The meeting starts Monday night when Solis, daughter of two union members and a former congresswoman from Latino areas of East Los Angeles, joins AFL-CIO President John Sweeney and other leaders in a visit to a Miami church where workers will discuss how the current Bush crash has hurt their lives. The Senate confirmed Solis as labor secretary on an 80-17 vote last week.
On Tuesday, the council will move to IBEW Local 349’s union hall for another meeting with Solis and more talks with workers, the federation said. That meeting will focus on the “troubled construction market,” the federation said. The Bureau of Labor Statistics -- one of the Labor Department’s agencies -- reported that in January, the latest month for which figures are available, construction unemployment was 18.2%, compared to a national 7.6% jobless rate.
After that session and when Solis leaves, the union leaders “will set priorities for” the AFL-CIO’s 56 member unions “in addressing the economic crisis sweeping America’s working families through a variety of angles including bargaining, legislative, organizing and political work,” their statement added.
Biden will speak on Thursday. Meanwhile, the unionists will discuss next moves in labor’s campaign to pass the Employee Free Choice Act, the No. 1 legislative priority. Biden, Solis and Democratic President Barack Obama all strongly support the measure, to help level the playing field between workers and bosses in organizing and bargaining.
Business is waging a $1 million-a-week campaign against the act, says Communications Workers President Larry Cohen. Its goal is to get 41 senators, most of them Republicans, to successfully filibuster the bill. If labor cannot muster 60 votes to shut off the talkathon, the bill dies. To counter that pressure, unions are mobilizing and campaigning in 16 key states of “wing vote” lawmakers. The council will also release new study of company interference in workers’ freedom to form unions.
Other topics include “bargaining in this extremely challenging climate, how to make green jobs family supporting jobs and a myriad of strategies to ensure our nation rebuilds our economy in a way that works for everyone,” the council said.
When Sweeney, Solis and the others get to Florida, they’ll find a big problem almost at their front door, the AFL-CIO-backed Coalition of Immokalee Workers reports. The workers have yet to get the raises they negotiated with tomato growers. GOP Gov. Charlie Crist is blocking them. And there are slave-labor-like conditions in the fields.
Mark Gruenberg writes for Press Associates, Inc., news service. Used by permission.
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The meeting starts Monday night when Solis, daughter of two union members and a former congresswoman from Latino areas of East Los Angeles, joins AFL-CIO President John Sweeney and other leaders in a visit to a Miami church where workers will discuss how the current Bush crash has hurt their lives. The Senate confirmed Solis as labor secretary on an 80-17 vote last week.
On Tuesday, the council will move to IBEW Local 349’s union hall for another meeting with Solis and more talks with workers, the federation said. That meeting will focus on the “troubled construction market,” the federation said. The Bureau of Labor Statistics — one of the Labor Department’s agencies — reported that in January, the latest month for which figures are available, construction unemployment was 18.2%, compared to a national 7.6% jobless rate.
After that session and when Solis leaves, the union leaders “will set priorities for” the AFL-CIO’s 56 member unions “in addressing the economic crisis sweeping America’s working families through a variety of angles including bargaining, legislative, organizing and political work,” their statement added.
Biden will speak on Thursday. Meanwhile, the unionists will discuss next moves in labor’s campaign to pass the Employee Free Choice Act, the No. 1 legislative priority. Biden, Solis and Democratic President Barack Obama all strongly support the measure, to help level the playing field between workers and bosses in organizing and bargaining.
Business is waging a $1 million-a-week campaign against the act, says Communications Workers President Larry Cohen. Its goal is to get 41 senators, most of them Republicans, to successfully filibuster the bill. If labor cannot muster 60 votes to shut off the talkathon, the bill dies. To counter that pressure, unions are mobilizing and campaigning in 16 key states of “wing vote” lawmakers. The council will also release new study of company interference in workers’ freedom to form unions.
Other topics include “bargaining in this extremely challenging climate, how to make green jobs family supporting jobs and a myriad of strategies to ensure our nation rebuilds our economy in a way that works for everyone,” the council said.
When Sweeney, Solis and the others get to Florida, they’ll find a big problem almost at their front door, the AFL-CIO-backed Coalition of Immokalee Workers reports. The workers have yet to get the raises they negotiated with tomato growers. GOP Gov. Charlie Crist is blocking them. And there are slave-labor-like conditions in the fields.
Mark Gruenberg writes for Press Associates, Inc., news service. Used by permission.