Union Organizing

When workers have a union, they have a voice on the job. Working together, they negotiate good wages and working conditions so they can provide a better life for their families. Union members have higher wages, greater job stability, retirement security, and access to quality healthcare for their families. It is no wonder that 57 million Americans who are not union members say they want to be part of one.

The Great Austerity Experiment Has 'Failed Spectacularly'

Austerity, AFL-CIO Policy Director Damon Silvers said in a tweet yesterday, is "seeing a drowning man and pushing him under....[it] destroys worker bargaining power and replaces social insurance with Wall St. fees."
The Center for American Progress (CAP), echoing Silvers' sentiment, is calling on Congress to abandon job-killing cuts and "grand bargains"—which aren't so "grand" for America's working families—and focus on what the country really needs: jobs.

Can’t Candy Coat the Wage Gap Between Men and Women

Want to Build the Middle Class? Make Sure Workers Can Easily Form and Join Unions

We've all seen the charts. As union membership rates go down, so goes the middle class and people's ability to bargain for living wages and a voice on the job.

Hundreds of Working Families Converge on Capitol, Demand Legislators Stand Up for Taxpayers by Ending $700M Corporate Gravy Train Giveaway

SB 434 (Hill) Reforms Wasteful Enterprise Zone Program, Requires Tax Dollars Be Tied to Job Creation
www.endthecorporategravytrain.com

Ryan Budget Highlights House Republicans' Extreme Demands

It's back. The Ryan–GOP budget that gives seniors "coupons" to pay for health care and guts Medicaid and public investment to enrich millionaires and billionaires was once again proposed by the House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) today.
Less than six months ago, voters rejected the Ryan–Romney agenda of more prosperity for the super wealthy at the expense of the rest of America's working families, yet Ryan can't seem to resist this austerity plan. And this time, the Ryan–GOP budget is "on steroids."

Retirement Security

Fewer employers today provide defined-benefit pensions for their workers—and among those that do, many are offering “defined-contribution” (like 401[k]s) rather than traditional “defined-benefit” pension plans.
That’s why Social Security insurance is essential for millions of retirees. Nearly two-thirds of retirees count on Social Security for half or more of their retirement income and for more than three in 10, Social Security is 90 percent or more of their income. It is a safety net that keeps retirees out of poverty.

Keep Predators Off the California Environmental Quality Act

A growing coalition of labor unions, environmental groups and tribes made clear that protecting the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), our state’s landmark environmental protection law, is essential to California’s future.

New Reports Allege Widespread Human Rights Abuses in Temporary Worker Recruitment System

Like many people who come from other countries to work in the United States, Juan José Rosales came to the U.S. to make a better life for himself, trading the prospect of a better financial situation for a temporary amount of time away from his homeland of Mexico. He said that a recruiter promised him that he would get between $7 and $8 an hour while working in the fair and carnival industry on an H-2B visa.

What’s So Great About Unions?

Let’s be honest. Sometimes, outside of election campaign seasons, even progressives wonder what’s so great about unions. Sure, we had a role to play before job safety laws, the eight-hour day, Social Security and civil rights laws were passed. But today?
Even our friends aren’t immune to the relentless attacks on unions from the right and the stereotypes that come with them: union thugs, lazy workers, relics of the past, self-absorbed, yadda, yadda, yadda.

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