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Works to strengthen the labor movement through the use of music and the arts.
  • The Cradle Will Rock
    This dynamic musical, a comic morality tale, follows the citizens of Steeltown, USA as they corrupt themselves under the control of Mr. Mister, the powerful steel magnate. June 4 - July 4, 2010 Mad Cow Theatre Orlando, Fl

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CWA Convention - Day 1

The opening day of the Communication Workers of America's 72nd Annual Convention kept the 1300 registered delegates busy with several Constitutional amendments. The first big surprise came when the delegates voted affirmatively to merge the Communication & Technology sector with the Telecom sector, effectively eliminating one Vice President position. A second, hastily thrown together amendment that would have restored the Telecom VP office was soundly defeated by a roll call vote. The second surprise came when the delegates voted to move to a biennial Convention and elect officers at the National level every four years instead of every three years. These two amendments in particular will save both the locals and the International a considerable sum. The C&T/Telecom merger will streamline the operation ... Read more

72nd CWA Convention/Legislative Conference Begins

Pre-Convention District and sector meetings highlighted the afternoon prior to the CWA 72nd Annual Convention and Legislative Conference. District 2 (Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and D.C) and District 13 (Pennsylvania) have reached an agreement to merge provided the entire membership approves. This is just one of several resolutions addressing the “Ready for the Future” vision the CWA has adopted. The proposed merger will save an approximate $500,000 a year that can be utilized in needed areas. In the Telecom sector, the biggest news was the intended acquisition of Qwest by CenturyLink. Telecom V.P. Jimmy Gurganus told the crowd that if Qwest employees thought that CenturyLink was going to be a “kinder, gentler employer” they were mistaken. I would have to agree, they ... Read more

“So easy, a caveman could do it!”

“So easy, a caveman could do it!” No, I’m not talking about changing car insurance. Instead, I want to send that message to the Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate and their “Blue Dog” counterparts. The time has come to put aside partisan politics and embrace a new direction in Washington. How hard can it be to adopt a platform which puts working families, job creation and our economy first? Being the party of “NO” has simply divided the country on a massive level, and given birth to such far right groups as the TEA Party. Some decent legislation has made it to the President’s desk, Health Care Reform and soon the financial regulatory bill that just passed ... Read more

Go Big Or Go Home!

The previous blog post raised many issues that you may have had in the back of your mind, but couldn't quite verbalize.  I've finally codified the essence of my growing uneasiness with the current administration and the Democratic Party as a viable working person's alternative to the pro corporate Republican Party. Everything could be summed up in one phrase. "GO BIG OR GO HOME"!      If the health care [...] read full article... Read more

I'm Having a Health Care Flashback!

I just had to write this blog post, but rest assured that part four of my five part series is in the works.During the wee hours of the night, I woke up from a nightmare. Somewhat shaken, I made my way to the computer and tried to erase the strange, insecure state that the nightmare engendered.  In the nightmare, I was flat broke, unemployed, lost my health insurance and came down with a life-threatening illness.& [...] read full article... Read more

Part Three, Bill Clinton Saw The Thousand Points of Light!

Part Three Of The Five Part Series-Don't Be Upset With Us, At Least We're Not Republicans!  Examining the actual role of the Democratic Party In post Reagan America.In the interest of brevity, I have chosen not to give George H. W. Bush an intallment of his own in this series.  I would rather just make a brief mention of the fact that he was Ronald Reagan's Vice President and his "kinder and [...] read full article... Read more

Senators To Long Term Unemployed: Get Lost!

Part three of my five part series will be on shortly. I've pre-empted it because getting an Unemployment Insurance extension passed is an urgent situation.I have a few choice words to say to any Senator who refuses to vote for an Unemployment insurance extension! You can hear them by going to my Listen Here! page. [...] read full article... Read more

Small Business, Corporate America's Other Victim!

Part three of my five part series will be online shortly. In the mean time, you can  go to my Listen Here! page and hear my show about what corporate America does to us "little people" when we decide to open a small business. [...] read full article... Read more

Do You Back a Candidate Based On Party, Ideology or Affiliation?

While you are waiting for part three of my five part series, let's learn about each other with this poll. [...] read full article... Read more

News for the Working Family From AFL-CIO

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House Hearing Focuses on Mine, Workplace Safety

Mine Workers (UMWA) President Cecil Roberts told the House Education and Labor Committee this afternoon, “We can and must do a better job of protecting our nation’s miners,” and urged Congress to approve legislation to strengthen mine and workplace safety laws. The bill, the Miner Safety and Health Act (H.R. 5663),  focuses on mine safety, but also includes provisions to strengthen worker safety protections in all workplaces. Its backers say recent deadly workplace disasters are concrete but tragic evidence that job safety laws must be improved. Just this year, the deadly Massey Energy Upper Big Branch explosion  killed 29 coal miners; the Tesoro refinery blast claimed the lives of seven Washington State workers; the BP oil rig blast killed 11,  and six workers died at  a Connecticut Kleen Energy Systems explosion. As Roberts told the committee: “Clearly the status quo isn’t good enough.” The Mine Safety and Health Administration’s (MSHA) efforts have failed to motivate at least some mine operators, like Massey, to operate their mines safely each and every day. Stanley “Goose” Stewart was able to escape the April 5 blast at Upper Big Branch. He outlined more than a dozen safety shortcuts and violations, from ventilation to coal dust and methane levels, conducted and condoned by mine management he witnessed at Upper Big Branch. The 34-year-veteran miner, who spent 15 years at Performance Coal Co., the Massey subsidiary operating Upper Big Branch, told the committee: Something needs to be done to stop outlaw coal companies who blatantly disregard the laws…This bill must pass to keep ...

AFL-CIO | | Wednesday, 14 July 2010 | Hits: 13 | Comments

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Players Want 2011 All-Star Game Moved Out of Arizona

Baseball fans, take a good look at some of the players in tonight’s All-Star Game. You may not see them at next year’s classic if they are Latino. A growing number of Latino players—including such perennial all-stars as Albert Pujols and Adrian Gonzalez—have said they would not participate in the game if it is played as scheduled next year in Phoenix. The Latino players are calling on Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig to move the 2011 game out of Phoenix as a protest against Arizona’s new anti-immigrant law, which goes into effect July 29. The law requires police to stop and question anyone they have “reasonable suspicion” of being undocumented. The law does not define “reasonable suspicion,” a fact that many opponents say is a carte blanche for racial profiling. Writing at Huffington Post today, Ben Walker speaks with several Latino players who say the law is unfair and they cannot play if the game remains in Phoenix. He quotes Kansas City Royals closer Joakim Soria, who says: They could stop me and ask to see my papers. I have to stand with my Latin community on this. Read all of Walker’s post here. The Major League Baseball Players Association said in a statement that the new law could have a “negative impact” on major league baseball teams, which have hundreds of players who are citizens of countries other than the United States. At least six players on the Arizona Diamondbacks roster are not U.S. citizens, and 30 percent of all Major League players are Latino. These international ...

AFL-CIO | | Wednesday, 14 July 2010 | Hits: 11 | Comments

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Lack of Jobs, Not ‘Generous’ UI Benefits, Keep Unemployed Jo

You’ve really got to wonder if any of the Republican lawmakers, conservative think-tankers and right-wing bloggers who continue to claim that jobless workers would rather collect unemployment insurance (UI) benefits than find a job have ever lived in the real world. Thankfully, it’s been a long time, but when I was collecting UI, I was busting my hump to find work because the $190 or so a week UI check didn’t go too far. Same thing with my wife when she was out of work back then. Everybody I’ve known who’s been on UI would gladly have traded that UI check for a paycheck. If you ask the nearly 15 million people out of work today—almost half for more than six months—they’d make the same deal. Republican senators, with the support of their usual gang of cronies, have four times blocked legislation to extend UI benefits for the long-term unemployed. With the extensions expired, more than 2 million Americans have lost their unemployment benefits, according to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). Republicans say they’re concerned about adding to the deficit. But there is enough chatter about “generous benefits,” “disincentives” and other code words for lazy on right-wing radio, Fox News political shows and conservative blogs to raise suspicion. A congressional report last week blew away these bogus claims. But before we get into that, let’s take a look at some of the more ridiculous assertions. Remember the argument boils down to the disincentive a $300 a week UI check (national average) provides over a job with ...

AFL-CIO | | Wednesday, 14 July 2010 | Hits: 11 | Comments

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Netroots Nation: Tell Us Your Ideas for the Labor Caucus

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      Netroots Nation, the annual gathering of some 2,000 progressive bloggers and activists, is coming up fast—July 22–25—and we need your input on topics we should focus on at the Labor Caucus we hold there every year. Labor communicators from the AFL-CIO, Change to Win and independent unions take part in the Labor Caucus, as well as allies from groups such as Jobs with Justice. This year, Matt Browner-Hamlin from SEIU and I are co-hosting it, and we want your input to help frame the agenda. Participants in the Labor Caucus focus on issues affecting our work as labor communicators—how we can improve what we do and effectively reach union members and the public. Last year, we explored how to build our own online union community, connecting labor to the progressive blog world and utilizing our resources to make changes at the state and local levels, to support union members and campaigns. So whether you are traveling to Las Vegas for the Netroots Nation conference or will follow along here and at the Netroots Nation site, let us know what you want explored at this year’s Labor Caucus. Leave suggestions here or send an e-mail to blognews@aflcio.org. We will cover labor events while at Netroots Nation, including the “21st Century Economy” panel with AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka; Elizabeth Warren, chairwoman of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP); Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.); and others. If you’re at Netroots Nation, the panel is Saturday, July 24, 11:45 a.m. PDT. We also will blog the panel, “Young Workers: Taking Charge of O...

AFL-CIO | | Wednesday, 14 July 2010 | Hits: 9 | Comments

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Netroots Nation: Vote on a Union Beer

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By popular demand, Working America and the AFL-CIO are bringing back last year’s “Raise a glass for the working class” booth—otherwise known as the beer booth—at Netroots Nation. If you come by our booth anytime the exhibit hall is open and take an action for working families, you’re entitled to come back and sample union beer during the happy hours we’ll be holding next week on Thursday and Friday of the convention. We’ll have updates coming soon about what actions you can take and exactly when beer will be served. (Last year the actions included writing to your members of Congress about health care reform or the Employee Free Choice Act, or joining Working America.) But right now, the big question is: What beer should we serve? We’ll only be serving union beer, of course. Once again we’ll be handing out our handy wallet-sized union beer info cards (“Drink beer made by union members. You’ll feel better in the morning”), which list the following options: All Miller products, including: (UAW) Miller High Life, Genuine Draft and Lite Milwaukee’s Best Sharp’s Icehouse, Red Dog Hamm’s All Anheuser-Busch products, including: (IAM) Budweiser, Bud Light and Budweiser American Ale Michelob Shock Top Busch Natural Light Rolling Rock O’Doul’s Leinenkugel’s (UAW) Iron City (IUE-CWA) Mad River Brewing Co. (IAM) Henry Weinhard’s (UAW) Unfortunately, the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas isn’t able to get all of these—our choices are Miller and Leinenkugel beers. But we still have to pick which Millers and which Leinenkugels, and when we’re figuring out the order, we want to know what you want. So take the poll; we’ll do our best ...

AFL-CIO | | Wednesday, 14 July 2010 | Hits: 10 | Comments

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Apollo Alliance

Apollo Alliance
Clean Energy, Good Jobs

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Consumer Content

Consumer information for union members and their families.

  • Traveling? Don't forget to pack the plastic

    If you are heading out on vacation, don’t forget to pack the plastic. Credit cards are one of the safest and most convenient ways to pay for expenses while you travel. Still, there are a few things you’ll...

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American Federation of State, County, & Municipal Employees

Greenline: The AFSCME Blog
The Official Blog of AFSCME, The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFL-CIO)
  • Keep Your Hands Off Social Security!
    Years after George W. Bush’s failed attempts to privatize Social Security, his cohorts are renewing calls for privatization. This time they’re using deficit reduction as an excuse. Recently, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) proposed raising the retirement age to 70. Is this for real? Equally disturbing is the focus of a new fiscal commission that’s supposed [...]

American Federation of Government Employees

AFGE.org Latest Content
This feed contains the latest content posted onto www.afge.org. The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) is the largest federal employee union representing 600,000 federal and D.C. government workers nationwide and overseas. Workers in virtually all functions of government at every federal agency depend upon AFGE for legal representation, legislative advocacy, technical expertise and informational services.

Airline Pilots Association

Capital Cargo Crewmembers Ratify Tentative Contract Agreemen

July 13, 2010 - The crewmembers of Capital Cargo International Airlines (CCIA), represented by the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l (ALPA), have ratified a tentative contract agreement that their Negotiating Committee recently reached with CCIA management. Of the 95 percent of CCIA crewmembers who voted, 71 percent voted in favor ...

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American Postal Workers Union

APWU News Feed
The latest news from the American Postal Workers Union, AFL-CIO
  • Competing Interests, Diverging Views
    (07/29/10) The interests of large mailers frequently run counter to those of postal employees, APWU President William Burrus notes in an Update for union members, and nowhere is that clearer than in a motion filed by major mailers protesting the proposed postage rate hike. The motion "vividly exposes the lack of respect they have for postal employees and the...

Amalgamated Transit Union

ATU News Feed
All the news of interest and importance to members of the Amalgamated Transit Union

Communications Workers of America

CWA Union News
The latest CWA Union News.

Office & Professional Employees

OPEIU
RSS feeds for OPEIU
  • OPEIU Local 459 Members Strike American Red Cross

    New York, NY -- Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU), AFL-CIO Local 459 in Lansing, Michigan today joins workers in six states in a three-day multi-union strike against the American Red Cross (ARC) over unfair labor practices. The Lansing strike...

International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers

News RSS | GOIAM
This is the RSS feed for the latest GOIAM articles in News
  • Good and Bad News
    July 28, 2010 - According to economists the good news is that the US economy is no longer shedding jobs.  But the bad news is that we still have a long way to go.

United Steel Workers

Labeling China's Currency Undervalued Co

The U.S. Treasury report issued yesterday designating the Chinese currency as undervalued is a small step in the right direction.  The undervalued yuan, also called renminbi, artificially depresses the cost of C...

USW | | Wednesday, 14 July 2010 | Hits: 14 | Comments

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