Source: AFL-CIO Blog

Source: UnionGal

Around the country this Saturday, thousands of union members will get a visit from their fellow union members and have a chance to learn about the issues they care about in November’s elections.

This weekend’s door-to-door canvass is at the center of the AFL-CIO union movement's effort to mobilize more than 6,000 union volunteers to knock on 200,000 doors and engage union members in 20 states this spring. These volunteers will discuss issues such as health care, jobs, the economy and trade, and how John McCain's pro-Bush voting record in the Senate has worked against the interests of America's workers.

Saturday’s door-to-door walks to educate and energize union members are part of the AFL-CIO’s Labor 2008 political program, set to be the largest union mobilization in history.

The U.S. Senate today moved a step closer to approving legislation that would protect the collective bargaining rights of tens of thousands of firefighters, police officers, emergency medical technicians and other public safety officers.

By a 69–29 vote, the Senate killed a filibuster led by several extreme anti-worker Republican senators against the workers' rights bill. Eighteen Republicans joined all Democrats in backing the move to end the filibuster. The vote on final passage is expected later this week.

http://www.mua.org.au/events/460_20080513.html

Back in the Gate: Howard Gone- MUA Here to Stay!

Event date: 31 May 2008
Type:
Location: Brett Park, Five Dock
Time: 11am-4pm
Cost: Free
The Sydney Branch of the MUA invites all members and their families to celebrate the 10 year anniversay of the return to work of Patrick workers with a family carnival and picnic day.

It is hard to believe that 10 years has passed since the Howard Government, Patrick owner Chris Corrigan and others engaged in their criminal conspiracy against the MUA to shed the Australian waterfront of unionised labour.

On April 7 1998, hundreds of guards and dogs stormed the wharves under cover of darkness as Patrick boss Chris Corrigan sacked his entire workforce of 2000 men and women nationwide with the aid of balaclava wearing goons and savage attack dogs. The Australian industrial relations landscape would never be the same again. This vicious attack on wharfies was undertaken with the complete support of the then Howard Government.

What followed was a monstrous battle to stop this criminal injustice perpetrated solely because the 2000 sacked wharfies were members of a union. The reactionary attempts to eradicate waterfront unionism failed because the Australian people rejected such inappropriate tactics that were fundamentally at odds with the aspirations of the Australian people who treasure the concept of a "fair go".

read more

Union activists from across the state came together in Philadelphia in recent days for a two-day training session in getting out the vote as part of the union movement’s Labor 2008 political mobilization program.

Members of more than a dozen unions participated in presentations that overviewed key working family issues like health care, the economy and Sen. John McCain’s anti-labor voting record. Attendees engaged in dynamic discussions about effective communication, worksite visits and activist recruitment.

The Philadelphia training is one of a series of Labor 2008 trainings that have taken place around the country in key states like Missouri, Ohio and Colorado.

Here's one from the "just-when-you-think-you've-seen-it-all" file.

California is facing a $20 billion budget shortfall. Teachers are getting pink slips. Health care, social service, education and other budgets are being slashed to the bone. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) warns that all Californians should get ready for some budget belt-tightening.

Well, almost all Californians.

Republican legislators twice this year blocked moves to close a tax loophole for their super-wealthy friends—the ones who just can't live without yachts or jet planes. The loophole let's the uber-rich buy their floating and flying palaces tax free!

Survivors of the cyclone in Burma line up to receive donated food and supplies.

Despite the refusal by Burma’s military dictatorship to allow relief agencies to deliver food, medical care and supplies to survivors of the devastating May 2 cyclone, the Federation of Trade Unions of Burma (FTUB), the country’s underground democratic union movement, is delivering aid to some affected villages. We cannot report exactly which villages are receiving the aid for fear the government will intercede to stop the assistance. But AFL-CIO Solidarity Center representatives in the field confirm that FTUB unions are delivering some aid. But much more help is needed.

Click here to make a donation to help Burmese workers.

Patrick O'Meara, corporate finance specialist in the AFL-CIO Office of Investment, updates us on recent shareholder action at Verizon by union members and retirees.

Union members and retirees continue to challenge Verizon to become a better company. Sporting red T-shirts, some 50 current and retired members of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and the Electrical Workers (IBEW), including members of the Association of BellTel Retirees, traveled to Lincoln, Neb., last week for the annual Verizon shareholders meeting.

LabourStart headline - Source: SRC

LabourStart headline

LabourStart headline

LabourStart headline

LabourStart headline - Source: NUPGE

LabourStart headline - Source: Zim Online

This week, May 11–17, is National Women's Health Week. Beginning on Mother’s Day, Women’s Health Week encourages women to make their health a top priority and take simple steps for a longer and healthier life. Families, communities, businesses, government, health organizations and other groups will work to educate women about steps they can take to improve their physical and mental health and prevent disease.

With women making up nearly half of all union members, the Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW) is encouraging union members across the country to promote women’s health by urging women to maintain a healthy lifestyle. In addition to engaging in some form of physical activity most days of the week and eating a nutritious diet, CLUW, one of six AFL-CIO constituency groups, is urging women to avoid risky behaviors such as smoking or not wearing a seatbelt.

LabourStart headline

Source: International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Union Review

Source: Detroit News

Source: The Chicago Tribune