Using OSHA to win victories: the case of Cintas
There is a tendency among U.S. trade union leaders, shop stewards and rank-and-file activists to strongly distrust federal and state agencies charged with protecting workers’ health and safety — and therefore not to utilize them.
After fatal accidents, unions put spotlight on port safety
OAKLAND, Calif. — After the second fatal accident at the Port of Oakland in 10 weeks, port workers and their union are raising urgent concerns about safety at the nation’s fourth largest port.
What the UAW should do now
Now that the 2007 auto talks are over, Ron Gettelfinger, the union negotiator, should heed the words of Ron Gettelfinger, the union president.
Labor pushes for universal health care
NEW YORK — Union leaders here have made it clear that the AFL-CIO’s Labor Day pledge to push for national health care by 2009 is high on labor’s agenda for the 2008 elections.
Anti-immigrant equals anti-union at Yale
Service and maintenance workers at Yale University, members of Local 35 Unite Here, have become the target of an anti-immigrant hate group seeking to create racial divisions and undermine the union leadership.
Road to White House runs through Ohio
CLEVELAND — The Ohio AFL-CIO is mobilizing an army of political activists to make sure Democrats win the state in next year’s elections.
Columbus janitors win union
COLUMBUS, Ohio—Coming on the heels of organizing victories in Cincinnati and Houston, some 1,200 janitors here, organizing with SEIU, won contracts with nine of the city’s largest employers last month.
French strikes: the end or beginning?
PARIS — During France’s powerful public workers’ strikes of November-December 1995, the political waters were somewhat muddy. On the one hand, President Jacques Chirac had based his recent election campaign on the theme of opposing “social fracture” and disharmony. On the other, newly appointed Prime Minister Alain Juppé had just launched a violent attack on welfare and on public workers’ pay and retirement benefits.
America is missing its middle
If your Oreo didn’t have the sugary white middle, wouldn’t you notice? If, over time, your car tire middles collapsed, you would notice. So why for so long has our country’s middle been allowed to disappear without notice or correction?
Fix the health care system
ASHTABULA, Ohio — Health Care for All was the topic at the Town Hall meeting here Nov. 10 at People’s Missionary Baptist Church. The meeting, endorsed by the NAACP and the Ashtabula AFL-CIO and Retiree Council, featured an impressive panel of public officials and community leaders who presented strong arguments for repairing our broken health care system
