The AFT and First Book—a nonprofit that has distributed more than 90 million new books to children across the United States—have joined forces with New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) to help encourage a culture of reading for low-income and middle-class students.

This video features AFT’s team-up with First Book to place books in the homes of the children of Freeport, N.Y., a community devastated by Hurricane Sandy in 2012.

 

After 45 years of driving a cab in New York City, Beresford Simmons says the emergence of the National Taxi Workers Alliance in the past few years is helping his family and those of other drivers reach the middle class. Simmons’ story is one of three illustrating that unions make the middle class strong, giving workers a voice in our economy, portrayed in a trio of new videos by the Center for American Progress Action Fund.

 

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AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka released the following statement in response to the Senate Judiciary Committee's immigration bill: Today brings to mind Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s wise and hopeful words, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” More than 11 million aspiring Americans took a big step toward becoming citizens today with the bipartisan Senate Judiciary Committee vote. That reflects an enormous step toward healing an injustice, the deportation crisis that has wrecked families, communities and workplaces for far too long. Read more >>>

Wilma Liebman who served 14 years on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)—including chairwoman from 2009–2011—says, “Appointments to the NLRB have been a political battleground for decades.” But, in a column in Politico, she says the current attack on the NLRB is the most vicious since the board was created in the 1930s. Read more >>>

After her husband was murdered while working as a journalist in the Philippines, Marivir Montebon arrived in the United States seeking political asylum with the hope of finding a better, safer life for herself, and for her daughter who arrived two years later.

“I always thought of a green card as a second birth certificate—a second life,” Montebon says.

When she presents at the Writing Across Borders Conference in New York on June 1, Montebon will join other women and people of color on a panel to tell their stories about escaping abuse, oppression and the legacy of slavery. See more.

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 >>>

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.

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 >>>

We must stand in solidarity with Wisconsin workers and show that we will not sit by and watch as the right wing tramples on workers' rights. We will be doing recruitment and confirmation calls on Wednesday night from the labor temple. Let me know if you want to help make this a successful show of support for Wisconsin workers. If you can't help with recruitment calls, forward this email, spread the word on facebook (http://tinyurl.com/49tsujy), text and call your friends. New flier and handbill attached. You can print and cut up the handbills or I will have them ready for people to pick up on Monday. Solidarity!

The January "labor movie night" in Duluth will be showing "At the River I Stand" as part of the MLK Day festivities. The 1993 film chronicles the AFSCME Memphis Sanitation workers strike in 1968, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous “I have been to the mountaintop” speech. Dr. King was assassinated the following day. Look for other MLK Day events at http://www.mlk-duluth.org/ To RSVP for the movie, go to: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=267836940991&ref=ts

The North East Area Labor Council teamed up with other health care reform organizations for a rally this past weekend. About 65 people attended the rally on the steps of the Gerald Heaney Federal Building to call on congress to pass health care reform now. Speakers included Alex Livadaros, small business owner and member of AFSCME local 66, and Alan Netland, President of NEALC and AFSCME local 66. Kathy Heltzer, a Social Work Professor at UMD and UEA member, was the MC for the event. Other speakers included Pastor Kathy Nelson of Peace United Church, Frank Boyle former WI legislator and retired member of LIUNA, and Duluth City Councilor-elect Kerry Gauthier.

From September 22nd edition of the Labor World
There’s a debate in Washington,DC about health care and it comes down to this: If the insurance companies win, the American people lose. On Tuesday two dozen area residents added their voices to the debate by visiting United Health Group’s OptumHealth in West Duluth asking the corporation to change its practices. 


ADD YOUR NAME TO THE LIST.

 

On July 23rd Union members from the Twin Ports gathered to watch "Labor's Turning Point: The Minneapolis Truck Strikes of 1934" in Wellstone Hall.  The documentary done by the University of Minnesota Labor Education Services chronicles the turbulent  - and often very violent - strike that nearly doubled the wages of working class truck drivers in Minneapolis.

Today, March 10, 2009 the 111th Congress introduced the Employee Free Choice Act, which will restore workers’ freedom to bargain for fair wages, job security, better health care and secure pensions. The North East Area Labor Council praises Congressman Jim Oberstar and Senator Amy Klobuchar for their support and there work towards rebuilding a vibrant middle class.

 

We are confident the Employee Free Choice Act is going to become the law of the land.

We all know the benefits of being in a union - protection at work, job security, higher wages, and better benefits.  This report proves what we in the labor movement already knew, a rising tide lifts all boats.  Read the findings.  Know the facts.  Spread the word.

The North East Area Labor Council is a coalition representing over 40,000 workers.  Its' affiliates include the Iron Range Labor Assembly, the Duluth Central Labor Body, the Carlton County Central Labor Body, and Minnesota AFL-CIO affiliates in Northeastern Minnesota.  Our goal is to constantly and consistently enhance the mobilization efforts of the labor movement in Northeastern Minnesota to better the lives of working people. 

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