Labor Union Blog

By Doug Cunningham

The Center for Economic and Policy Research says 22 percent of people in working families are suffering economically. The new report – Working Families and Economic Insecurity In The States –says the federal poverty guideline does a poor job in painting the true picture of how working families are struggling financially. The federal poverty guidelines say 12.6 percent of Americans are living in poverty. But the Center for Economic and Policy Research says when a more real-world measure is taken 22 percent of people in the typical state suffer from economic hardship because their earnings and income is far short of a basic needs budget.

By Doug Cunningham

Organized labor remains divided over the Democratic presidential primary candidates, though labor says it will unite behind the Democratic nominee in the general election. David Warrick is Executive Director of AFSCME Council 62, representing workers in Kentucky and Indiana.

[Warrick]: “If you look at the states that traditionally in presidential races are the ones that swing it one way or the other, those are the ones Hillary’s winning. The Ohios, Pennsylvanias, Floridas, those are the ones
that in general elections count. So I think it;s showing that as far as electability, she’s the one that’s more electable than Obama.”

By Doug Cunningham

Barack Obama won the Oregon vote in the Democratic presidential primary Tuesday. Hillary Clinton racked up another landslide over Obama thanks to the white working class vote – this time in Kentucky. Obama spoke to the nation from Iowa after Tuesday’s elections, exalting the promise of change he believes his candidacy represents.

[Obama]: “With the help of those who stood up from Portland to Louisville, we have returned to Iowa with a majority of the delegates elected by the American people and you have put us within reach of the Democratic nomination for president of the United States of America!”

As the Senate takes up the issue of extending unemployment insurance (UI) benefits this week, a new report shows the UI funds of several states are not solvent enough to weather a recession.

With the Bush economy in freefall, more workers are being forced to apply for jobless benefits. In fact, as the number of U.S. workers filing first-time claims for benefits rose last week, the total receiving benefits climbed to the highest level in more than four years.

On top of that, some 200,000 jobless workers a month exhaust their UI benefits without finding new jobs, and about 3.5 million unemployed workers will lose jobless benefits this year.

The report, Unemployment Insurance Financing: Examining State Trust Funds Facing Recession, by the National Employment Law Project (NELP), finds that overall, state UI solvency is worse now than it was prior to the 2001 recession.

You still have time to enter the AFL-CIO’s Turn Around America Online Video Competition. The deadline has been extended to June 10.