Harry Kelber, a union activist for nearly 80 years who was never shy about criticizing the union movement’s leadership—constructively, he maintained—died Sunday in New York. He was 98. On his 98th birthday in June, Kelber had announced he planned to run for the AFL-CIO presidency at the federation’s upcoming September convention. During the Depression, Kelber …
Harry Kelber, Labor Activist and Critic, Dies at 98 Read More »
Last November, Phil Bailey’s boss at Roadlink Workforce Solutions, a firm providing temporary staff to businesses, fired him and a co-worker, accusing them of having put up pro-union stickers in their workplace. Bailey denied any involvement. When two other workmates came to his defense, their boss fired them as well. All four workers filed charges …
Fired Warehouse Workers Want Action From Walmart Read More »
After two years without a contract, the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians-Communications Workers of America (NABET-CWA) has reached a tentative agreement with the American Broadcasting System (ABC) on a four-year contract. The last contract between NABET-CWA and ABC expired on March 31, 2011. James C. Joyce, president of NABET-CWA and head of the bargaining committee, …
Broadcast Employees Reach Tentative Agreement with ABC Read More »
Nearly 100 workers were arrested Wednesday night in Las Vegas as they engaged in civil disobedience to protest the Cosmopolitan casino’s refusal to agree to a fair contract with its workers. As reported Wednesday, members of Culinary Workers Union Local 226 and Bartenders Local 165 blocked the street on the Las Vegas Strip, leading to 98 arrests. Workers shut …
Today, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Editorial Board ridiculed the absurd notion from the Missouri state Senate that somehow union members (teachers, nurses, secretaries, pothole fixers and home health care workers) are to blame for the state’s economic woes. “Oh, please,” the board responds. In its editorial, the board points out Missouri state workers are the lowest paid in …
St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Unions to Blame for Economic Woes? ‘Oh, Please’ Read More »
UPDATE: UFCW union leaders in New England announced a tentative settlement with Stop & Shop March on 4, following marathon negotiating sessions over the previous few day. Details of the settlement are being withheld pending formal presentation of the new contract to union members for a ratification vote. According to the union’s special Stop & Shop …
New England Grocery Unions Face Grueling Obamacare Test (Update) Read More »
Ask Los Angeles Times reporter Alana Semuels why union membership in California rose by 100,000 in 2012, and she’ll give you a simple answer: “Latino workers.” To explain the contrast between the trend in California and the United States as a whole—where union membership dropped last year by 400,000—Semuels turned to some credible sources, including Steve Smith of the …
Showing solidarity with our union brothers and sisters is a great way for us to ring in the New Year, says Jim Key, vice president at large of Steelworkers Local 550 in Paducah, Ky. Key, also his local’s legislative and political chairman, is asking union members and union supporters nationwide to take a minute to …
U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis resigned today. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said Solis “brought urgently needed change to the Department of Labor, putting the U.S. government firmly on the side of working families.” Under Secretary Solis, the Labor Department became a place of safety and support for workers. Secretary Solis’s Department of Labor talks tough …
I spent so much time on picket lines as a kid that when I thought my dad’s rules were too strict, I would run to build a sign on a stick and try to talk the neighbor kids into marching around the house with me. I learned early on the power of a picket to …
Madeline Messa is a 3L at Syracuse University College of Law. She graduated from Penn State with a degree in journalism. With her legal research and writing for Workplace Fairness, she strives to equip people with the information they need to be their own best advocate.
