much more slowly, hours of work don’t rise or they actually decline. Fewer family members are working, people are working part-time jobs, they want a full-time job.”