MUST WATCH
Trumka on Bloomberg TV: PRO Act Should Be Passed in a Bipartisan Way
Bloomberg TV
July 15, 2021
AFL-CIO Richard Trumka joined Bloomberg's Balance of Power to discuss the budget proposal that provides the largest tax cut ever for working families, and how important passing the #PROAct and voting rights legislation is to our democracy.
MUST READ
Texas Democrats meet with labor activists, Sen. Manchin in Washington as they push voting rights
The Dallas Morning News
By Raga Justin and Emily Caldwell
July 15, 2021
A crowd gathered as a large number of the more than 50 members – some casually dressed in sneakers and jeans or tracksuits – met at the Black Lives Matter plaza Thursday morning for a press conference hosted by the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations. Leaning on the image and legacy of Congressman John Lewis, a civil rights icon who died almost exactly a year ago, AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka denounced GOP-led efforts in multiple states to pass election integrity bills before turning to the Texas delegation with a smile. “Heroes and heroines, every last one, in my opinion,” Trumka said to loud cheers from the crowd of mostly labor and civil rights activists.
POLITICS
Trumka praises inclusion of Pro Act fines in key money bill
People’s World
By Mark Gruenberg
July 15, 2021
Hefty fines for corporate labor-law breaking, a top part of the Protect The Right To Organize (PRO) Act, have been inserted into the Senate Democrats’ key money bill, a budget “reconciliation” measure which right-wing Senate Republicans can’t filibuster. “Parts of the PRO Act are part of reconciliation,” AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka told People’s World at an outdoor July 15 press conference. “Some of it can’t get in,” due to the rules that restrict “reconciliation” bills to taxing and spending only, Trumka admitted. “But the (PRO Act) fines and things having to do with monetary policy are in,” he elaborated. Trumka discussed the PRO Act after introducing and praising the Texas state Democratic legislators who flew out of Austin to D.C. to stop their right-wing GOP colleagues from passing more-repressive voting legislation targeting Blacks and browns than the Lone Star State already has on its books.
JOINING TOGETHER
Hundreds of Frito-Lay workers on strike in Topeka, citing forced overtime and 84-hour workweeks
The Washington Post
By Taylor Telford
July 14, 2021
Hundreds of striking Frito-Lay workers in Kansas are calling on one of the nation’s biggest snack makers to put an end to forced overtime and 84-hour workweeks brought on by a pandemic-era surge in demand. Workers at the Topeka plant have been pushed to the brink as the factory revved up operations during the pandemic according to the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers Local 218. Many of the factory’s more than 800 workers are working seven days a week and up to 12 hours per shift, with just eight hours between clocking in and clocking out, according to the union’s international president, Anthony Shelton.
IN THE STATES
Those battling COVID in NC rarely get workers’ comp. ‘You have to fight so hard.’
Charlotte Observer
By Ames Alexander
July 15, 2021
MaryBe McMillan, president of the NC AFL-CIO, said essential workers risked their lives to ensure others had the food, medical care and other services they needed. The state should have recognized the risks they took by offering better workers’ comp protection, she said. “I think it’s important for people to understand that the legislature had a chance early on in the pandemic to protect workers and to make it easier for them to get workers’ comp if they got COVID,” McMillan said. “But they refused to do it. And they refused to do it because the business community fiercely opposed it.”
PAYWATCH/CEO PAY
CEOs made 299 times more than their average workers last year, report says
WBAL TV
By Moira Ritter
July 15, 2021
The difference between CEO and median employee pay grew in 2020 despite the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing relief efforts. The average S&P 500 company CEO made 299 times the average worker's salary last year, according to AFL-CIO's annual Executive Paywatch report. Executives received $15.5 million in total compensation on average, marking an increase of more than $260,000 over the past decade. At the same time, the average production and nonsupervisory worker in 2020 earned $43,512, up just $957 a year over the past decade.