Check out this great infographic from the AFL-CIO, and be sure to text JOBS to 235246 to receive updates on how to BRING JOBS HOME! SHARE THIS: Tell a friend page: http://bit.ly/KYaSUt Share on Twitter: http://bit.ly/M68qjh Share on Facebook: http://on.fb.me/Kw2Bfm Β ...
Workers and Supporters Call on Crystal Sugar to Engage in Real Negotiations to Reach Fair Contract Drayton, NDβThis morning, two-dozen workers who have been locked out of their jobs at American Crystal Sugar Co. (ACS) for ten months walked out of Drayton on their way to Grafton, ND. Over the next seven days, the workersβmembers of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers, and Grain Millersβ International Union (BCTGM)βwill walk or ride in a hay wagon approximately 200...
The United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a new report βBetter OSHA Guidance Needed on Safety Incentive Programsβ that analyzes employerβs use of safety incentive programs in an effort to bring reportable injuries down. OSHA relies on employer injury and illness records to target its enforcement efforts. However, questions have been raised as to whether some safety incentive programs and other workplace safety policies discourage workers from reporting injuries and illnesses suffered in the...
Since June of 2010, I have communicated extensively in writing with your local unions regarding the very serious financial difficulties of your employer, Hostess Brands.Β Many of my communications should have been posted on Union bulletin boards at your work location so that you were kept continually informed.Β Additionally, we held a meeting in Washington, D.C. on February 25, 2012, for all Hostess production locals. Both I and Secretary-Treasurer/Director of Organization David Durkee, have personally...
AFL-CIO Job growth in April rose by 115,000, above the 100,000 needed to keep up with new job entrants. The unemployment rate improved a tad, from 8.2 percent in March to 8.1 percent in April, as did the number of jobless, which declined from 12.7 million in March to 12.5 million in April, according to U.S. Department of Labor dataΒ released this morning. Some 14.5 million workers remain unemployed, underemployed or have given up looking for work. But...
AFL-CIO Each day in 2010, 13 workers on average were killed on the jobβsome 4,690 workersβand an estimated 50,000 died from occupational diseases, according to the AFL-CIO's annual report,Β βDeath on the Job: The Toll of Neglect.β Released today, the report shows the numberΒ of those who died in 2010 (the most recent year for which data are available) is upΒ fromΒ the 4,551 people who perished in 2009. This trend that has continued since 2004, theΒ first year in a...
The numbers are staggering. In 2010, an average of 150 workers died from job injuries and illnesses every day. And nearly 4 million workers were hurt or made ill. America must do better. Thatβs why working families across the country will come together to mourn the dead and injured and continue the struggle for good jobs that are safe and healthy for all workers. This Saturday, April 28, is Workersβ Memorial Day. On this day, we remember...
East Grand Forks, Minn.βThirty-four representatives of 11 BCTGM local unions met April 14 to discuss issues of importance to union members employed in the sugar industry. Chief among those issues was American Crystal Sugarβs (ACS) lockoutΒ of 1,300 BCTGM members in Minnesota, North Dakota, and Iowa nearly nine months ago. Participants in the sugar meeting included representatives from Locals 167G (Grand Forks, N.D.), 267G (Crookston, Minn.), 372G (Hillsboro, N.D.), 283G (Twin Falls, Idaho), 369G (Renville, Minn.), 282G...
AFL-CIO Theresa Brown, a United Steelworkers (USW) member at Cooper Tire's Findlay, Ohio, plant says in this election year, βEverybody is in the same fight. It doesnβt matter if you are a union member or not, this is about saving the middle class.β Brown was speaking at a press conference at AFL-CIO headquarters today where plans were announced to activate and energize networks of working familiesβboth online and offlineβaround political campaigns, legislative issues and holding elected officials...
STEELEVILLE, Ill. β The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Gilster-Mary Lee Corp. for six safety violations β including three willful β after two maintenance employees conducting welding operations sustained serious burns to their upper bodies as the result of an explosion within a dust collector at the company's Steeleville pasta manufacturing plant on Oct. 6, 2011. "Gilster-Mary Lee Corp. has a responsibility to protect workers conducting welding operations from known...
Following the lead of the AFL-CIO Executive Council, the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM) announced today that its General Executive Board has unanimously voted to endorse President Barack Obama for re-election. In announcing the Boardβs decision, BCTGM International Union President Frank Hurt explained, βAfter assessing the positions of the Republican candidates for President on the issues that matter most to our members and their families, and comparing them with those of...
AFL-CIO Who says economic policy has to be wonkish and dry?Β Not John Schmitt, senior economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR).Β He gets right to the point in his new report, βThe Minimum Wage Is Too Damn Low.β The minimum wage was last increasedβto $7.25 an hourβnearly three years ago. Β He writes that the minimum wage is now far below its historical level by all of the most commonly used benchmarksβinflation, average wages...
Kalamazoo, MI. β If you drive by a Panera Bread CafΓ© on any given morning, you will be treated with the decadent smell of freshly baking bread and sweet goods, thanks to the artful skills of Panera Bread bakers. These bakers work from 10:00 p.m. each night to 6:00 a.m. each morning making sure fresh bread, rolls, cakes and other baked goods are carefully molded and baked in time for the early morning CafΓ© opening....
Earlier this week, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) -- Chairman of the House Budget Committee -- unveiled the GOP budget plan and simply put, it's a disaster for working families and a boondoggle for insurance companies and the wealthiest one percent. Ryan's budget would end Medicare as we know it, eliminate the Affordable Care Act, drastically reduce Medicaid payments to states and increase tax breaks and handouts for wealthiest ONE PERCENT of America. The Ryan budget threatens...
CLC OTTAWA β CLC President Ken Georgetti met on March 14th with Francisco J. Barrio-Terrazas, Mexicoβs ambassador to Canada. Georgetti and other Canadian union leaders expressed concern about the continuing abuse of trade union rights by the Mexican government. Georgetti was accompanied by Dave Coles, President of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada, John Gordon, President of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, and Ken Neumann, Canadian Director of the United Steelworkers. Georgetti provided the ambassador...