Tag Archives: AFL-CIO

AFL-CIO President Trumka On Currency Exchange Reform Act

  By New Hampshire Labor News | June 5, 2013 - 3:42 pm | , , ,
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Statement by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka on the Currency Exchange Rate Oversight Reform Act of 2013

The Currency Exchange Rate Oversight Reform Act of 2013 sends an important message that this nation will no longer tolerate currency manipulation by other governments. This wrongful and unfair practice distorts the global economy and disadvantages countries like the United States that follow international trade rules. The growth of these illegal actions has cost far too many jobs over the past several years. We call on the House and Senate to take action on this issue without delay.

Working people are proud of the leadership from Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Charles Schumer (D-NY), Richard Burr (R-NC), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Bob Casey (D-PA), Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Susan Collins (R-ME) to introduce this important the bipartisan legislation.

In addition to supporting this bill, the AFL-CIO supports companion legislation in the House, The Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act of 2013 (H.R. 1276). Considering the continuing job-destroying impacts of currency manipulation, there should be strong bi-partisan support in both the House and Senate.

When foreign governments manipulate currency, they give producers in their country an unfair advantage.  When a country’s currency is devalued by 25 percent, that means US exports are 25 percent overpriced by comparison, while our imports from that country are underpriced by the same amount. Not only does this unfair practice severely damage the US manufacturing sector, it also means that workers in those countries suffer from reduced purchasing power themselves.  The result on the U.S. trade deficit has been devastating—last year, the U.S. ran a trade deficit of more $315 billion dollar in trade in goods with China alone.

Congress must stand up for American manufacturing and put an end to the trade war being waged against the working families and communities. Our country needs to create millions of good jobs now. We can no longer afford to be passive in the face of these illegal job-killing practices.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and Retiree Leader Edward Coyle comment on the 2013 Social Security and Medicare Trustees Reports

  By New Hampshire Labor News | June 4, 2013 - 6:50 pm | , ,
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The most important message from the 2013 Social Security Trustees Report is that our Social Security system continues to work for the American people.  After years of economic crisis for working families, Social Security is in better shape and more dependable than 401(k)s, private pensions, or any other public or private program.  We must call out those who will try to misuse today’s  report as political cover for unwarranted and ill-advised benefit cuts, like switching to the “chained CPI” to calculate Social Security’s annual cost of living increase (COLA).

The truth is that at a time when America’s retirement income deficit is estimated to be an astounding $6.6 trillion because too many people have nothing or too little in pensions or savings, we cannot afford to cut Social Security’s modest benefits in anyway whatsoever, including how it keeps pace with inflation through its annual COLA.   The Report reaffirms that, without any changes, Social Security can pay full benefits until 2033 and three-quarters of benefits after that, unchanged from last year’s report.

Social Security provides a critical base of financial security and dignity for Americans in retirement or unable to work due to disability or when a working parent dies and is survived by young children. Going forward, strong economic growth broadly shared will serve to strengthen the program further.

While much might be made of the projected shortfall in the disability trust fund, there is a simple step that should be taken to address any short-run concerns.  As it has done eleven times before, Congress should reallocate the income across the two funds.

The good news from today’s Medicare Trustees report, extending the life of the Hospital Insurance trust fund by another two years to 2026, reminds us that we do not have a Medicare problem.  We have a health care cost problem.  Recent reforms have helped strengthen Medicare and appear to have contributed to a significant slowing of health costs overall in the short run.  If we are to succeed in the long run, however, we need to continue taking steps to make health care more affordable and the health care system more cost effective, and reject proposals to cut benefits or shift costs to individuals.

How Can We Reshape The Labor Movement: Join The Conversation

  By New Hampshire Labor News | June 3, 2013 - 9:25 am | , ,
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work connects us all AFLCIO

Can unions get their members more active politically on issues throughout the year? Can—and should—unions mobilize members on a large scale to work on other tasks that could strengthen the labor movement, such as organizing new members or working on labor and community solidarity campaigns?  What would unions need to change to pursue such a strategy aggressively? Does its structure impede progress?

These are the questions journalist David Moberg are posing as the AFL-CIO continues its crucial conversation about the future of working people and of unions at www.aflcio2013.org.

And on Tuesday, June 4 from 3-4 p.m. EDT, Moberg, a senior editor at In These Times, will be fielding questions on labor’s organizational structure and mobilization strategies.  David Moberg is one of the most thoughtful commentators about the labor movement today, and we are pleased that he is joining us as a moderator of this discussion.

Please join the conversation at www.aflcio2013.org and forward this announcement to your network. We need broad and diverse voices to help shape the future of working people.

We’ve held four wonderful discussions online to date and the ideas generated through these conversations will be considered by our executive council and shaped into recommendations for action at the AFL-CIO convention in September.

Please help us convene a robust discussion on this important topic and add your voice: www.aflcio2013.org.

The AFL-CIO and EUTC Discuss Trans-Atlantic Trade And Investment Program

  By New Hampshire Labor News | May 28, 2013 - 4:49 pm | , , ,
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Richard_TrumkaMeeting in Paris, President Richard Trumka of the AFL-CIO and General Secretary Bernadette Ségol of the ETUC discussed shared priorities for the TTIP (Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership) to advance the interests of working people and fight misguided austerity policies on both sides of the Atlantic.

The AFL-CIO and the ETUC officially kicked off a joint campaign to ensure that shared prosperity and sustainable growth are the driving principles in the upcoming talks on a United States – European Union trade agreement known as TTIP.

The ETUC and the AFL-CIO both recognised that a successful trade agreement must be based on the best practices on each side of the Atlantic, in order to have positive impacts on jobs and economic growth.  Both organisations committed to devoting the resources and effort needed to ensure that working people as well as negotiators understand how the TTIP can be shaped to maximise the opportunities for workers to share in its benefits.  Priority areas include the labour, regulatory, and investment rules the agreement would establish.

Both groups agreed that the goals of the TTIP should include full employment, decent work, and rising standards of living for all—not the enshrinement of destructive austerity, de-regulation, or other neoliberal ideas prominent in recent years.  Trumka and Ségol’s first order of business will be finalising a joint position statement on the pending agreement.  They agreed to maintain close contact in following the course of the negotiations.

The two labour leaders also discussed the unacceptable labour rights regime in Bangladesh and ways the two organisations could cooperate to advance labour rights, fair pay, and improved working conditions for Bangladesh’s workers.

For more information on the federations’ principles and goals for the TTIP, please visit:

http://www.etuc.org/a/11228 (ETUC)

http://www.aflcio.org/Issues/Trade/U.S.-EU-Free-Trade-Agreement(AFL-CIO)

The ETUC exists to speak with a single voice, on behalf of the common interests of workers, at European level. Founded in 1973, it now represents 85 trade union organisations in 36 European countries, plus 10 industry-based federations.

The ETUC is also on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr. If you would like to subscribe to the ETUC newsletter, please click here.

 

AFL-CIO President Trumka Comments On Senate Vote Undermining American Tech

  By New Hampshire Labor News | May 22, 2013 - 4:26 pm | , , ,
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Richard_TrumkaThe labor movement has no higher priority in 2013 than a workable immigration system that will allow 11 million aspiring Americans to become citizens. That’s why labor has been working tirelessly with faith groups, DREAMers, and the civil rights community to ensure that we move forward this year and create a roadmap to citizenship.

The progress on this bill so far has been commendable. With the hard work of so many for so long, our broad and diverse coalition has become unstoppable.

There is no reason why this strong coalition should accept anti-worker amendments. And let’s be clear: Senator Orrin Hatch’s H-1B amendments are unambiguous attacks on American workers.

Hatch’s amendments change the bill so that high tech companies could functionally bring in H-1B visa holders without first making the jobs available to American workers. Hatch’s amendments would mean that American corporations could fire American workers in order to bring in H-1B visa holders at lower wages.

The next Sergei Brin might be sitting in an American classroom right now. But if that future innovator cannot get an entry-level job in high tech because employers prefer importing temporary workers, entrepreneurial innovations will not occur in the United States.

Tech tycoons like Larry Ellison and Mark Zuckerberg have gotten rich while wages in the technology sector have stagnated. Today’s H-1B amendments have passed on the same day that Apple’s CEO is testifying about Apple’s multi-billion dollar tax avoidance schemes. If the hard work of America’s tech workers is ever to pay off, we need to craft policy that benefits the people who actually write code, rather than just rewarding industry honchos who write checks to politicians. Our goal should be an America in which our young tech workers can pay off their student loans, not one in which Larry Ellison can build ever more extravagant yachts. We expect better, we deserve better, and if necessary, on the floor of the U.S. Senate, we will get better.

We are thankful that the Senate Judiciary Committee is likely to report out a bill today that supports a real roadmap to citizenship. We will continue to work with our allies to pass immigration reform with a roadmap to citizenship in 2013.

AFL-CIO Announces New Scholarship For Working Families

  By New Hampshire Labor News | April 5, 2013 - 7:30 am | ,
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work connects us all AFLCIO

“Dreams of Jobs and Freedom” Scholarship
to provide $5,000 scholarship to at least 50 students 
www.aflcio.org/scholarship

(Washington, DC, April 4, 2013) Yesterday, the AFL-CIO announced in partnership with the Union Privilege program a new scholarship to commemorate the 50thanniversary of the March on Washington. The scholarship will provide $5,000 each to at least 50 talented high school seniors from families– including union families and those in the community – to help pay for the costs of higher education.

On August 28, 1963, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his historic “I Have a Dream” speech, which accelerated the nation’s own march toward social and economic justice, including passage of the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act.  People from all over gathered to march for the dream that all of America’s children would have equal access to education, regardless of race, gender, status, or income. The AFL-CIO will honor the legacy of the March on Washington by helping young people across the country turn their dream of attaining higher education into a reality.

An application, including an essay, is required. Students can apply online: www.aflcio.org/scholarship. The application deadline is July 1, 2013.

Statement by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka on February Jobs Report

  By New Hampshire Labor News | March 8, 2013 - 5:00 pm | ,
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From WIKIPediaFebruary’s encouraging job growth is welcome news, but before we get too excited, let’s not ignores the real pain that working families still experience outside the bubble of D.C.  Long-term unemployment remains unchanged, 14.3 percent of working people in the United States are unemployed or underemployed and public sector employment continues to decline even before the sequester’s devastating impacts have been felt.  And let’s not ignore the politician-made obstacles in front of us:  The 750,000 jobs that the Congressional Budget office estimates will be lost in 2013 due to the sequester is more than three times the number of net new jobs in February (236,000).

Our mission to restore balance to our economy and growth to our labor market is far from complete. Indeed, the progress made toward achieving that mission is in danger of reversal due to the widespread embrace of the zombie idea of austerity. We need the Federal Reserve to continue monetary easing until we have a secure recovery. And what we need from elected officials is simple: Repeal the sequester and invest in working people.

We need the shared prosperity we have not achieved while elites have focused on slashing rules governing corporations, cutting taxes for the rich, and undermining the voice of working people in the workplace. That is why the labor movement is committed to the policies of ‘Prosperity Economics’ — reforms that will unite and strengthen America by creating jobs, promoting economic security and rebuilding our democracy. We can build an economy that works for all if we work together to dislodge the policies that have made the economy work well for only the top 1%.

NH AFL-CIO To Hold Candlelight Vigils For New Hampshire Senators

  By Matt Murray | December 7, 2012 - 9:00 am |
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Labor leaders and community activists from across New Hampshire will come together to hold a candlelight vigil in front of the two NH Senator’s offices.  

On monday Dec 10th middle class workers and their families will come together to opposes the dangerous cuts to Social Security and Medicare, being proposed in Congress. We need to send a strong and clear message to Senator Ayotte and Senator Shaheen, that cuts to these programs should not even be in the ‘fiscal cliff’ discussion.

“In one of the most prosperous countries in the world, everyone should be able to retire with health and dignity,” said AFL-CIO President Trumka. “Working families across the country have made it clear that we need to protect Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security benefits. Millions of working people, jobless people and retirees shouldn’t have to sacrifice their health care and retirement security so that the richest 2% can continue getting more tax breaks. It’s time for our elected leaders to focus on creating an economy that invests in jobs, healthcare and education for all.”

Vigils at all locations are from 4:00-5:00pm.

Here are the details from the NH AFL-CIO:

IN MANCHESTER: 

We’ll gather outside Senator Ayotte’s office at 4:00pm for a quick briefing. From there, we’ll take a group of people a few blocks down Elm Street for a vigil at Senator Shaheen’s office.

Sen. Ayotte’s Manchester Office Location:
1200 Elm Street, Manchester NH (near corner of W Bridge St)

IN PORTSMOUTH:

Meet outside Senator Ayotte’s Seacoast office at 4:00pm.
Senator Ayotte’s Portsmouth Office Location:
14 Manchester Square, Portsmouth (Pease International Tradeport)

Join Us

Join the hundreds of working families across the country who will be participating in a national Candlelight Campaign to urge Congress to say no to cuts to benefits for Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security, and to end tax cuts for the richest 2%.

If you are not from New Hampshire, many state AFL-CIO federations and CLC will be hosting candlelight vigils just like this.  Find one near you.

Statement by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka On President Barack Obama’s Re-Election

  By New Hampshire Labor News | November 7, 2012 - 10:00 am | ,
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From WIKIPediaTonight, working families across the country celebrate the re-election of President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden – and breathe a sigh of relief that our country will move forward on the path of sanity and shared prosperity. Nothing about the last four years has been easy, from the Great Recession to Hurricane Sandy, from unrelenting partisan obstruction by Republicans to the greatest onslaught of negative ads ever unleashed against an American president.

Throughout the tumult, President Obama and Vice President Biden have been steadfast allies of working men and women and the values we cherish, focused on repairing the economy, rebuilding the ladder to the middle class and investing in our shared future. That’s why workers and their unions made an historic effort on their behalf, bringing home the vote for the President from Nevada to Ohio, from Wisconsin to Pennsylvania.

With “Osama dead and GM alive” and the economy beginning to pick up steam, we are ready to work together with the President and all willing parties to win greater equality and economic opportunity for all – starting with ending the Bush tax cuts for the rich and opposing any cuts to Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid benefits.

Open Letter About Mitt Romney’s Record as Governor of Massachusetts

  By New Hampshire Labor News | November 1, 2012 - 7:30 am | , , , ,
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MA Building Trades

Open Letter to Building Trades
About Mitt Romney’s Record
as Governor of Massachusetts

I am sure that many of you share my frustration at trying to sift through campaign commercials and talking points to find out where the candidates for President really stand on issues that are important to you.  Part of the problem is Mitt Romney’s habit of changing his positions to suit his audience.

One thing he can’t change is his record.  I had a front row seat for Mitt Romney’s term as Governor of Massachusetts.  His positions and his actions on the issues that have a direct impact on Building and Construction Trades workers were not good for our members.

Wages:

  • Mitt Romney filed legislation to Eliminate the Prevailing Wage on broad segments of public construction projects.
  • Mitt Romney Vetoed a Minimum Wage increase just two years after promising to support raising it in his campaign.
  • Mitt Romney Vetoed legislation to stiffen penalties on employers that cheat workers out of their proper wages.

Unemployment Insurance:

  • Mitt Romney filed legislation to reduce the number of weeks you could collect benefits, make it far more difficult for construction workers to be eligible for benefits, and cut premiums to the point of jeopardizing the financial health of the unemployment fund.

Construction Safety:

  • Mitt Romney Vetoed a bill to require OSHA 10-Hour Training on public projects.  Romney said it “would increase the cost of doing business for contractors” even though they are only required to maintain a copy of a worker’s OSHA 10-Hour card.  Ironically this was one time when Romney brought the Democrats and Republicans together when members of both parties in both the House and Senate voted unanimously against Romney and overrode his veto.

Apprentice Training:

  • Mitt Romney tried to eliminate the State Division of Apprentice Training in his first state budget.  He tried to undercut the Division’s funding every year after that.

Candidate Mitt Romney often changes his positions to suit varying segments of the electorate.  On issues impacting Building & Construction Trades workers he has been consistent:  Candidate Romney has vowed to repeal Davis Bacon Prevailing Wage, ban Project Labor Agreements, and pass anti-union Right To Work Laws. This is one area where Romney’s rhetoric matches his record. As Governor of Massachusetts, every time Mitt Romney had a choice between supporting workers’ interests and the interest of Big Business he chose Big Business every time.

Please keep this in mind when you cast your vote on November 6th.

Fraternally,

Francis X Callahan Jr

President, Mass. Building Trades Council, AFL-CIO