Biden: Unions key to rebuilding economy
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Vice President Biden declared yesterday that he and President Obama would not consider their economic recovery efforts a success unless they created “good, sustainable jobs” and that the key to that success is rebuilding the American labor movement. Biden reiterated the administration’s support for the Employee Free Choice Act during his speech at a legislative conference here of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which has 1.7 million members.
Veterans keep up the pressure for Employee Free Choice
Montana military veterans visited Senate offices in Missoula, Billings and Great Falls over the past week, encouraging Sen. Jon Tester to support the Employee Free Choice Act, a critical bill to restore the freedom to form unions and bargain. And veterans from Alaska to Maine are joining this important fight.
Hartmarx workers vote to sit in if Wells Fargo closes their factory
DES PLAINES, Ill. — Hundreds of union workers packed a lunchroom at the Hart Schaffner & Marx manufacturing plant here May 11 and voted unanimously to stage a sit-in at their factory if a new owner tries to shut it down. The company, also known as Hartmarx Corp., employs 600 people here and is one of the last and largest remaining suit makers in the U.S.
Obama seeking ways to curb repetitive motion injuries
There once were job safety rules that helped keep down the number of ergonomic injuries. They were killed by President Bush and a GOP-run Congress. Ergonomic injuries, also called musculo-skeletal and repetitive-motion injuries are by far the most common injuries workers get when they go to work. Hundreds of thousands of these injuries happen annually, costing millions of lost workdays.
Labor, allies vow Never Again, one year after Postville immigration raid
POSTVILLE, Ia. — The people of this town will never forget what happened here a year ago, today. At first, there was confusion. There were so many helicopters in the sky and, one by one, they seemed to be landing everywhere. Men, armed to the teeth like commandos, jumped out and grabbed people on the streets.
Obama budget: A 180 degree turn on how workers will be protected
“If we expect our workers to come to work, every day, we have to protect them,” declared Jordan Barab, acting head of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, when he spoke to union nurses at their legislative gathering in Washington D.C. last week.
17,000 banana workers go on strike in Colombia
BOGOTA - Colombian banana farm workers in the country's key growing region went on strike May 8 over pay and benefits, threatening hundreds of thousands of boxes exported a day, union leaders and producers said.
Union gains as Hyundai India strike ends
INDIA: Indian autoworkers at Hyundai Motor India Limited (HMIL) and members of the Hyundai Motor India Employees' Union (HMIEU) ended their work stoppage and hunger strike after management agreed to a number of worker demands, mediated by the Tamil Nadu District Commissioner of Labor.
Iran rights group urges world pressure to free labor, women detainees
Human rights and trade union organizations across the globe are combining to call for the release from prison of participants in the May Day rally in Iran’s capital, Tehran, this month.
Safeway, workers agree to continue labor talks
DENVER (AP) — With the threat of a strike looming, Safeway agreed to resume negotiations with its union workers a day after they authorized a strike, a company spokeswoman said Sunday. The labor contract between Safeway and its workers expired Saturday night without a new labor agreement and workers were planning to walk off their jobs as soon as Monday.
