Don’t Let Corporations Write the Rules | NAFTA | AFL-CIO Videos

President Trumka on Infrastructure Week | Officer Messages | AFL-CIO Video

President Trumka Testifies on Transportation and Infrastructure | Infras...

afl-cio national call day to white house this January 23rd

Save the Date: National Call the White House Day January 23

GOP leaders in Congress are preparing bills to dismantle or cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid for current and future retirees. Donald Trump promised repeatedly not to cut these earned benefits on the campaign trail. To help hold him accountable thousands of activists will call the White House on January 23 and tell Trump to veto any cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. You can RSVP for the call-in day here. When you RSVP, we will send you a reminder on the 23^rd and a script to use for your call.  

Thank you for signing up! Remember you can call your representative on January 23rd using this phone number: (866) 828 - 4162

afl-cio action thursday, jan 19th in saintl louis

g I want to invite you to help us defend public education and reclaim the promise of our schools. We know that a fully funded public education system accessible to all is the foundation to a thriving democracy and economy. That’s why, on Thursday, Jan. 19, thousands of working people all over the country will join a day of action to ensure that all students have the opportunity to live their lives and pursue their dreams free from fear. There’s an event in St. Louis. Join the day of action to defend public education for all in St. Louis. Here are the details for the event: Day of Action in St. Louis to Defend Public Education for AllThursday, Jan. 19, at 6-8 p.m. Carr Lane VPA School Auditorium 1004 North Jefferson  St. Louis, MO 63106 For more info and to RSVP, contact Carolyn at 314-781-2077. The future of education in this country is an issue that affects all of us. Part of the promise of America is that every child should have the opportunity to pursue their dreams and passions. Realization of that dream always starts with a firm foundation in education. Our children will be able to thrive and become contributing members of our workforce and our democracy, but only if we keep our public school system strong. Join us on Jan. 19 to help defend our public education system. In Solidarity, Karen

President Trumka Speaks on Immigration Reform | Immigration | AFL-CIO Video

Statement by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka on the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile

Statement by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka on the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile:



click link

Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, the two African-American men who were shot by police within twenty-four hours of each other.

Racism plays an insidious role in the daily lives of all working people of color. This is a labor issue because it is a workplace issue; it is a community issue, and unions are the community. Philando Castile was a union member, and so his family is our family. Last year the AFL-CIO launched a Commission on Racial and Economic Justice to address the issues faced by our brothers and sisters of color and to take a hard look at ourselves to ensure we practice what we preach. The Commission aimed to educate working people on the way racism weakens the collective power of all working people.

It is haunting that only two years ago I delivered a speech in St. Louis in the aftermath of Mike Brown’s death denouncing systemic racism in the United States. Since then, hundreds of people have lost their lives in incidents involving police officers, and African-Americans continue to be disproportionately impacted. Labor cannot and will not sit on the sidelines when it comes to racial justice. It is not enough to simply say “Black Lives Matter.” We must and will continue to fight for reforms in policing and to address issues of racial and economic inequality.

Contact:  Charity Jackson (202) 637-5018

message from afl call about court nominee

President Barack Obama has announced his pick for the U.S. Supreme Court—Merrick Garland, a distinguished appellate chief judge who received bipartisan support from the Senate for his appointment as judge and, again, when he was mentioned for an earlier Supreme Court vacancy.

The president has done his constitutional duty, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Republican leaders are refusing to do their job. Right after the announcement, McConnell got on television to say Republican leaders will not hold a hearing or vote on Garland or any nominee Obama puts forth.

Click here now to call or dial 1-844-899-9913 to tell Senate Republican leaders to do their job and hold a hearing and vote on President Obama’s nominee.

Republicans are politicizing this issue, but the simple fact of the matter is that this isn’t about politics. It’s about doing the job they were elected to do.

Working people across the country aren’t fooled by these political games. A new poll shows that 63% of Americans want the Senate to hold a hearing on a Supreme Court nominee this year.

So not only are Republican leaders refusing to do their job, but they’re ignoring the will of the people. If you or I did that at our jobs, I’m sure there would be big consequences.

Demand Mitch McConnell and Senate Republican leaders get to work and move quickly on allowing hearings and a vote on a new Supreme Court justice.

In Solidarity,

Rich
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Richard Trumka
President, AFL-CIO

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note:  I am not too thrilled at this pick, but obama has the right to nominate

Trumka Statement on the Senate 'Fiscal Cliff' Agreement

Trumka Statement on the Senate 'Fiscal Cliff' Agreement

click link

house did pass just moments ago

snip

 The agreement passed by the Senate last night is a breakthrough in beginning to restore tax fairness and achieves some key goals of working families.  It does not cut Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid benefits. It raises more than $700 billion over 10 years, including interest savings, by ending the Bush income tax cuts for families making more than $450,000 a year. And in recognition of the continuing jobs crisis, it extends unemployment benefits for a year.  A strong message from voters and a relentless echo from grassroots activists over the last six weeks helped get us this far.

But lawmakers should have listened even better.  The deal extends the Bush tax cuts for families earning between $250,000 and $450,000 a year and makes permanent Bush estate tax cuts exempting estates valued up to $5 million from any tax. These concessions amount to over $200 billion in additional tax cuts for the 2%.

And because of Republican hostage taking, the deal simply postpones the $1.2 trillion sequester for only two months and does not address the debt ceiling, setting the stage for more fiscal blackmail at the expense of the middle class.

Instead of moving to address our nation’s real jobs and public investment crisis, our leaders will be debating a prolonged artificial fiscal crisis.  In the weeks to come, as the confrontation over the economic direction of our country continues, the working men and women of the AFL-CIO will continue to fight to keep poor and middle class families from giving more so rich people can continue paying less.  That means a fairer, more progressive tax system, an end to Bush tax rates for the 2% and protection of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid from benefit cuts

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far as I am concerned, dems could have made far better deal.   really think if gop won big they would have done anything  remotely bipartisan?

bipartisanship is a myth and except for war and some resolutions, rare historically speaking.

As Obama Picks Up Union Endorsements, a Debate on Labor’s Role in 2012 Campaign

more on Honeywell lockout in Metropolitis

one of the top items of the Afl legislation day in Springfield, Il. yesterday. Some very tough leglislation on the matter before the Illinois leglislature on some of the hazards of the Honeywell lockout. Soar groups sent reps to the AFL meeting and did lobby some of the elected ones.

Soar 11-3 supports the workers.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka Bio

AFLCIONow — September 16, 2009 — Get to know Richard L. Trumka

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live coverage today afl-cio demonstration--economy

Break Wall Street lobbyists’ grip on Congress. We demand jobs and a real economic recovery!

Sign up to join us on K Street in DC on Monday, May 17th at noon
Can’t make it to DC? Join our virtual march & we’ll keep you posted on how to support the rally from your town



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Watch live streaming video from aflcio at livestream.com

old news AFL-CIO endorses single payer health care

This is old news. One could ask, What happened and why?

The latest AFL news is that they got deal with "excise" tax on healthcare benefit. That is a long, long way from single-payer medicare for all and something that will create political dissention among organized labor.

The major union opposing taxing of healthcare benefits is the Machinists, not the steelworkers.

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AFL-CIO ENDORSES SINGLE PAYER MEDICARE FOR ALL

In a unanimous vote, the AFL-CIO yesterday endorsed the Single Payer Medicare for All approach to healthcare reform as the "most cost-effective and equitable way to provide quality healthcare for all." The resolution caps a successful effort led by the Labor Campaign for Single Payer (LCSP), the Labor Caucus for HR 676 (a coalition of national unions) and the All Unions Committee for Single Payer Health Care to put the Federation on record rejecting private insurance and in support of a social insurance model for healthcare reform.
Over 70 resolutions were submitted to the Convention on this subject--more than on any other single issue in the history of the AFL-CIO. Submissions came from a diverse range of labor organizations including 5 national unions, 7 state labor federations and over 60 central labor councils. Yesterday's Convention actions came as a direct result of the mobilization efforts of hundreds of labor bodies, state federations, central labor councils and local unions.

The resolution passed shortly after President Obama addressed the Convention. The Convention also passed a resolution that set conditions for support of the main legislative proposals before the House and Senate but delegates were unanimous in their agreement that the private insurance industry was the biggest roadblock to real healthcare reform.
"We've had debate within our own movement," said United Steelworkers President Leo Gerard, who chaired the discussion,"But what unites us is greater than what divides us."

The single payer resolution charts a clear course for the future by stating that, "Whatever the outcome of the current debate over health care reform in the 111th Congress, the task of establishing health care as a human right, not a privilege, will still lay before us." It supports current single payer legislation including the HR 676 Medicare for All legislation introduced by Congressman John Conyers.

Yesterday's vote capped several days of enthusiastic organizing at the Convention. Many delegates wore stickers and buttons in support of single payer. On Monday night, hundreds of delegates attended a reception sponsored by the LCSP and the Labor Caucus. Several national union presidents spoke at the gathering including USW President Leo Gerard and Mineworkers President Cecil Roberts. LCSP Board Members Donna Dewitt,President of the South Carolina AFL-CIO, and Jos Williams, President of the DC Metro Labor Council also spoke. CNA/NNOC Executive Director Rose Ann DeMoro introduced special guest Michael Moore. After the reception, over 1,000 delegates and guests marched through Pittsburgh to a movie theater to watch the U.S. premiere of Moore's new film, "Capitalism, A Love Story".

Twelve delegates gave impassioned speeches in favor of the Single Payer Resolution. IFPTE President Greg Junemann stressed that the resolution reflects the "realities of tomorrow". "We will not rest," he said, "until we have healthcare for all Americans." Clyde Rivers of CSEA spoke of the incredible burden that the costs of the private insurance system places on the backs of public workers in California and elsewhere and of the cost savings that could be achieved through single payer. Jeff Crosby, President of the North Shore (MA) Labor Council said that he was proud that the Federation will assume "moral leadership" of the movement for healthcare for all and of how important that leadership is for our allies in the community.
South Carolina State Federation President urged delegates to support the Weiner amendment which is due to come up for debate in Congress. Rose Ann DeMoro expressed hope on behalf of all nurses that, by the next AFL-CIO Convention, the establishment of single-payer in the U. S. will have moved the country's international healthcare ranking "from a deplorable 37th into the top 10."

"This resolution is an extraordinary achievement," said LCSP National Coordinator Mark Dudzic. "Its passage was made possible by the powerful organizing efforts of grassroots labor activists around the country. Now our job is go back to our communities, build the campaign and take the fight to the halls of Congress."
***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****
Resolution link: http://www.aflcio.org/aboutus/thisistheaflcio/convention/2009/upload/res_34.pdf
AFL-CIO Convention Photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/jonflan/2009AFLCIOConvention#

Labor Campaign for Single Payer www.laborforsinglepayer.org
contact: organizers@laborforsinglepayer.org

Richard Trumka on PBS this evening: Bill Moyers

Might wish to watch PBS this evening on Bill Moyers:

Friday, January 29, 8:00pm
AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka.

This will repeat varied times Sunday in St. Louis

from AFL blog:


Bill Moyers interviews AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka tonight on PBS.



AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka is tonight’s featured guest on “Bill Moyers Journal” on PBS. In an in-depth 30-minute interview, Trumka will outline steps to restore the nation’s economy, create jobs and rebuild the middle class.

He will talk about the AFL-CIO’s role in creating a broad movement of Americans to demand jobs and an economy that works for families on Main Street and why bankers and brokers on Wall Street must be held accountable with strong new financial reform rules.

Trumka will discuss why health care reform must pass and what it must include. He will explain why it’s time to restore the freedom of workers to form unions and bargain for a better life.
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http://blog.aflcio.org/

Trumka speaks on Jobs after state of the union 2010

Richard has a point. Worth watching and yes, he was in attendance at the State of the Union address in 2010.

AFL-CIO called folks to request they watch this vid yesterday:
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National Press club: Richard Trumka Jan 2010

These are the remarks from AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka this last monday. Somewhat long, but important to folks following issues.

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http://blog.aflcio.org/ is the source of the following dealing with Employee Free Choice. Good cartoon

Politico Who to watch in debate over healthcare

Morning.

Look for a lot of politics to be played while healthcare debate rages. This is an interesting article dealing with folks relatively unknown to most folks. The players listed in the politico article are some of the folks behind the scenes.

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Who to watch for in debate over careBy: Carrie Budoff Brown May 3, 2009 10:30 PM EST
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0409/21952_Page2.html

One of the most feared figures in the health care reform debate isn’t an Old Bull committee chairman or a hard-nosed White House chief of staff. He’s a bespectacled, former academic from the Brookings Institution. Doug Elmendorf is now director of the Congressional Budget Office, where he’s charged with pricing the various reform proposals. Nothing moves without being “scored” by his office, and an unfavorable assessment of a program’s cost can be tantamount to defeat. He’s one of five people you may have never heard of who could affect the course of health care reform.

The Scorekeeper: Doug Elmendorf Consider the CBO director as the Oz and the umpire of health care lawmaking. Elmendorf and his team of anonymous analysts will issue the authoritative, nonpartisan, independent price tags on the programs. What they say often goes. The Clinton administration learned that the hard way. In 1994, as it tried to move a massive overhaul through Congress, then-CBO chief Robert Reischauer delivered repeated blows to the plan by questioning its cost estimates. It went down in flames. The measure of Elmendorf’s clout was apparent during a February hearing when Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) seemed to both court and curse him and his band of CBO bean counters.

“We hope this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship,” the chairman said sweetly at one point. Only to add later: “In my judgment, you’re not God. You might be Moses, but not God.” Elmendorf tried to demur. CBO simply provides technical direction, he said, “but as you understand, the hard decisions will be yours.” To which Baucus shot back: “No. That’s incorrect. The hard decisions will be ours, both of us, you and me.” The Organizer: Dennis Rivera Rivera runs a war room that’s now the epicenter of the left-wing mobilization in support of the reform legislation. From the ground floor of the Service Employees International Union headquarters in Washington, Rivera is preparing for the moment a bill drops. At that point, he must make sure the right members of Congress are contacted, the right message is delivered, and his shaky coalition of industry, labor and consumers stays intact. “We are running a political campaign, and our candidate is basically health care reform,” said Rivera, head of SEIU Health Care. Rivera and his team have been laying the groundwork for months, with a war room staff of more than 50 and more than 400 organizers in the field. They have developed profiles on more than 100 members of Congress, collecting mounds of data on voting records, district demographics and health statistics — and influential allies — “people closest to them who could, at some point, talk to them and be more persuasive than us,” Rivera said, citing clergy, former staff members and business leaders. With a reputation for getting the job done, Rivera helped SEIU become the most aggressive and ubiquitous player in the health care debate, forging unorthodox partnerships if that’s what’s required to win. The union has forged marriages of necessity with pharmaceuticals, insurers and hospitals. Rivera talks to his new allies several times a week, if not every day, and will play a key role in deciding how closely they all move forward together. The Backroom Operator: Liz Fowler If you drew an organizational chart of major players in the Senate health care negotiations, Fowler would be the chief operating officer. As a senior aide to Baucus, she directs the Finance Committee health care staff, enforces deadlines on drafting bill language and coordinates with the White House and other lawmakers. She also troubleshoots, identifying policy and political problems before they ripen. “My job is to get from point A to point B,” said Fowler, who’s training for four triathlons this summer in between her long days on Capitol Hill.

Fowler learned as a sophomore at the University of Pennsylvania that the United States was the only industrialized country without universal health care, and she decided then to dedicate her professional life to the work. She first worked for Baucus from 2001 through 2005, playing a key role in negotiating the Medicare Part D prescription drug program. Feeling burned out, she left for the private sector but rejoined Baucus in 2008, sensing that a Democratic-controlled Congress would make progress on overhauling the health care system. Baucus and Fowler spent a year putting the senator in a position to pursue reform, including holding hearings last summer and issuing a white paper in November. They deliberately avoided releasing legislation in order to send a signal of openness and avoid early attacks. “People know when Liz is speaking, she is speaking for Baucus,” said Dean Rosen, the health policy adviser to former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.). The Money Cop: Earl Devaney A former Secret Service agent, Devaney has very little to do with health care reform — directly, at least. But as the guy tasked with minimizing fraud and waste in the $787 billion economic stimulus legislation, one of the single largest government expenditures in American history, Devaney is poised to influence the debate. Here’s why: President Barack Obama and Democrats are proposing a health care fix that could exceed $1 trillion over 10 years — perhaps more, according to some estimates. If Devaney finds egregious examples of wasteful spending on the stimulus front, his work could prove damaging to the president politically and may very well sour the public appetite for a government-heavy approach to health care. It’s a bleed-over effect that has already been on display. When the AIG bonuses erupted into a firestorm in mid-March, health care insiders viewed the development ominously. Obama’s approval ratings dipped to the lowest point of his presidency, and the public was outraged at the way the company, the administration and Congress bungled it. The Storyteller: Jane Doe Health care is about to enter the heart-tugging phase. Groups on the right and left have been quietly building arsenals of narrators — people who can sear the American conscience with personal stories. The American Cancer Society collects cases through a call center in Texas. The SEIU gathers stories by congressional district. And Conservatives for Patients’ Rights, an organization poised to oppose the Obama plan, sent a former CNN reporter to Britain and Canada to produce a documentary on outrages in the European system that critics claim the White House plan will mimic. The last major health care reform effort in the 1990s was defined by Harry and Louise, the fictional middle-class couple featured in an insurance industry ad. And an extraordinarily complex bill went down amid a flurry of 30-second ads. Given the fragmented media environment, a singular TV ad may not hold as much sway as it did in the early ’90s. But that doesn’t mean either side plans to pass up the tool. Conservatives for Patients’ Rights was the first to use it, releasing a 60-second spot featuring Dr. Brian Day, a past president of the Canadian Medical Association, describing how patients in the country are “languishing and suffering on waiting lists.” Expect to see Day lobbying members of Congress — and many more stories from both sides in the weeks to come.
© 2009 Capitol News Company, LL

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Note: SEIU, Service Employees Internation Union, is a big supporter of Obama's plan. Although Howard Dean is saying Obama's plan is a single payer, it is not and definately not HR676 sytle healthcare.

SEIU represents a tremendous number of healthcare workers. SEIU United Healthcare Workers West (UHW West) is a large (150,000 member) local union based in Oakland, California. SEIU has some locals larger than some entire members groups of AFL-CIO.
1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East has a membership of 250,000 and claims to be the largest local union in the world.

Andy Stern is current president of SEIU and SEIU is member of "Change to Win", not a member of AFL-CIO.
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My understanding: SEIU has some structures with employers as does the steelworkers and steel companies (Alliance for American Manufacturing for instance).

With talks of the AFL-CIO and Change to Win reunification, do not look for a battle over healthcare reform within the union in a public light. Even within the Steelworkers, some side with HR676 and others towards traditional company benefits and or VEBA.

Director Douglas Elmendorf of the Congressional Budget Office may or may not be an ally when the CBO gets around to the cost comparisions of varied healthcare proposals. It will be interesting to see if he even includes HR676 in analysis for HR676 is not on the table of healthcare reform Obama style.

ARA Obama Health Care

This is from the weekly ARA newsletter, Friday edition-today's: (retired American's newletter has some very interesting and timely news by the way)


FRIDAY ALERT
Alliance for Retired Americans
815 16th Street, NW, Fourth Floor • Washington, DC 20006 202.637.5399 • www.retiredamericans.org • arafridayalert@retiredamericans.org
March 6, 2009

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Alliance Participates in White House Health Care SummitPresident Barack Obama stepped up his effort to pass health-care-reform legislation this week, naming a new Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and hosting a White House summit to discuss solutions to the issues at hand. On Monday, the president announced Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius as his choice to head HHS. The same day, he named Nancy Ann Min DeParle, who served as a top health official in the Clinton administration, the new director of the White House Office on Health Reform.

The President hosted a White House summit on how to overhaul the health-care system on Thursday, with approximately 120 invited members of Congress, advocates from non-profits, and others gathering to discuss the road forward. Alliance Executive Director Edward F. Coyle was one of the advocates in attendance.
Rather than craft health care legislation on its own, the administration is offering a set of principles to shape a process in which all stakeholders will make concessions.

As an opening maneuver, Obama set aside $634 billion in his proposed budget to be dedicated to health reform. The 10-year reserve fund could be used to provide health insurance to some of the 46 million Americans who do not have it today. To raise that money, Obama would cut itemized tax deductions for the wealthiest Americans and trim federal payments to hospitals, home health aides, drug manufacturers and some physicians.

White House budget director Peter Orszag said on Sunday that he wants to see the effort offset with tax increases or spending cuts so it does not add to the deficit, according to The Wall Street Journal. The White House proposal contains numerous elements that are likely to come under debate, including whether businesses should be required to provide insurance to workers and whether Americans should be required to sign up for insurance. A Democratic proposal to set up a public program to compete with private health-insurance companies is also under discussion. Next up will be Senate confirmation hearings for Gov. Sebelius, who was a two-term state insurance commissioner before becoming governor.

Said Mr. Coyle, “The Alliance for Retired Americans believes that any health care reform passed by Congress must: allow Medicare to negotiate volume discounts with drug manufacturers; close the ‘donut hole’ in Medicare Part D coverage; and provide early retirees age 55-64 the option to purchase Medicare coverage. I look forward to working with my fellow Summit attendees and the Obama administration to improve health care for current – and future – retirees.”

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It was good that a member of labor, retiree organization was at conference. Where are the folks that support HR676, such as the nurse's organizations? Seems some early stacking the deck for the insurance/pharm companies.

Also beware, when folks in Washington or the state houses talk about "benefit reform", they naturally are talking about getting further into your pocketbooks by cutting any promiced benefits. This of course sounds familiar to many in the Canco retirement community for that is exactly what American-National, Silgan, Crown-Cork has done to the retirees. Retirees for many other companies can report this as well and the list would be many, many pages.

Of course, some would remind me this is early; but I think the powers-that-be should be very aware our position here in St. Louis. I figure with the "give-backs" to the company (or theft of benefits one might say), I have already donated to the great society and I for one really do not wish to hear that "compromise" or " give a little" bull hockey.

After all, I am not one who has accepted insurance or drug company blood money nor is any in our merry little band on the West Bank in Missouri.

Most of the SOAR 11-3 folks feel exactly this way.