MUST LISTEN
Labor Day 2021: AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler Joins The Joe Madison Show
The Madison Show
September 5, 2021
Liz Shuler, the first woman president of AFL-CIO, joins Joe Madison to discuss the state of labor in 2021 and how workers are persevering through the COVID-19 crisis in the United States.
President Shuler Joins NY Union Strong Podcast
New York State AFL-CIO
By New York State AFL-CIO
September 5, 2021
On Labor Day as we celebrate working people and all they do; we also take note that at no other time in recent memory has it been so vitally important to be able to have a voice in the workplace. Newly elected AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler joins us on the Union Strong podcast to talk about Labor’s priorities and what’s behind the growing support of labor unions.
MUST READ
Newsweek
By Fred Redmond
September 6, 2021
America's workers are recognizing something fundamental: there is promise and power in coming together. Gallup just reported that two in three Americans approve of labor unions, the highest mark since 1965. Among adults under 34 and people of color, that approval is even higher: three in four support unions. This report should come as no surprise—unions have always been the most effective way for workers to speak in a collective voice. America is hungry for unions, and this Labor Day, the Senate must heed our call and pass policies that protect our rights on the job.
LABOR AND ECONOMY
History Of Labor Day Is Right Now — Workers Protest Overwork And Low Pay
Forbes
By Teresa Ghilarducci
September 5, 2021
Workers without a voice can't change those conditions and a recent academic paper emphasizes unions significantly increase worker satisfaction. Liz Shuler, the new president of the American Federal of Labor - Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) — “A modern labor movement can build an America where every working person has access to the life-changing power of a good, sustainable union job. No exceptions. No one left behind.”
Support for labor unions hits 56-year high: ‘Workers have finally been recognized as essential’
MarketWatch
By Victor Reklaitis
September 3, 2021
The head of the country’s largest federation of unions said the latest polling makes sense in the wake of COVID-19’s arrival more than a year ago. “It comes as no surprise that public support for unions continues to rise across the country,” said the AFL-CIO’s president, Liz Shuler, in a tweet. “Union members have delivered for our communities throughout the country, as workers have finally been recognized as essential to our economy and society during the coronavirus pandemic.”
In pandemic economy, workers have leverage. Will it boost unions?
The Christian Science Monitor
By Story Hinckley
September 2, 2021That’s something Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO, which represents more than 12 million workers, warned against at a Monitor Breakfast earlier this week. She referenced a 2018 protest at Google, when 20,000 workers walked off the job in response to how the company had handled sexual assault allegations. The protesters sent Google a list of demands, but not all of them were met. “Things have just gone back to the status quo [at Google] because they didn’t have an organized way, with the enforcement of the law behind them, to sustain it,” says Ms. Shuler. “Folks are starting to connect the dots, especially in industries that traditionally haven’t had unions. ... We must meet this moment by building a modern labor movement.”
U.S. hiring slows sharply, casting long shadow on recovery from pandemic
Los Angeles Times
By Don Lee
September 3, 2021
“We’re still deep in the hole, and without [government] support, plus with the virus raging, I think the rosy scenario for this fall becomes really dark really fast,” said William Spriggs, chief economist for the AFL-CIO, the labor organization. The AFL-CIO’s Spriggs was particularly worried about the roughly 11 million jobless Americans who are expected by Labor Day to lose unemployment benefits entirely or the extra $300 federal weekly supplement.
Black unemployment rises in August jobs report despite more job seekers
CNBC
By Thomas Franck, Spencer Kimball and Nate Rattner
September 3, 2021
Employers are the problem, said AFL-CIO chief economist William Spriggs, former chair of Howard University’s economics department. He noted that, in August, the unemployment rate among Black workers with associate degrees exceeded that of white high school dropouts. Specifically, Black workers with an associate degree saw an unemployment rate of 6.9%, while the jobless rate among white high school dropouts was 5.8%. The unemployment rate across all races for people without high school diplomas who are 25 and over was 7%, while the jobless rate for Black people with high school diplomas in the same age category was 10%. These numbers challenge the long-held belief that greater educational achievement will be rewarded in the workplace.
JOINING TOGETHER
Celebrating workers, unions and an opportunity for a sustainable future this Labor Day
The Hill
By Ray Curry
September 5, 2021
For many working Americans, Labor Day feels different this year. We’re in our second year of a pandemic that has placed even more pressure on families. The continuing instability in many parts of our economy, the growing national reckoning over racial justice and the disastrous effects of climate change which have brought us unprecedented wildfires, droughts and flooding have all converged on a moment that feels stark and pivotal. In the face of these challenges, however, there also lives an opportunity. To do a reset. To craft the America of tomorrow by righting the policies of yesterday. To create sustainable communities, jobs and environment.
Request daily housekeeping at a hotel, and you’ll help save a job
Boston Globe
By Shirley Leung
September 5, 2021
These are tough times in the hotel industry, especially if you’re a housekeeper. During the pandemic, hotels began doing away with daily housekeeping as a way to reduce the spread of COVID-19. That practice, however, may become permanent as a way for companies to cut costs. And that’s bad news for people who make their living cleaning hotel rooms. Already, Hilton, Hyatt, and Marriott hotels in many markets have implemented policies that require guests to opt in for daily cleaning. In other words, you only get the bed made, bathroom scrubbed, and linens changed if you call the front desk and ask. As we mark Labor Day, think about how you can help save a job. It can be this simple: Request daily housekeeping next time you stay in a hotel.
IN THE STATES
Labor Day 2021 Times Union OpEd (Opinion)
New York State AFL-CIO
By Mario Cilento
September 6, 2021
On Labor Day as we celebrate working people and all they do; we also take note that at no other time in recent memory has it been so vitally important to be able to have a voice in the workplace. The COVID-19 pandemic not only highlighted how many workers we rely on, it proved how badly we need unions in this country so that workers have the freedom to speak up at work without fear of retribution and to be able to collectively bargain for better pay, benefits and working conditions.
Trainor: Working Oregonians deserve bold action this Labor Day (Opinion)
Sherwood Gazette
By Graham Trainor
September 4, 2021
Working people from every background and in every sector of our economy are carrying us through this moment in time, and they deserve to be honored and respected every day and especially on Labor Day. We all need to take action to honor them. I have found so much inspiration in the bravery of workers in Northeast Portland at Nabisco who commanded respect by walking out of the factory in early August onto a picket line. These workers were forced on strike, over simply holding the line for fairness, respect, and safety in their workplace after years of watching their work get sent out of the country in search of cheaper and more dangerous labor. And they did so after over a year of working grueling shifts in pandemic conditions so that families across the country could enjoy snacks we have come to expect as a staple on grocery shelves, all while Nabisco and its parent company, Mondelez, made record profits.
Stephanie Bloomingdale: More unions will help build Wisconsin's workforce (Opinion)
Wisconsin State Journal
By Stephanie Bloomingdale
September 4, 2021
Monday marks the second Labor Day in the COVID era, and we should take a moment to think about the challenges workers have faced over the last 18 months. Day in and day out, despite the personal health risks they face, essential workers are called on to keep our economy running. Your family is likely not impacted when the CEO of your favorite grocery store chain shelters at home, but you’d quickly notice if no one turned up to stock the shelves.
April Sims: The ‘union difference’ is especially important amid this pandemic (Opinion)
The Spokesman-Review
By April Sims
September 5, 2021
The COVID-19 pandemic hit our communities hard. When cases started appearing in Washington last March, the labor movement mobilized, fighting for workplace safety protections, personal protective equipment and hazard pay for essential workers.
Wisconsin Rapids Tribune
By Natalie Brophy
September 3, 2021
Wisconsin workers now have more options for employment and more of a say in how, where and when they want to work than ever before. That means that employers who aren't flexible or willing to meet workers' demands may find themselves struggling to hire and retain staff.
"Workers and employers will be at a much more even playing field for the foreseeable future," said Mark Westphal, president of the Fox Valley Area Labor Council, AFL-CIO. .
Local labor unions, employers assess state of labor in the U.S.
News5 Cleveland
By Jade Jarvis
September 4, 2021
A new Gallup poll shows that 68% of Americans approve of labor unions. That's the highest rate since 1965. Saturday, representatives from unions all over Northeast Ohio gathered at Lakewood Park to celebrate the Labor Day holiday. North Shore Federation of Labor hosted the second of its Labor Day to Election Day rally series.
Why I support the PRO Act (Opinion)
Bangor Daily News
September 4, 2021
As a member of three labor unions — two private and one public — I’m proud of what the labor movement has accomplished. I’m proud that my union and all other organized labor unions are helping to close the gender and racial pay gaps. I’m proud that labor unions were partly responsible for passing the Occupational Safety and Health Act in 1970 and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act in 1964. I’m proud of all the accomplishments of labor unions past and present that have helped lift the American worker.
State of labor: Still standing, alive and thriving (Opinion)
Rockford Register Star
By Sara Dorner
September 3, 2021
Most important, I learned that having a voice through that of collective action allowed me the freedom and facilitation to advocate for my profession. This dignity I felt on the job, through my union and the rights afforded to me by the collective bargaining process, has been something I carry with me to this day. Since being sworn in as president of our AFL-CIO Central Labor Committee, Rockford United Labor, I have received numerous inquiries from rank-and-file workers who want to form a union in their workplace.
From librarians to Uber drivers: This is the changing face of the Pa. labor movement
Pennsylvania Capital-Star
By Stephen Caruso
September 5, 2021
Richard Trumka, the former AFL-CIO president who died last month, was the classic example of a union leader. A native of Greene County, in southwestern Pennsylvania, he was a coal miner before he got a law degree. He led the United Mine Workers, and then joined the leadership of the national labor federation, which includes millions of American workers. He came to the board in 1995, as organized labor had stagnated, Rutgers University labor historian Francis Ryan told the Capital-Star. The solution he signed on to? Organize. Millions of dollars in dues money was put into organizing, Ryan said, including health care, education, home care services and information technology. Since then, the labor movement has seen success and failure, including an all-time low approval rating of 47 percent of Americans in 2009, according to a Pew Research Center poll. But in the past decade, approval for unions have shot up to 68 percent — the highest since the 1960’s, according to a Pew poll this month.
Unions hold the key to restoring America’s future (LTE)
Cleveland.com
By Other Voices
September 5, 2021
As we pause to recognize the contributions of our nation’s working people this Labor Day, remember to celebrate America’s unions. Today, the labor movement is experiencing its highest favorability in more than a half-century, with 68% of Americans saying they approve of labor unions. Since 2019, Ohio has seen a 4.4% increase in union membership, bringing union membership to 13.2% of all Ohio employees.