Labor Union Blog

Economic Report:

If you feel like this recession is particularly bad, you may not be far off. Billionaire investor George Soros called the current state of the U.S. economy the “most serious financial crisis of our lifetime.” He told Reuters that the economic slowdown has been slow coming, “but the slower it comes, the more powerful it is.” Anywhere from 8000 to 9000 U.S. homes enter foreclosure every day.

By Doug Cunningham

The Tenement Museum on New York City’s lower east side celebrates the history of workers who formed unions. Ironically the museum is refusing to recognize a union its own employees have formed. Edan Shulz is an organizer with UAW Local 2110.

[Shulz]: “One of the tours that educators give every day is a tour that’s about the garment industry at the turn of the century and the terrible working conditions that people endured and about the fact that people organized to better their working lives. And it is pretty ironic that their own employer is trying to push them away from a union that they want.”

By Doug Cunningham

AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Department President, Mark Ayers says that Senator John McCain has failed veterans in the U.S. Senate.

[Ayers]: “Not only has he voted the wrong way on veterans issues, such as opposing increased funding for veteran’s health care the last four years in a row, but he also doesn’t support middle class workers’ issues. As veterans, we respect Senator McCain’s military service to our country, but we don’t respect his record in the United States Senate.”

By Doug Cunningham

AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Department President Mark Ayers says Senator John McCain has failed veterans in the U.S. Senate.

[Ayers]: “Not only has he voted the wrong way on veterans issues, such as opposing increased funding for veteran’s health care the last four years in a row, but he also doesn’t support middle class workers’ issues. As veterans we respect Senator McCain’s military service to our country, but we don’t respect his record in the United States Senate.”

Workers at the University of California’s 10 campuses went on strike Monday. Jesse Russell reports:

Members of the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees union walked off the job at 10 University of California campuses Monday, protesting a pay scale they say is 25 percent less than what workers with similar jobs are paid at community colleges and private hospitals. The workers are paid on average $10 per hour. The employees come from fill food service, medical, bus driving, and janitorial duties at the campuses and university hospitals. The union is under a restraining order issued by a San Francisco judge on Friday, but the strikes are a signal that the union plans to ignore the order.

Randi Weingarten
Antonia Cortese
Lorretta Johnson

Following a historic vote, three women will hold the top offices in a major AFL-CIO union. Delegates to AFT’s convention in Chicago today elected Randi Weingarten as president, Antonia Cortese as secretary-treasurer and Lorretta Johnson as executive vice president.

They replace President Edward McElroy and Secretary-Treasurer Nat LaCour, who both retired. Cortese, the new secretary-treasurer, served as AFT executive vice president for the past four years.

A former social studies teacher and lawyer, Weingarten served for the past decade as president of the United Federation of Teachers UFT/AFT. Johnson is president of AFT-Maryland and also serves as president of the Baltimore Teachers Union’s paraprofessional chapter.

The roundtable, sponsored by the RNs Working Together, the coalition of 10 AFL-CIO unions representing more than 200,000 registered nurses, is one step in the campaign to build support on Capitol Hill for the first national nurse-to-patient ratio legislation (H.R. 2123) introduced by Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.).

Some 8,500 employees of the University of California went on strike today to demand better pay and a fair contract. The workers, members of AFSCME Local 3299, include housekeepers, cafeteria workers and those who disinfect hospital equipment. The five-day strike is set to run through Friday at the university’s 10 campuses and five medical centers.