October 1: Boston March and Rally for Jobs and a Real Economic Recovery

More than 1,000 union members, unemployed workers, students, clergy and community leaders came together for an October 1 march and rally to highlight the growing jobs crisis. The group protested on the Boston Common, at Verizon’s New England headquarters and at the Hyatt Regency Hotel against a corporate agenda that has left far too many [...]

ILRF Issues Freedom at Work Toolkit

The International Labor Rights Forum has released a Freedom at Work Toolkit. Workers around the world face systematic barriers to organizing, including egregious acts of violence and intimidation. According to the International Trade Union Confederation’s Annual Survey, at least 76 labor activists were killed as a result of their actions defending workers’ rights worldwide in [...]

Columbian labor activist seeks support

by Duane Campbell Yessika Hoyos, daughter of assassinated Columbian labor leader Jorge Dario Hoyos urged Sacramento area labor activists in an event organized by the Sacramento Central Labor Council on Sept.25,2009. Ms. Hoyos is the recipient of the 2008 AFL-CIO Human Rights Award for her work to seek justice for the assassination of union leaders. [...]

Gettelfinger to receive Debs Foundation Award

On October 3, in Terre Haute Indiana, the Debs Foundation will present its 2009 Debs Award to UAW President Ron Gettelfinger. Giving the keynote speech will be Michael Sullivan, President of the Sheet Metal Workers and President of the Debs Foundation. Since its founding in 1962, the foundation has preserved the Debs Home and kept [...]

Reforming Resurrection Health Care Or Why We Need the Employee Free Choice Act

by Bill Barclay New Ground 126 On September 25 through 26, there will be a vigil outside of Resurrection Health Care in Chicago, here’s the background. In 2004, Resurrection Health Care (RHC), the second largest hospital chain in Chicago, acquired Oak Park’s West Suburban (West Sub) Hospital. Since this acquisition, and despite its identity as [...]

Backstage, front stage, and off stage at the AFL-CIO Convention

By Carl Finamore Any large national convention attracting over 1000 delegates and 2000 guests like the 11.5 million-member AFL-CIO gathering in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on September 13-17, is necessarily well-scripted and choreographed. This is to be expected. Scheduled appearances by President Barack Obama and other luminaries generally add enough adrenalin to keep people awake for the [...]

The Situational Ethics of Union ‘Raiding’

by Steve Early No subject arouses the passion of labor officials more than “raiding.” In his blustery maiden address as president of the AFL-CIO, Rich Trumka won thunderous applause this week at the federation’s convention in Pittsburgh by announcing that anyone daring to “raid an AFL-CIO union will find 1,000 organizers coming to the rescue [...]

Indentured Workers Fight Back

by Paul Garver One of the most welcome shifts in AFL-CIO policy over the last decade has been the wholehearted advocacy of the rights of all workers, including undocumented immigrants, so-called “guest” workers and others among the most vulnerable and exploited groups of workers. Growing ethnic diversity in the ranks of labor, if not necessarily [...]

Where Obama Learned his Labor History

by Paul Garver When President Obama devoted a notable section of his speech at the AFL-CIO Convention to celebrating the history of working class struggles in Pittsburgh, it helped him connect to his enthusiastic audience. For those of us who had worked in Pittsburgh’s labor movement, it was a highpoint. Obama succintly and accurately cited [...]

LabourStart Labour Photo of the Year 2009

by LabourStart Last year’s first LabourStart Labour Photo of the Year Contest was more popular than we had expected, and so it has become an annual event. LabourStart would like to both encourage and recognize the talents of worker-photographers around the world, and at the same time encourage them to tell the stories of our [...]