Labor Union Blog

Economic Report:

A new Congressional study has found that many women are being forced out of the workforce because of the economic downturn. The number of women with jobs reached an apex of 75 percent in the year 2000, but the new study has found that as of June 2008 the number has slipped for the first time since the 1960s. Two percent less women held jobs in June and according to the study that equals 4 million women without jobs.

What does the $8.86 billion dollar second quarter loss by the country’s fourth largest bank mean for workers? Quite a bit as Wachovia announced on Tuesday it would be slashing 10,750 positions.

Thursday’s federal minimum wage increase will do little to increase the quality of living in many states. Jesse Russell takes a look at New York.

The federal minimum wage will rise to $6.55 per hour on Thursday, but the Fiscal Policy Institute says New Yorkers will see little benefit. In a report titled Restoring the Purchasing Power of New York State’s Minimum Wage, the nonpartisan organization finds that inflation has eroded the state’s minimum wage purchasing power so it is now 16 percent below what it was in 1970. 283,000 New Yorkers are currently paid the minimum and 77 percent are o

By Doug Cunningham

A lawsuit by Chicago’s Working Hands Legal Clinic on behalf of immigrant workers at O’Hare Airport accuses United Airlines and several other companies of illegally profiting from wholesale violations of state and federal labor law. The suit names United , Alitalia, Singapore Airlines, Gate Gourmet, Air Menzies International , Swissport Cargo Services, J.D Norman Industries, APEX Plastic Finishing Company and Ideal Staffing Solutions. Attorney Jed Untereker says the companies profited from illegal exploitation of these workers by using the temp agency Ideal Staffing Solutions to bring the workers in.

The Letter Carriers (NALC) union has endorsed Sen. Barack Obama for president.

Obama’s name was presented to the convention for the endorsement vote by Sen. Hillary Clinton, whom the NALC endorsed in September of last year.

In key states around the country, the union vote will make the difference this fall. As part of the Labor 2008 program, the largest union voter mobilization in history, union volunteers are working hard to educate other members about why they support Sen. Barack Obama and intend to elect a pro-working family Congress this fall.

Worksite leafleting is just one of the ways Colorado union members communicate with fellow members about Obama’s record of supporting working families, says Phil Hayes, Labor 2008 state director. Last week, SMWIA Local 9 President Scott Jorgensen and NATCA staffer Chris McKeever spent hours at Denver construction sites talking to IBEW, SMWIA and UA members, Hayes reports.

The Transportation Communications Union (TCU/IAM) has endorsed Sen. Barack Obama for president.

Obama supports workers and will fight for them, while Sen. John McCain will take the country in the wrong direction, Scardelletti said.