Labor Union Blog

According to a new report, New York is only one of four states in the union that had a fully-funded pension system in 2008. The report from Pew Center on the States found that nationally there is a $1 trillion public employee’s retirement fund deficit. New Jersey is one of eight states to be considered the worst off. According to the report, New Jersey can only cover 73 percent of pension benefits. In 2000, the Garden State had a fully-funded system. The other three states that had fully-funded pension plans as of 2008 are Wisconsin, Florida, and Idaho.

read more

Lede: Corporate America is flipping another bird to taxpayers and workers as Whirlpool plans to ship more American jobs to Mexico. Doug Cunningham has more.

By Doug Cunningham

read more

Hotel workers at San Francisco’s Grand Hyatt spent Friday picketing in front of the business. Workers at a number of San Francisco hotels have been engaged in boycotts since November of last year, because they have been working without a contract since mid-August at 61 hotels in the city.

read more

Robin Roberts

Robin Roberts, co-host of ABC-TV’s “Good Morning America,” is one of five leading figures in entertainment and media who will be honored Monday by their peers in the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA).

They’ll receive AMEE awards—the AFTRA Media and Entertainment Excellence Awards—which honor AFTRA members for excellence in their craft and their contributions to their fields. The awards will be presented Feb. 22 in New York City.

Veteran newsman and anchor of ”CBS News Sunday Morning” Charles Osgood will receive the AMEE Lifetime Achievement Award in Broadcasting. Rhythm and blues singer Sam Moore will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award in Sound Recordings. The other honorees include:

• Roberts, who will receive the award for broadcasting;
• Latin music superstar Juanes for sound recordings; and
• The cast of “Sesame Street” for entertainment.

Music legend Tony Bennett, radio personality Don Imus and AFTRA First Vice President Bob Edwards are among the presenters.

Proceeds from the 2010 AMEE Awards benefit the AFTRA Foundation, an independent nonprofit organization that supports charitable and educational programs such as scholarships for AFTRA members and their dependents, and the International News Safety Institute, the only global organization solely dedicated to the safety of journalists and other news professionals.