Month: January 2015

, Labor 411

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Super Bowl reflects the best of America. Not just because we get to watch some of America’s greatest athletes participating at the highest level in their sport. Nor is it the glitzy, over-the-top halftime shows. It’s not even because the Super Bowl is one of this country’s last communal viewings, with more than 110 million Americans expected to tune in to witness the action in Glendale, Arizona.

No, the Super Bowl reflects the best of us because it epitomizes the Land of Opportunity that rewards hard work — from the athletes on the field, to the broadcast crews, to all of the stadium and support staff it takes to put on a show like this.

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, AFL-CIO

California registered nurses, members of the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United (CNA/NNU), who work at 86 Kaiser Permanente hospitals and clinics in northern and central California voted overwhelmingly (93%) to ratify a new three-year contract reached last week. The agreement covers 18,000 RNs and will give them a stronger voice on patient care and provide breakthrough improvements in workplace protections along with economic gains.

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UAPD Doctors strike for the first time in 25 years

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Physicians across California are standing together today to send a message to the University of California (UC) today: respect your doctors! The Union of American Physicians and Dentists (UAPD) represents doctors who provide healthcare to students on UC campuses and are striking today in an effort to urge the UC to bargain in good faith.

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, Secretary-Treasurer, Teamsters Local 2010

More than 80 percent of University of California support staff employees are paid wages too low to provide the basic necessities of life in the areas where they live and work, according to preliminary findings of a study conducted by the Economic Policy Institute.

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5 years later, Citizens United is still keeping our political system in the gutter.

, Courage Campaign

Today marks the five year anniversary of Citizens United — the U.S. Supreme Court’s most damaging decision in the history of American democracy, which opened the floodgates for corporate money in politics and unlimited spending by billionaires such as the Koch brothers and Sheldon Adelson.

Hundreds of courageous Californians are taking to the streets in San Francisco and Los Angeles to show that people power can defeat corporate power. For those of you who can’t make it today, you can still make a difference by signing our petition to the Supreme Court

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by Rachel Johnson

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When you’re tuning in to the President’s State of the Union address tonight, keep an eye out for LeDaya Epps. This inspirational mother of three and proud member of Labor's International Union of North America (LIUNA) Local 300 spends her days working on a project to expand the light rail train line for LA Metro to the Los Angeles International Airport. It’s no wonder that Labor Department Secretary Tom Perez invited her to be a guest of the First Lady at tonight’s address.

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by Martin J. Bennett

Commemorations on the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday tend to portray a moderate civil rights leader who aimed to end segregation and racial discrimination by nonviolent direct action.

Often forgotten is his lifelong belief that a “radical restructuring of the architecture of American society” was needed, and that the fight for racial equality and the struggle for economic justice are intertwined.

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, California Labor Federation

Chicken little is alive and well. Those who seek to undercut the retirement security of hard-working public servants are once again trying to whip up mass hysteria about pensions, cherry-picking data from  a website recently created by State Controller John Chiang in an effort to fool the public. As usual, the fact-challenged pension-busters — and a number of media outlets — totally missed the mark in their shallow analysis of pension data, which Dave Low of Californians for Retirement Security notes in a San Diego Union-Tribune op-ed.

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For-profit homecare agencies are threatening homecare workers’ new rights to overtime pay. But they’re fighting back.

, United Domestic Workers of America

In December 2011, California caregivers Michelle Wise and Elva Munoz stood next to President Obama as be announced some major news. The regulations under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) were being amended to extend a minimum wage, overtime pay, and other wage protections to America’s homecare workers, including In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) caregivers in California, for the first time.

Over four years later, caregivers in California are still fighting for these fundamental workplace protections. Support them by signing their petition to Governor Brown today.

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Rome Aloise, International Vice President and Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Local 853 in San Leandro, Calif., sent letters to the CEOs of six East Bay-area companies this week, asking them to support the unionization efforts of the drivers that transport their employees. The drivers, employees of Compass Transportation, are seeking union representation and a contract.

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