AFL-CIO Blog

  • ‘State of the Unions’ Podcast: Out of the Woods
    ‘State of the Unions’ Podcast: Out of the Woods AFL-CIO On the latest episode of “State of the Unions,” podcast co-hosts Julie Greene Collier and Tim Schlittner talk to Maine Senate President Troy Jackson (IUPAT, IAM) about his path to power and the experiences that have shaped his life and career. Listen to our previous episodes: “State of the Unions” is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher and anywhere else you can find podcasts. Kenneth Quinnell Wed, 10/16/2019 - 10:38 Tags: Podcast — Oct 16
  • Take Care of Yourself: What Working People Are Doing This Week
    Take Care of Yourself: What Working People Are Doing This Week AFL-CIO Welcome to our regular feature, a look at what the various AFL-CIO unions and other working family organizations are doing across the country and beyond. The labor movement is big and active—here's a look at the broad range of activities we're engaged in this week. Actors' Equity: AFGE: AFSCME: AFT: Air Line Pilots Association: Alliance for Retired Americans: Amalgamated Transit Union: American Federation of Musicians: American Postal Workers Union: Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance: Association of Flight Attendants-CWA: Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers: Boilermakers: Bricklayers: California School Employees Association: Coalition of Black Trade Unionists: Coalition of Labor Union Women: Communications Workers of America: Department for Professional Employees: Electrical Workers: Farm Labor Organizing Committee: Fire Fighters: Heat and Frost Insulators: International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers: Ironworkers: Jobs With Justice: Labor Council for Latin American Advancement: Laborers: Machinists: Metal Trades Department, AFL-CIO: Mine Workers: Musical Artists: National Air Traffic Controllers Association: National Association of Letter Carriers: National Day Laborer Organizing Network: National Domestic Workers Alliance: National Nurses United: The NewsGuild-CWA: NFL Players Association: North America's Building Trades Unions: Office and Professional Employees: Painters and Allied Trades: Plasterers and Cement Masons: Professional Aviation Safety Specialists: Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union: SAG-AFTRA: Solidarity Center: Theatrical Stage Employees: Transport Workers: Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO: UAW: Union Label and Service Trades Department: Union Veterans Council: UNITE HERE: United Food and Commercial Workers: United Steelworkers: United Students Against Sweatshops: United Union of Roofers and Waterproofers: Utility Workers: Working America: Writers Guild of America, East: Kenneth Quinnell Wed, 10/16/2019 - 09:42 — Oct 16
  • National Hispanic Heritage Month Pathway to Progress: The San Antonio Pecan Strike
    National Hispanic Heritage Month Pathway to Progress: The San Antonio Pecan Strike UTSA History has long been portrayed as a series of "great men" taking great action to shape the world we live in. In recent decades, however, social historians have focused more on looking at history "from the bottom up," studying the vital role that working people played in our heritage. Working people built, and continue to build, the United States. In our new series, Pathway to Progress, we'll take a look at various people, places and events where working people played a key role in the progress our country has made, including those who are making history right now. In honor of National Hispanic Heritage Month, today's topic is the San Antonio pecan shellers strike. In the 1930s, pecans grown in Texas accounted for half of all of the nation's production. San Antonio was the center of the industry in Texas, as half the state's commercial crop grew within 250 miles of the city. The dominant company was the Southern Pecan Shelling Co., which produced as much as one-third of the nation's entire crop, depending on the year. Working people in the industry faced low wages (averaging between $2 to $3 a week) and terrible working conditions. Shelling factories suffered from inadequate ventilation, poor illumination and a lack of indoor running water or toilets. The pecans produced a fine brown dust that contributed to diseases like tuberculosis. San Antonio had one of the highest rates of TB in the country as a result. Owners had little or no regard for workers. One owner said: “The Mexicans don’t want much money. Compared to those shanties they live in, the pecan shelleries are fine. They are glad to have a warm place to sit in the winter. They can be warm while they’re shelling pecans, they can talk to their friends while they’re working.... If they get hungry they can eat pecans.” Pecan shellers soon joined the International Pecan Shellers Union No. 172, a chapter of the United Cannery, Agricultural, Packing, and Allied Workers of America, which belonged to the newly formed Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO). On Jan. 31, 1938, the workforce of shellers, mostly Hispanic women, walked off the job. The 12,000 workers engaged in a three-month strike. The strike began after the Southern Pecan demanded pay cuts for the workers. Shellers, who had previously earned 6 or 7 cents a pound, saw their wages cut to 5 or 6 cents a pound. Crackers went from 50 cents per 100 pounds to 40 cents.  The strike was originally led by Emma Tenayuca, who was active in various efforts to combat discrimination against Mexican Americans. She joined the women's auxiliary of the League of United Latin American Citizens in high school and was first arrested for protesting when she was 16. After high school, she worked several jobs, but her true calling was organizing. She began to organize with the Workers Alliance before later helping the pecan shellers. Local officials were not happy about the strike. Police Chief Owen Kilday believed that the strike was part of a Communist plot to gain control of the west side of San Antonio. Tenayuca was arrested as soon as the strike started. Kilday said of her: “The Tenayuca woman is a paid agitator sent here to stir up trouble among the ignorant Mexican workers.” She was neither, her family had deep roots in San Antonio and her strike efforts were unpaid. Other leaders feared that Mexican American laborers would become aware of their own power and would become more active. Protesters picketed over 400 local factories, but Kilday cracked down, eventually making more than 700 arrests. Gov. James Allred urged the Texas Industrial Commission to investigate the strike and the industry's reaction and found that police interference with lawful assembly was unjustified. In the end, both sides agreed to arbitration and the initial settlement was for a 7- to 8-cent wage. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) was passed soon after that would establish a minimum wage of 25 cents an hour. The CIO was afraid that the big jump in wages would lead to massive layoffs, and they joined with employers to lobby Congress to give the pecan industry an exemption.The exemption was denied, however, and over the next three years, 10,000 shellers were replaced by machines. While the pecan strikers ultimately failed to sustain the industry, their efforts were pivotal in expanding both labor rights and justice for Hispanic working people, in Texas and beyond. Learn more about Tenayuca and the pecan strike. Kenneth Quinnell Tue, 10/15/2019 - 09:53 — Oct 15
  • Imagine a President Uniting People
    Imagine a President Uniting People AFL-CIO Imagine a president lifting 40 million citizens out of the poverty he had struggled under. Imagine a president making it easier for people who had been excluded from their nation’s wealth to get decent jobs, basic public services, a college education or technical training. Imagine a president uplifting his country on the world stage as a model for shared prosperity and an economy that works for working people regardless of their race. Imagine that president leaving office after two terms with an approval rating over 80%. Where do you imagine that president should be nine years after leaving office? Imagine it or not, the president described above is in jail, unjustly convicted to prevent him from running again in 2018—even though he led in all the polls. His name is Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka (UMWA) traveled to Curitiba, Brazil, this week, joining the global labor movement to demand Lula’s release and present the country’s former president the 2019 George Meany–Lane Kirkland Human Rights Award. The AFL-CIO announced the award in March to recognize Lula’s lifelong work. In Brazil this week, the AFL-CIO extended its solidarity and support to Lula, the whole Brazilian labor movement, and the country’s vibrant social and political activists and groups who continue fighting for a better life and social justice. Trumka said:
    The AFL-CIO and its unions will work to engage American workers and their families who remember what it’s like to have a president who works for the people. The struggle to free Lula and defend democracy in Brazil is not just for Brazilians, but for all of us. Lula Livre! Free Lula!
    Lula said: 
    They are talking about lightening my sentence or letting me finish it under house arrest, but I insist that I will stay right in this jail until I prove my innocence. I will not trade my dignity to get released. And I will keep fighting for all Brazilians and our democracy. We will prove that the judges and prosecutors and media lied to put me here and steal our democracy. We will take it back.
    Lula is a political prisoner because of all the good he did to make development more equitable in Brazil, improving workers' rights, and the inclusion and access to social and human rights, in general. The AFL-CIO, its unions and the International Trade Union Confederation and the global labor movement are calling for Lula’s immediate release because of his life’s work for democracy and social justice and because of the many illegalities committed in the process that has put him in prison. Kenneth Quinnell Fri, 10/11/2019 - 11:43     — Oct 11
  • Brazilian and U.S. Workers Confronting Common Threat Build Solidarity in the Global Labor Movement
    Brazilian and U.S. Workers Confronting Common Threat Build Solidarity in the Global Labor Movement AFL-CIO This week, the AFL-CIO joins much of the global labor movement in Brazil to participate in the 13th Congress of Brazil's largest labor organization, the Central Única dos Trabalhadores (CUT). Fred Redmond, AFL-CIO vice president and United Steelworkers vice president for human affairs, is leading the AFL-CIO delegation. Addressing the entire congress, Redmond pointed out the many challenges workers face in both Brazil and the United States, calling for unity and solidarity to move forward. In particular, he denounced the anti-worker laws and policies being driven by right-wing presidents in Brazil and the United States to weaken unions and collective bargaining. Redmond also lamented that the current presidents in both countries have risen to power and exercise it by increasing fear and hatred, especially racial prejudice, rather than by leading. Finally, he rallied the hundreds of delegates to the global labor movement's call for the immediate release of Brazil's former president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, unjustly imprisoned for the last year and a half. Redmond closed by announcing to the crowd the upcoming visit of AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka (UMWA) to present the 2019 George Meany–Lane Kirkland Human Rights Award to Lula in prison. The decision to give the award to Lula was announced in March. Kenneth Quinnell Thu, 10/10/2019 - 13:26 — Oct 10