Leading up to the AFL-CIO convention in September 2013, the AFL-CIO is hosting a crucial conversation about the future of working people and of unions—in union halls and online at www.aflcio2013.org.

Rana Plaza, the Bangladesh factory that collapsed three weeks ago, killed more than 1,100 workers, many of them young women. This tragedy adds to the more than 1500 Bangladeshi workers killed in preventable fires and building collapses since 2005. Documents found at the factory show that the workers produced for big names in global retail revealing the link between poor workers in Bangladesh and major retail brands.Obviously, the government must improve local laws and their enforcement to stop these tragedies, but brands must also take responsibility for their supply chains. They must be held accountable to the tragedy that happened in their supply chain. Read more >>>

Marcus Hedger will have to wait even longer to get his job back if Senate Republicans continue to block President Obama’s bipartisan nominees to serve on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Call your senators toll free at 1-888-264-6154 and tell them to confirm the board nominations now. Hedger was illegally fired in 2010 from his pressman’s job at an Illinois printing company for his union activities on behalf of his fellow union members in the Graphic Communications Conference of the Teamsters. Last September, the full NLRB—two Democrats and one Republican, at the time—ruled he should get his job back with back pay. Read more >>>

Most voters agree that big corporations and the wealthy should start paying their fair share in taxes. But, of course, big corporations and the wealthy don’t want to do that. They want to pay less, and they are used to getting their way. So what do you do? Some people in Washington think the answer is a “grand bargain.” In a “grand bargain,” Republicans agree to stop protecting millionaires from having to pay a single penny more in taxes. In return, Democrats agree to cut Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare benefits. Read more >>>

At the Wednesday, May 8, 2013 Delegates meeting, the Delegates of the Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO voted unanimously to approve the following resolution supporting comprehensive immigration reform. Read more >>>

This week's Bulletin includes...

• Rally for Public Workers and Public Services, Wednesday May 22nd
• Philadelphia AFL-CIO endorsements in the May 21st Primaries
• Stamp Out Hunger food drive this Saturday, May 11th
• Drexel Univ. Forum on public banking and municipal finance without Wall Street, May 23rd

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The Delegates of the Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO have endorsed the following candidates in the primary election to be held on May 21st, 2013. Read more >>>

Mayor Nutter will present his proposed City budget to City Council on Thursday, March 14th.  Join us for a Week of Action to oppose his attacks on our neighbors who work hard to keep our city running!

The partition that separates diners from the inner workings of the restaurant industry toppled for Saru Jayaraman shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Fekkak Mamdouh, one of the headwaiters of the restaurant housed on the top floor of the World Trade Center, approached Jayaraman seven months after the attacks. His former boss deemed him and his former crew “not experienced enough” to work in his new Times Square restaurant. Jayaraman, a 27-year-old organizer of immigrant women, took up the case to advocate for the displaced workers, organized protests and won—most of the workers were awarded the good jobs their former boss promised.

Jayaraman and Mamdouh formed Restaurant Opportunities Centers (ROC) United in April 2002 and were flooded with stories of workplace atrocities in New York City and, eventually, across the country. We spoke with Jayaraman earlier this month about her new book on the ills of the restaurant industry, Behind the Kitchen Door.

At the Wednesday, February 13, 2013 Delegates meeting, the Delegates of the Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO voted unanimously to approve the following resolution calling for a moratorium on public school closings.

At the Wednesday, February 13, 2013 Delegates meeting, the Delegates of the Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO voted unanimously to approve the following resolution condemning the actions of Mayor Nutter regarding AFSCME District Council 33 contract negotiations. Read more >>>

For Lapronda Eason and the other building service workers at the Smithsonian Museum of American History, the link to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.--who died in Memphis in 1968 advocating for the rights of city sanitation workers to form a union--is as real as the job they do every day.

 

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The time for immigration reform is now, says AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. This will be a focus for labor in 2013 as the country needs to create a common-sense immigration process with a road map to citizenship. Read more >>>

Last Tuesday, thousands of union members and our allies knocked on tens of thousands of doors in our city alone, helping to drive a record turnout and helping to carry Pennsylvania for our slate of pro-worker candidates, including President Obama!

And two days later, we were back at it, making sure that Congress hears the message that we sent on Election Day:  stand up to big money, and stand up for working people! Read more >>>

A little rain never hurt anybody and it certainly didn't stop hundreds of Pennsylvania voters from getting their voter IDs today at the Driver & Vehicle Services office in the Oxford Levick Shopping Center in Pittsburgh.

Pennsylvania voters who need IDs—thanks to a new state law that disenfranchises hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvania residents, including civic-minded seniors— were assisted by representatives from the NFL Players Association (NFLPA), along with the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO and various community groups. Because of the new law, Pennsylvania state officials say that more than 785,000 voters don’t have a state-issued photo identification.

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