AFL-CIO Blog

  • Get to Know AFL-CIO's Affiliates: Train Dispatchers
    Get to Know AFL-CIO's Affiliates: Train Dispatchers AFL-CIO In this weekly series, we take a deeper look at each of the AFL-CIO's affiliates. Next up is the American Train Dispatchers Association. Name of Union: American Train Dispatchers Association (ATDA) Mission: To provide representation for train dispatchers and other railroad employees in contract negotiations with railroads both individually and collectively with other rail unions, discipline and grievance handling and contract enforcement, and to engage in legislative activities and regulatory processes on behalf of its craft and rail labor in general. Current Leadership of Union: Leo McCann currently serves as president of the ATDA, a post he has held since 1999. Ed Dowell has served as secretary/treasurer since 2015. Paul E. Ayers, John Salvey, Rory Broyles and Barry Cross hold the positions of vice president. The organization also has a board of trustees with three members and a support staff of four full-time employees at its headquarters in Cleveland. Members Work As: Train dispatchers, assistant and chief train dispatchers, power supervisors, power directors and load dispatchers, conductors and engineers, maintenance of way workers and yardmasters working for freight, passenger and commuter railroads across the country. Industries Represented: The U.S. railroad industry. History: While earlier efforts had been made to organize train dispatchers, the organization that would be successful, the ATDA, was founded in 1917 and its first meeting was held in Spokane, Washington. The craft union came together to organize and represent people working as train dispatchers in the nation’s railroad industry. Eventually, the organization expanded to include assistant and chief train dispatchers and power supervisors and directors who supervise and manage the power supply for electrically powered trains. In the 1990s, other crafts such as train and engine crews, maintenance of way workers and yardmasters joined the organization. Community Efforts: In addition to representing and negotiating contracts for its members, the officers and staff of the ATDA promote legislation and regulatory improvements that benefit the safety and well-being of its members, the rail industry and every community where the railroad provides a vital service. The ATDA also serves on committees that manage and improve health care benefits and partners with organizations like Union Privilege to provide additional benefits to its members. Learn More: Website, Facebook.  Kenneth Quinnell Mon, 03/25/2019 - 12:00 — Mar 25
  • Women's History Month Profiles: Maida Springer Kemp
    Women's History Month Profiles: Maida Springer Kemp Kheel Center For Women's History Month, the AFL-CIO is spotlighting various women who were leaders and activists working at the intersection of civil and labor rights. Today's profile is Maida Springer Kemp. Maida Springer Kemp was born in Panama, but moved to Harlem at the age of 7. Her mother, Adina Steward Carrington, listened to the messages of Marcus Garvey and passed the lessons she learned to her daughter, teaching her to be hopeful and to value education. She joined the labor movement during the Great Depression, when she became a member of the Dressmakers' Union, Local 22 of the International Ladies' Garment Workers Union. Her interest in unions spiked after hearing a 1929 radio address by A. Philip Randolph. According to Springer Kemp biographer Yevette Richards, Randoph's speech helped her realize that there were larger forces that hindered working people. In 1933, Local 22 launched a successful general strike of dressmakers. Afterwards, Springer Kemp quickly moved up the union's ranks. In 1938, she began serving on the executive board and in 1940, she became the chair of the local's education committee. She became known as "the pride of ILGWU" and Randolph began to mentor her and helped raise her profile by choosing her as one of the first African Americans to march in New York's grand union parade. In 1945, Springer Kemp became the first black woman to represent U.S. labor overseas, when the AFL and CIO sent her as part of a group observing wartime conditions in Great Britain. Her time in England would be just the beginning of her international efforts to promote union organizing. She helped found the first women's labor movement in Turkey before becoming a key figure in establishing relationships between leaders in the emerging African and U.S. labor movements. She advised newly-formed unions in Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, Ghana and other African nations and helped run a scholarship program for union members. She officially joined the AFL-CIO's International Affairs Department in 1959, a position which she held until 1965.  From 1970 to 1973, she served as the Midwest Director of the A. Philip Randolph Institute, where she worked on voter registration and education. She also worked for the African American Labor Center and coordinated relief programs after drought struck in Africa. She later became a consultant with the Asian American Free Labor Institute and worked as a consultant and lecturer promoting women's labor rights and unionism in Africa. She continued to promote equality for working women and supported the labor movement long after her retirement in 1981. She died in 2005 at the age of 94, leaving behind a legacy that helped improve the lives of working people around the world. Read all of our Women's History Month profiles. Kenneth Quinnell Mon, 03/25/2019 - 04:00 — Mar 25
  • Women's History Month Profiles: Dolores Huerta
    Women's History Month Profiles: Dolores Huerta Wikimedia Commons For Women's History Month, the AFL-CIO is spotlighting various women who were leaders and activists working at the intersection of civil and labor rights. Today's profile is Dolores Huerta. Huerta was born in 1930 to Alicia and Juan Fernández in Dawson, New Mexico. Her father was a farmworker and miner who became a state legislator after her parents divorced and Huerta moved with her mother to California. There, her mother worked as a waitress and cannery worker before eventually buying a small hotel and restaurant. Huerta learned her compassion from working people and her dedication to community activism from her mother. After graduating from the University of Pacific's Delta College, Huerta taught school. After witnessing many hungry children of farmworkers in her classes, she decided she could do more good by organizing farmworkers than she could teaching their children. In 1955, she co-founded the local chapter of the Community Service Organization. While registering Hispanic voters and fighting for economic rights for farmworkers, she also founded the Agricultural Workers Association. After meeting César Chávez, the two founded the National Farm Workers Association, the predecessor to the United Farm Workers (UFW), which formed in 1965. With UFW, Huerta organized workers, negotiated contracts and advocated for safer work conditions for farmworkers. She was a key organizer in the 1965 Delano grape workers strike and lead negotiator for the contract that followed. She built upon that success and led the table grape boycott efforts of the late 1960s that led to a collective bargaining agreement in 1970. The 1973 boycott of grapes led to the passage of the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act of 1975. Huerta continued to serve as vice president of UFW until 1999. In the years after the successful grape boycotts, she fought for legislation that would expand working people's voices in government and politics and focused on helping elect more Latinos and women to public office. She was awarded the Elanor Roosevelt Human Rights Award in 1998 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012. She remains active today, serving as a board member of the Feminist Majority Foundation, president of the Dolores Huerta Foundation and in an emeritus role for UFW. Kenneth Quinnell Thu, 03/21/2019 - 09:24 — Mar 21
  • ‘State of the Unions’ Podcast: A Conversation with House Blue Collar Caucus Co-Chairs
    ‘State of the Unions’ Podcast: A Conversation with House Blue Collar Caucus Co-Chairs In the latest episode of "State of the Unions," Julie and Tim talk to the co-chairs of the House Blue Collar Caucus. Reps. Brendan Boyle (Pa.) and Marc Veasey (Texas) both come from union families and formed the caucus in the aftermath of the 2016 election to better connect with blue-collar workers. They say the path to a stronger America runs through the labor movement and any plan to rebuild our economy must include the working people who make it go.  "State of the Unions" is a tool to help us bring you the issues and stories that matter to working people. It captures the stories of workers across the country and is co-hosted by two young and diverse members of the AFL-CIO team: Mobilization Director Julie Greene and Executive Speechwriter Tim Schlittner. A new episode drops every other Wednesday featuring interesting interviews with workers and our allies across the country, as well as compelling insights from the podcast’s hosts. Listen to our previous episodes: “State of the Unions” is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher and anywhere else you can find podcasts. Kenneth Quinnell Wed, 03/20/2019 - 10:22 Tags: Podcast — Mar 20
  • Disgraceful: The Working People Weekly List
    Disgraceful: The Working People Weekly List AFL-CIO Every week, we bring you a roundup of the top news and commentary about issues and events important to working families. Here’s the latest edition of the Working People Weekly List. Obama Expanded Overtime Pay to 4 Million Workers. Now Trump Is Scaling That Back: "Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO labor federation, called the new rule 'disgraceful.' '[This] is part of a growing list of policies from the Trump administration aimed at undermining the economic stability of America’s working people,' he tweeted on Friday. The public can comment on the rule proposal for 60 days before the Department of Labor sends a final version to the White House for review. If the White House approves the new rule, which is likely, it will be the Trump administration’s latest victory in its quest to undo Obama-era regulations meant to benefit workers." Organized Labor Opposes Proposed New NAFTA Deal: "The AFL-CIO, the nation’s largest federation of labor unions, won’t support the USMCA trade agreement if an early vote is pursued, the organization announced March 14. The federation’s executive council voted to oppose the deal after a two-day meeting, saying that it lacks sufficient enforcement mechanisms that would strengthen labor conditions in Mexico. The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, if ratified, would replace the existing North American Free Trade Agreement." AFL-CIO Backs Legislation That Would Power Up American Working Families: "Bill Samuel, the AFL-CIO’s Government Affairs Director, discussed some of the labor federation’s top legislative goals with People’s World as the council meeting opened here Tuesday. High on labor’s list is 'some version,' as he put it, of the Workers Freedom to Negotiate Act, a bill that has already been introduced into Congress. What the federation is aiming for is a law that will make it much easier to organize a union and bargain with employers. As it stands now, workers who try to form a union often face harassment and loss of their jobs. Current law also allows employers not just to target organizers but to drag their feet and stall in the bargaining process after the union has been established." Steelworker Wins Election to Local Maine School Board: "United Steelworkers (USW) Local 9 member Kathy Wilder won a write-in election for school board in Maine School Administrative District (MSAD) 54 on March 4. Wilder, who works as a chemical prep operator at Sappi Fine Paper in Skowhegan, says that her priorities will be student achievement, fiscal responsibility, clear communications and social justice." Paving the Way: What Working People Are Doing This Week: "Welcome to our regular feature, a look at what the various AFL-CIO unions and other working family organizations are doing across the country and beyond. The labor movement is big and active—here's a look at the broad range of activities we're engaged in this week." Get to Know AFL-CIO's Affiliates: AFSCME: "Next up in our series taking a deeper look at each of our affiliates is AFSCME." Our Time Is Now: Leading with Passion, Purpose and Power: "More than 300 union sisters from all sectors of organized labor gathered at the Hilton East Brunswick Hotel on March 1 for the 16th annual Women in Leadership Development (WILD) Conference. This two-day conference featured several distinguished speakers, including Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler (IBEW) and Alice Paul Institute Executive Director Lucienne Beard." Economy Gains 20,000 Jobs in February; Unemployment Down to 3.8%: "The U.S. economy gained 20,000 jobs in February, and the unemployment rate fell to 3.8%, according to figures released this morning by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is a dramatically lower level of job growth than we have seen in recent years and is good reason for the Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee to express caution in considering any interest rate hikes." Kenneth Quinnell Tue, 03/19/2019 - 14:54 — Mar 19