UE Takes the Fight to GE and Wal-Mart—and McDonald’s, Because Why Not?

“Who are we? UE!” chanted some 200 protestors outside the Chicago headquarters of General Electric Transportation Division last Monday. GE executives did not need the introduction. They’ve faced off with feisty UE—the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America —for most of the union’s 77-year history. And since last year, UE has worked hard to save nearly 1,000 member jobs at the big ...
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Chicago Students Boycott Class, Demanding an Elected and Accountable School Board

“David Vitale, we don’t recognize you as the board chairperson... You’re fired!” Thus Jitu Brown, education organizer at the Kenwood Oakland Community Organization on Chicago’s South Side, began today’s protest rally of about 400 students, parents and community members outside the downtown headquarters of Chicago Public Schools (CPS), where Chicago Board of Education president Vitale and the rest ...
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Wave of Low-Wage Worker Strikes Hits LA Ports

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Workers at the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles were probably surprised yesterday to see groups of truckers chasing trucks making deliveries and setting up temporary picket lines in front of them. Port truck drivers went on a 24-hour strike early Monday evening to protest alleged union-busting by Green Fleet, one of the port’s biggest trucking companies. The Green Fleet drivers say that the com...
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50 Years After the March on Washington, Unions Still Have a Dream


At the Aug 24, 2013 march on Washington, D.C., thousands wore SEIU purple and carried signs demanding higher wages and an economy that works for all. (Belinda Gallegos/SEIU)   WASHINGTON, D.C.—At a rally of some 175,000 people on Saturday to mark the 50th anniversary of Rev. Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech, several leading unions seized the opportunity to strengthen the ties between o...
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Carnivals Are No Picnic for Migrant Workers


Migrant workers who set up and take down rides at traveling fairs, like this one in North Texas, complain of wage theft and grueling hours. (Double H Photography/Wikimedia Commons).   A trip to the carnival is the quintessential American summer pastime. But for workers who run the show, the hard labor of making our holidays carefree can be shockingly grim. A lawsuit lauched last week by two migran...
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IAFF Fire Fighters On the Scene of Wildfire Threatening Yosemite National Park

Original link Original author: PR

At MLK March, Renewed Call For Obama Executive Order on Wages


Alvin Turner, a veteran of the 1968 Memphis garbage workers strike, speaking at a Change to Win panel on the King's legacy for labor. (Change to Win)   WASHINGTON, D.C.—On the eve of a march to commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech, labor and civil rights activists are calling on President Barack Obama to honor King with an executive order that would raise wages for as many ...
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Wisconsin Protests Rejuvenated by Crackdown on Singers in Capitol


The Summer of Solidarity Tour joins the Solidarity Singers at the State Capitol in Madison, Wis. (Summer of Solidarity Tour)   Yesterday, the Summer of Solidarity Tour stopped in Madison, Wis. and visited the state Capitol. There, the labor activists joined the daily Solidarity Sing Along held by protesters at noon inside the Capitol each day since Gov. Scott Walker signed a controversial anti-uni...
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A Victory for Silica Dust Exposed Workers?


A CTA rail worker laying down track is in one of the many occupations at high risk of exposure to cancer-causing silica dust.   (TheeErin / Flickr / Creative Commons). Today, after a much-criticized delay on issuing a rule to limit workers' exposure to cancer-causing silica dust, the Obama administration put forward a proposed rule for public consideration. The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupatio...
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Unions Under Siege in Guatemala


Melvy Lizeth Camey Rojas, Secretary General of the SNTSG Santa Rosa Dept, shows the scars of the bullet wounds she suffered in an assassination attempt in August 2012 at her union office. (Photo from Public Services International)   Guatemala is beginning to emerge from a grim history of military dictatorship and civil strife, but its workers remain mired in the nation's bloody legacy. Even today,...
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Koch Brothers Won’t Get the LA Times; People of Color Feel Less Safe at Work


To labor's relief, the Los Angeles Times building in downtown LA won't be under Koch ownership any time soon.   (Wikimedia Commons) The Koch Brothers no longer are interested in buying the Los Angeles Times and its parent company, the Tribune Company. Their dropping of their bid is a victory for unions that fought it, concerned that the Koch's anti-labor stance would inform Tribune-owned papers fr...
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McCaffrey on Leadership

Jane Blume August 23, 2013 14:39 General McCaffrey says the hallmark of good leadership is good character.   McCaffrey made a presentation on Leadership in Crisis Situations at the IAFF John P. Redmond and Dominick F. Barbera EMS Conference in Denver. He told IAFF members that when serving in leadership roles, one can't strive for affection, but should try to earn respect. Part of gaining the trus...
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Retired Army General Barry McCaffrey addresses IAFF members at Redmond

Jane Blume August 23, 2013 14:36 Retired Four-Star  Army General Barry R. McCaffrey sees a lot of similarities between fire fighting and military service.   He spoke as the keynote speaker at the IAFF John P. Redmond Symposium and Dominick F. Barbera EMS Conference in Denver, Colorado.   High-level training and knowing how to work as a team are important for both professions to produce  successful...
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U.S. Free Trade Deal Hasn’t Ended Struggles for Colombia’s Unions

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El Cerrito, COLOMBIA—They were hungry and frightened about their fate, and Omar Serrano struggled for words to steady them. “We are fighting for our labor rights,” said Serrano, president of a small, struggling sugar cane cutters union. “This is not about what is happening only here. But it's about what's happening all across Colombia.” But his words brought little light to the faces of the 40 sug...
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Beleaguered Honeywell Workers Cautiously Optimistic As Arbitrator Sides With Union


A locked out Honeywell worker from Metropolis, Ill. at a pro-union rally in Madison, Wis., in February 2011. (United Steelworkers / Flickr / Creative Commons)   Over the past three years, I have spent plenty of time with Honeywell uranium plant worker and United Steelworkers Local 7-699 President Stephen Lech. However, I have never seen Lech as excited as he was on Tuesday night. “Mike, I got big ...
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