by Celeste Drake, AFL-CIO Trade and Globalization Policy Specialist By now, you’ve probably heard of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). You might have heard that some businesspeople think it’s a great deal, while average working families—and those who stand with us—think it only works if you’re already at the top. If you’ve been reading our blog regularly, […]
Statement by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka on his and Thea Lee’s resignation from President Trump’s council on manufacturing: We cannot sit on a council for a President who tolerates bigotry and domestic terrorism. President Trump’s remarks today repudiate his forced remarks yesterday about the KKK and neo-Nazis. We must resign on behalf of America’s working […]
BCTGM International President David Durkee released the following statement in response to the Senate Democrats’ unveiling of the “Better Deal on Trade and Jobs” economic plan. “The BCTGM commends the leadership of Senator Schumer and the Senate Democrats for crafting the “Better Deal” economic blueprint for America’s workers with trade and jobs at its core. […]
In the early hours of this morning, Senate Republicans held a dramatic vote on their last ditch effort to to undo the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and gut Medicaid. The so-called “Skinny Repeal” would have repealed the ACA’s individual mandate and suspended the employer mandate for nine years, disrupting insurance markets and eliminating access to health […]
Twenty years ago, Nike’s name was synonymous with sweatshop abuses. Reports abounded of Indonesian workers earning 14 cents an hour – less than minimum wage – and Vietnamese workers who were hit with shoe parts, sexually assaulted, and forced to run outside until they collapsed. By 1998, iconic Nike CEO Phil Knight had acknowledged that, “the Nike product has […]
