AFL-CIO

  • Taxi Workers Become a Union—Officially

    On the top floor of AFL-CIO headquarters, overlooking the White House, a new union was born this afternoon. Or more accurately, it was given an official blessing. Taxi workers in New York had built their union for 15 years at the city’s airport taxi stands, restaurants, and kitchen tables, but today they became the first new union chartered by the AFL-CIO in five years.

  • Still Paying Through the Nose, Labor Campaigns for Single Payer
    Andy Coates
    Jun 8 2011 - 10:59am

    A year after President Obama signed his health care reform with strong support from the labor movement, advocates of a single-payer system might be tempted to ask, “How’s that working out for you?” Labor Campaign for Single Payer activists gathered in D.C. to assess their progress.

  • New Jersey Unions Say Rights Are Non-Negotiable
    Mischa Gaus
    Feb 25 2011 - 6:58pm

    Thousands crowded in front of the New Jersey Capitol in a freezing rain Friday to lend their solidarity to the occupation continuing in Wisconsin's statehouse. A teacher union leader said all labor is uniting to reject the "middle-class civil war" right-wing forces are trying to engineer

  • One Nation: Unions Can Still Turn Out

    Saturday’s One Nation rally on the Mall in Washington, D.C. proved one important point: unions can still turn out. The big question is whether it will be the launching pad for a more challenging relationship with labor's “friends in Washington.”

  • Unions, Allies Warm Up for Election at 'One Nation' Rally
    Mischa Gaus & Jane Slaughter
    Sep 30 2010 - 12:35pm

    Are there more of us than there are of the Tea Party? The One Nation Working Together rally in Washington October 2 is the union movement’s answer to the Tea Party-Glenn Beck types, says Steve Kramer, vice president of a union that hopes to send 50,000 members on buses to D.C.

  • Thousands March on Wall Street, Calling for Jobs
    by Pam Galpern
    Apr 30 2010 - 9:18am

    Thousands gathered in Manhattan April 29 calling for good jobs and accountability from Wall Street. Four entire four blocks were full of union members, community and housing activists, and retirees with signs declaring “Make Wall Street Pay.”

  • What’s In the Health Insurance Bill, What’s Not

    What’s weird about the whole health insurance fracas is that Republicans and some insurance company execs fought just as hard against the crappy bill we have before us as if it were really what they claim it is: a vast government “intrusion” into health care.

  • Anger over Health Care Bill Creates Uncertain Future
    by Jane Slaughter
    Jan 20 2010 - 3:24pm

    A Massachusetts local union president called it early: “I’ve never seen this much anger at the Democrats from union people. It’s worse than NAFTA," said Jeff Crosby, from a General Electric factory near Boston.

  • Health Care Victory—or Pretzel?

    Yesterday Rich Trumka announced a deal with the White House: high-cost union health care plans won’t be subject to an excise tax till 2018—five years later than almost everyone else. Trumka made clear that the intent of the changes the unions brokered is to make so many groups exempt from the tax that in practice it will almost never be applied. But why build a pretzel around the right thing?

  • Guatemala: A Dangerous Place To Be a Union Member

    The Guatemalan labor movement is facing a sharp upsurge in assassinations and violence against trade unionists. Six unionists were murdered in 2009, believably for their union activities.