Workday Magazine (https://workdaymagazine.org/2013/09/page/3/)
An unprecedented number of nontraditional labor organizations, representing workers as disparate as dancers and taxi drivers, are participating in the AFL-CIO convention, where the federation took action to endorse new forms of organizing.
The AFL-CIO sent a strong message Sunday that it welcomes the participation – and leadership – of young workers by adopting a measure that gives them greater voice in the nation’s largest labor federation.
The second-largest private sector industry in America, which is rapidly growing and has become a cornerstone of the U.S. economy, has a big problem: Its workers are paid unlivable wages and typically cannot eat the very food they are putting on customers’ tables.
State labor federations and local central labor bodies will play a key role as the AFL-CIO moves to adopt a new emphasis on working in coalitions with allied organizations.
Today’s labor movement is perhaps best personified in Tefere Gebre, a fiery local labor leader on track to be the next executive vice president of the AFL-CIO.
Fast food workers across the nation walk off the job to demand a wage of $15 an hour. Domestic workers descend on the state Capitol in California calling for overtime pay and breaks on the job. Car wash workers in New York City go to court to stop their exposure to toxic chemicals.
Young workers were the hot topic at a gathering of labor journalists in town to cover what many expect to be an historic AFL-CIO convention.
The nearly year-long lockout of Minnesota Orchestra musicians has been devastating to the quality of music in the Twin Cities and to the community as a whole, members of Save Our Symphony said at a rally Friday, where they called on management to bring the musicians back to work.
Orchestra patrons will rally for an end to the Orchestra’s labor lockout this evening from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. outside Orchestra Hall. The protest will precede a “Private Patron Party” the Minnesota Orchestral Association is hosting in the same location.
A new wave of cooperatives is emerging in the United States, and a big part of the inspiration is coming from what might seem an unlikely source: the United Steelworkers International Union (USW), which describes itself as North America’s largest industrial union, with 1.2 million active and retired members.