Check out the latest AFL-CIO Labor 2014 video that prominently features many union members out canvassing, phone banking, at rallies, and political events in states all over the country. From Alaska to Kentucky, working people are getting out the VOTE and making a difference!ย ย Let's get out and VOTE! ...
National Hispanic Heritage Month (Sept. 15 to Oct. 15) honors the contributions made and the important presence of Hispanic and Latino Americans to the United States and celebrates their heritage and culture. The Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA) isย tweeting dailyย on milestones for Hispanic workers and Latino labor leaders. You alsoย can find out more on itsย Facebook page. According to the 2010 Census, 50.5 million people or 16% of the population are of Hispanic or Latino...
Californiaโs Governor Jerry Brown has signed landmark legislation that will provide significant new protections for subcontracted employees. Under the new law, host employers and their staffing firms will have to jointly take responsibility for the health, safety, and basic workersโ rights of temporary employees. This is a huge victory for California's most vulnerable workers, including immigrant workers who make up a large segment of the subcontracted workforce. It's a big win for the labor organizations, community...
MONTREAL โ Tens of thousands of workers from across Quebec marched through the streets of downtown Montreal on September 20 in the cityโs largest demonstration since the student protests of 2012. Since June, firefighters, police officers and other municipal employees have been protesting against Bill 3, which would see municipal employees shoulder part ofย an estimated $4 billion pensionย deficit. โMr. Couillard, your social dialogue is nothing but an anti-social monologue, a bossโs discourse,โ Daniel Boyer, president of the...
On September 13, the Federal NDP announced that, if elected, an NDP government would reinstate the federal minimum wage, lay out a path to reaching $15 per hour, and index the federal minimum wage to inflation. Ontario Federation of Labour President Sid Ryan said that a $15 per hour federal minimum wage would send an important signal. โThis would set the standard that all provincial and territorial governments should be striving to achieve,โ said Ryan. โThe $15...
According to a recently published study, as many as 90 percent of the employers participating in the annual U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII) do not comply with OSHA recordkeeping regulations, resulting in underreporting of work-related injuries and illnesses by 38 percent of the surveyed employers Thomas A. Robinson, J.D., the Feature National Columnist for theย LexisNexis Workersโ Compensation eNewsletter, is a leading commentator and expert on the law of...
PONTIAC, Mich.ย โ Asphalt Specialists Inc. has been found in violation of theย Surface Transportation Assistance Actย by the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration for wrongfully terminating a foreman and two truck drivers. They had raised safety concerns after being directed to violate U.S. Department of Transportationย mandated hours of service for commercial truck drivers. Headquartered in Pontiac, the asphalt paving company was ordered to reinstate the three employees to their former positions with all pay,...
A federal judge yesterday granted an injunction ordering the Kellogg Company to end its lockout of 226 ย BCTGMย Local 252G membersโat its Memphis cereal plant and reinstate them to their jobs within five days. Judge Samuel H. Mays, of the Western District of Tennessee, also ordered Kellogg to bargain with the union in good faith; offer reinstatement to every worker to their former or equivalent positions; re-establish the same terms and conditions of employment prior to the...
Heinenโs Fine Foods is a Cleveland, Ohio based family-owned gourmet grocery store that was established in 1929 by Joe Heinen who opened a small butcher shop on the east side of the city, aiming to establish himself as the cityโs purveyor of quality meats. After his initial success, Heinen added homemade peanut butter, pickles and freshly baked donuts. By 1933, business had grown enough to include a line of produce and canned goods. Today, the family-owned store...
โU.S. Government Charges Kellogg with Serious Violations of Federal Lawโย โ BCTGM News Release, March 27, 2014 โFederal Government Seeks Immediate Court Action to End Illegal Memphis Lockoutโ โ BCTGM News Release, April 5, 2014 What a difference a year can make! At this time last year, the labor movement was confronting one of its greatest challenges since the enactment of the National Labor Relations Act, the โWorkersโ Bill of Rightsโ, nearly 80 years earlier. ย The National Labor Relations Board...
Today (April 28th), the unions of the AFL-CIO observe Workers Memorial Day to remember those who have suffered and died on the job and to renew our efforts for safe workplaces. This year, the struggle continues to create good jobs in this country that are safe and healthy and to ensure the freedom of workers to form unions and, through their unions, to speak out and bargain for respect and a better future. It is time...
BCTGM International President David Durkee and International Secretary Treasurer Steve Bertelli, together with locked out Local 252G Kellogg workers and AFL-CIO representatives, attended the ย Kellogg Company shareholder meeting today in Battle Creek, Mich. The AFL-CIO presented Proposal 5 to the shareholders. The proposal, put forward by Brandon Rees of the AFL-CIO Office of Investment, would require the Kellogg Company to submit a "human rights risk assessment". President Durkee delivered a statement to the shareholders in support of...
BCTGM members from five states and Canada descended upon ย the Kellogg Company annual shareholders meeting Battle Creek, Mich. to protest the company's illegal lockout of more than 220 Local 252G Memphis, Tenn. cereal workers. Hundreds of union members, labor leaders, and community activists joined the BCTGM outside the W.K. Kellogg Auditorium for a rally.ย Locked out 252G members, who traveled to Battle Creek to take place in the shareholders meeting and planned events, were introduced by...
I remained hopeful that this situation would resolve soon for many days, but as these days turned to weeks, and these weeks to months, I am starting to wonder why nobody is listening to my plea. It hurts to be ignored. โKara Butterfield, 15, daughter of Jeff Butterfield, Local 252G locked out Kellogg worker This morning outside the W.K. Kellogg Foundation headquarters in Battle Creek, Mich., BCTGM Local 252G members illegally locked out by Kellogg in Memphis,...
According to the 2014ย AFL-CIO Executive PayWatch, released April 15, itโs 331 times better to be a CEO than an average worker. All you need to do is ask BCTGM Local 252G President Kevin Bradshaw, who along with more than 220 other union workers, has been locked out of the Kellogg cereal plant in Memphis, Tenn. since last October. And while the locked union members have not received a paycheck since the illegal lockout began on October 22,...