AFL-CIO

January 29, 2008 -- The Bush Administration’s bury-bad-news-on-a-Friday-afternoon nominations to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) are a blatant attempt to keep a Labor board with an unbalanced, anti-worker bias, and they would be poisonous to America’s working families.    » read more »

January 29, 2008 -- President Bush’s rose-colored glasses need a new prescription - - he is blind to Americans’ day-to-day economic realities and the truth about our nation’s standing in the world.

The fact is that under President Bush, our nation’s economy has not been working for working people for years. As our nation worries about a recession, for the first time ever, working people still haven’t recovered from the last one. Since 2000, the median household lost $1,000 in inflation-adjusted income. Families are losing good jobs, homes and hope in the future.    » read more »

Without assistance, state and local governments will be forced to make budget cuts that will deepen and lengthen the economic downturn.

January 29, 2008 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. — Gerald W. McEntee, President of the 1.4 million member American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO, issued the following statement on the economic stimulus package under consideration in Congress:    » read more »

January 25, 2008 -- Union membership in the United States increased by 311,000 to 15.7 million in 2007, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the largest single-year increase in union membership since 1979. Overall union density increased slightly from 12.0 percent to 12.1 percent last year, reversing a trend of decline in recent years.    » read more »

Economic Stimulus Proposal “Is Not Enough to Make A Real Difference For America’s Working Families”

January 24, 2008 -- As housing, heating, and gas bills pile up for America’s workers, and good jobs get even scarcer, it’s time for leaders in Washington to make bold and immediate moves to shore up the economy. Yet the latest economic stimulus proposal simply is not enough to make a real difference for America’s working families.    » read more »

January 23, 2008 -- "It is hard to believe in this weakening economy that anyone could justify denying working people the means to take care of their children’s most basic needs.

By voting against health insurance for children, the President and a few partisan members of Congress are making life even harder for the millions of families who are already struggling to pay the mortgage, the rent, the heat or any number of household bills as they pile up.    » read more »

January 22, 2008 -- "For the last five years, lower courts have been considering whether the powerful, politically connected financial institutions at the center of the Enron fraud will have to answer to investors for what they did. And now we have the final answer from the Supreme Court. They will not.    » read more »

Sweeney Says Bush Action is “Encouraging” But Does “Not Address Crucial Problems”

January 18, 2008 -- The AFL-CIO today urged Congress to pass a stimulus package that helps the economy by extending unemployment payments, increasing food stamp benefits, sending fiscal relief to state and local governments and investing in ready-to-go school, bridge and sewage construction, in addition to providing tax rebates targeted to middle- and low-income taxpayers -- while also beginning to address underlying causes of the current weakness.    » read more »

Activists at 100 Congressional Offices Nationwide to Demand Congress Protect Consumers

January 15, 2008 -- Thousands of activists from the United Steelworkers (USW) and other AFL-CIO unions will join community, environmental and health groups as part of a National Day of Action Wednesday to demand Congress takes immediate steps to stop the importation of dangerous lead-laced toys and other unsafe products into the U.S.    » read more »

Says Bush's Failure to React to China Trade Violations Dragging Down U.S Economy

January 11, 2008 -- The AFL-CIO called for action to rein in our nation’s trade deficit with China, as the Census Bureau trade statistics released today showed that the U.S. trade deficit with China hit a new record. In the first 11 months of last year, the United States racked up a staggering $237 billion trade deficit in goods with China – up 11 percent over the same period last year.    » read more »

January 04, 2008 -- Today’s jobs report showing a spike in unemployment to five percent and the weakest job growth since August 2003 is the latest in a series of troubling signs that our economy may be slipping into recession.    » read more »

December 18, 2007 -- "The insistence by the White House and Republican minority in the Senate that the omnibus spending bill be written to their exact specifications shows their utter contempt for the will of the American people who clearly voted for change in 2006.    » read more »

August 15, 2007 -- DES MOINES -- Today in Cedar Falls, U.S. Senator Barack Obama will discuss his plan to increase government transparency and accountability in Washington, D.C. Today’s remarks will highlight Senator Obama’s record of fighting for ethics and lobbying reforms that were unpopular with political insiders while in the U.S. Senate and the Illinois state Senate. Following the Cedar Falls event, Senator Obama will address the AFL-CIO Convention in Waterloo.    » read more »

Will Tout Support of the Employee Free Choice Act

Wilmington, DE (June 18, 2007): On Tuesday, Senator Joe Biden will address thousands of trade union activists at a rally in support of the Employee Free Choice Act which the Senate is expected to take up this week. Biden will be joined at the rally on Capitol Hill by several distinguished labor union officials from AFSCME, CWA, and UAW and workers from across the country gathering to show their support for the Act.    » read more »

Wilmington, DE (June 14, 2007) – Today, Sen. Joe Biden received the endorsement of the Delaware state AFL-CIO for the Democratic nomination for President. Sen. Biden is the first Democratic candidate for President to receive an endorsement from a state chapter of the AFL-CIO.    » read more »