Labor Union Blog

A strike at Boeing began today, with some 27,0000 Machinist (IAM) union members in three states now on the picket lines.

Despite extraordinary efforts by the union to reach an agreement with the Boeing Company, says IAM President Thomas Buffenbarger:

The absence of job security language was a key reason why members rejected the company’s earlier offer and it is why Boeing is now facing the second major strike in three years. We’ve learned it’s not enough to have a good-paying job if that job can disappear at any time.

Did you know that about 430,000 people are unemployed in Ohio? That's roughly 100,000 more than were jobless in 2001. Or that 15.3 percent of us don’t have health insurance?

These and other facts are available in Facts & Stats on the AFL-CIO website. The site, which was recently updated, offers a multitude of the more current official data about working family issues—nationally and state by state. For example, if you want to know the number of fatal injuries over the past three years in the country, Facts & Stats has the answer: nearly 17,000. You can find the same kind of information for jobs lost due to trade and many other facts.