AFL-CIO

April 07, 2008 -- "President Bush’s decision to send the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement to Congress tomorrow over the strong objections of the leadership of both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate shows an outrageous disregard for basic human and workers’ rights.

Colombia FTA protesters: Photo by b.wu (CC)

Workers in Colombia are terrorized every day for standing up for their economic freedom and union supporters are routinely murdered. Our government should not reward the Colombian government for such callous indifference to the rights and lives of Colombian workers.    » read more »

Prepared remarks provided below

April 02, 2008 -- Philadelphia, PA - Senator Barack Obama addressed the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO this morning in Philadelphia, emphasizing his commitment to fighting the corporate special interests and delivering an agenda that makes sense for working Americans. As President, Obama will renegotiate NAFTA - which Senator Clinton supported as First Lady - invest in a green economy to help keep good jobs here in America, and make sure that every American has quality health care.

Senator Barack Obama at AFL-CIO Convention in Philadelphia, PA, April 2, 2008: Photo by Barack Obama campaign    » read more »

March 31, 2008 -- Today’s Department of Treasury blueprint for regulatory reform broaches the issue of much needed financial market reform. However, it fails to provide either the transparency or regulation required for genuine financial market integrity. Nor does it do anything to resolve the current financial and economic crisis.

The Department of Treasury proposes both weakening the SEC’s enforcement philosophy and substantially stripping it of the power to regulate investment banks. That’s a mistake for our nation’s economy, and a mistake for America’s working families. Investors - - including workers with pensions and families with college savings - - need a strong SEC with comprehensive regulatory authority over the capital markets.    » read more »

Decision comes from AFL-CIO complaint on NLRB action

March 19, 2008 -- (Washington DC) The International Labor Organization (ILO) released a decision by its Committee on Freedom of Association today holding that the National Labor Relations Board’s recent interpretation of the term “supervisor” “appear[s] to give rise to an overly wide definition of supervisory staff that would go beyond freedom of association principles” by excluding such workers from the protections of the National Labor Relations Act.    » read more »

Online Analysis Lets Voters Judge Members of Congress for Themselves

March 13, 2008 -- (Washington) - - The new AFL-CIO congressional scorecard shows that support for working families is becoming an even more mainstream position in Washington, with the reportedly moderate freshman class voting for working family issues 94 percent of the time. The newly updated scorecard -- which allows users to track the records of members of Congress online as far back as 1996 -- is available online at http://www.aflcio.org/issues/legislativealert/votes/index.cfm    » read more »

WASHINGTON, March 13 – U.S. Senators Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Assistant Majority Leader Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.), and Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) as well as AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, RFK Center Director Monika Kalra Varma today joined the Coalition of Immokalee Workers at a press conference to support a nationwide petition drive on behalf of Florida farm workers.    » read more »

New National Campaign Spotlights McCain’s Economic Record and Plans, Ties to Failed Bush Policies

March 12, 2008 -- The AFL-CIO today launched a major new campaign to expose Sen. John McCain’s economic record and his plans to continue the failed economic agenda of George W. Bush. The “McCain Revealed” campaign will reach more than 13 million voters in 23 battleground states, the federation’s political director Karen Ackerman said. The effort is a key component of the AFL-CIO’s $53.4 million mobilization, its largest in history.    » read more »

Seven California chapters of NEA now directly affiliated with the AFL-CIO

March 05, 2008 -- The AFL-CIO and the National Education Association (NEA) announced affiliations today by six chapters of the California Teachers Association (CTA), the state association of the national NEA. The affiliation will encourage greater cooperation to meet the needs of working teachers, students, and their families, according to the participants. With the affiliations, there are now seven CTA associations affiliated with the AFL-CIO, more than in any other state.    » read more »

March 04, 2008 -- While working families across the country are focused on turning around America after seven years of failed economic policy under President Bush, it seems Sen. McCain is stuck in a time warp.

Just yesterday, the Wall Street Journal reported Sen. McCain favors taking another stab at Bush’s failed plan to privatize Social Security funds, even though working families roundly rejected plans to risk their Social Security checks on privatization schemes.    » read more »

March 04, 2008 -- The top leadership of the AFL-CIO, representing 10.5 million working people in 56 unions, today called for an aggressive strategy to end the epidemic of American home loss and declining housing values, beginning with a moratorium on foreclosures. The moratorium should last at least six to 12 months, during which time the mortgage industry and government must create a system to replace all teaser-rate loans with conventional 30-year mortgages at the teaser rate, according to a resolution approved today by the Executive Council of the AFL-CIO.    » read more »

March 04, 2008 -- With strong leadership from the state AFL-CIO, New Jersey may soon guarantee workers paid time off to take care of an ill family member or newborn child.

Yesterday, the New Jersey State Senate passed legislation requiring employers to offer their workers up to six weeks of paid family leave at two-thirds salary. Maximum payout will be $524 a week.    » read more »

Feb 13, 2008 -- LITTLE ROCK (February 13, 2008) -- The Arkansas AFL-CIO on Wednesday announced its support for the HOPE for Arkansas Scholarship Lottery Amendment.

“We’re proud to do this on behalf of Arkansas’s workers,” Alan B. Hughes, the labor organization's president, said during a morning news conference with Lieutenant Governor Bill Halter at the state Capitol.    » read more »

Statement by President John Sweeney on DOL Announcing Intent to Strip Worker Protections From H-2A Guest Worker Program

February 07, 2008 -- The Department of Labor will hurt both immigrant and U.S.-born workers alike if it goes ahead with its plans to strip a number of workers’ rights from the H-2A agricultural guest worker program. The Bush Administration has shown once again that it will go to any extreme to cater to the interest of corporations at the painful expense of workers, and that it is not serious about real fixes to our nation’s broken immigration system.    » read more »

February 04, 2008 -- The Bush budget proposal is a slap in the face to America’s working families who are already struggling to get by in an economy sinking under the weight of this Administration’s disastrous policies.

Far from taking into account the political and economic reality of the nation, President Bush has proposed yet another ideologically driven and ill-conceived budget, which Congress should reject.    » read more »

February 01, 2008 -- "In another jolt of bad news for working people, today’s jobs report shows the slowing economy stalled in January. The economy shed jobs for the first time in four years and unemployment claims spiked last week to the highest level since the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, adding to growing concerns that working families are in for a serious recession.    » read more »