Workday Magazine (https://workdaymagazine.org/category/policy/page/23/)
The AFL-CIO is spearheading a national effort to support the millions of American workers still seeking jobs in the current recession. The federation has declared Tuesday, Dec. 7, an “Online Day of Solidarity” with jobless workers.
Entering the holiday season, unemployed construction workers find themselves in desperate times.
With Thursday’s forecast that Minnesota’s budget deficit will be $6.2 billion for the next two-year cycle, unions called on lawmakers to take a balanced approach to addressing the shortfall.
Unemployment insurance does more than keep out-of-work workers afloat. It prevents additional workers from losing their jobs and gives taxpayers a 2-to-1 return on investment, a new Labor Department study says.
On Tuesday, Anthony Roebuck’s unemployment insurance benefits ran out. It was the same day Senate Republicans would not even allow a vote on a bill to maintain the lifeline that has helped keep food on the table and a roof over the heads of Roebuck, his wife and young son — and millions of other jobless workers.
Construction is underway on a new 84-unit apartment building in southeast Minneapolis, financed by the AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust, which is providing $13.5 million of union pension capital.
The Minnesota AFL-CIO has learned of at least one union retiree being contacted by a caller from an unlisted number in Anaheim, California (area code 714) fraudulently claiming to be the Minnesota AFL-CIO soliciting funds “in support of Dayton Recount.”
House Republicans Thursday blocked an effort to extend federal unemployment insurance benefits, making a lapse in benefits all but certain when they expire at the end of the month.
Proposals by the co-chairs of President Obama’s budget deficit-cutting commission to help stanch federal red ink by raising the retirement age, killing the tax deduction for home mortgage interest and fully taxing workers’ health care benefits drew flak from AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka.
America’s voters are angry about the economy and the lack of jobs, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said Wednesday morning during a discussion at the National Journal’s “The Day After” conference. And if Republicans don’t listen to what the voters were saying, they will be thrown out in 2012.