Machinists Union Launches Ambitious New Campaign


Downtown Klamath Falls, Ore., where the International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers is organizing employees of the local Jeld-Wen factory as part of a farther-reaching campaign.   (Llywrch / Wikimedia Commons) One of the most ambitious new union drives in the country is gathering momentum from its starting point in the Pacific Northwest. The International Association of Machini...
Continue reading

IAFF Affiliates Raise Millions for MDA

Original link Original author: PR

Wal-Mart Workers Take Demands for Change to Marissa Mayer’s Penthouse


On Sept. 5, 2013, Walmart workers rallied for better pay and the right to organize in outside the San Francisco Four Seasons, home of board member Marissa Mayer. (Photo by R.M. Arrieta)   SAN FRANCISCO—With Bob Marley’s “Get Up, Stand Up For Your Rights” blasting in the background, about 150 loud and raucous Wal-Mart workers and local union supporters marched down Market Street in downtown San Fra...
Continue reading

International Code Council Publishes the Public Comment Agenda

September 6, 2013 15:44 The International Association of Fire Fighters is currently participating in the establishment of the 2015 Editions of the International Residential Code and the International Fire Code. It is important for the IAFF to remain an active participant on how the codes are created and maintained because the International Fire Code establishes the building fire protection systems...
Continue reading

IAFF Wines Fundraiser Benefits IAFF Charitable Foundation

Original link Original author: PR

Tipping Is Bad, But ‘No Tips’ Might Be Worse


The owners of Chez Panisse in the San Francisco Bay Area have added an automatic surcharge to bills in lieu of tips. (Ulterior Epicure / Flickr / Creative Commons)   Tipping is falling out of fashion—at least if you believe a new article in the New York Times. According to Pete Wells of the paper's Dining and Wine section, the practice is “irrational, outdated, ineffective, confusing, prone to abu...
Continue reading

For Union Members, Defeat at Crystal Sugar Anything But Sweet

When workers in a labor struggle are forced to agree to major concessions, labor leaders and allies often find ways to recast the defeat as a long-term victory. Often, they say that losing a tough fight opened up workers’ eyes to the lengths they must go to in order to win the next one. In 2011, for instance, labor circles widely celebrated the massive Wisconsin protests of Governor Scott Walker’s...
Continue reading

Underwire Under Fire: Victoria’s Secret Employees Win $2 Raise

At the Victoria’s Secret flagship location in Manhattan’s Herald Square, where all three floors are frequently packed with customers, a single bra can sell for $58 and customers often drop hundreds of dollars in a single spree. Yet wages for the company’s New York City retail workers can start at less than $10 an hour, and employees say unreliable scheduling means that a consistent paycheck is nev...
Continue reading

Apply for the 2014 Political Training Academy

Original link Original author: PR

Labor Day 2013: Things Have Never Looked Worse for Workers—Or Brighter

Four young men breakdancing on the Federal Plaza last week in downtown Chicago say a lot about why this Labor Day provides occasion for both celebration and protest. The dancers—black, white, Latino, all of them putting on a spectacular show—were fast food and retail workers on strike for the day for $15 an hour pay and the right to form a union without retaliation. They were among about 400 low-w...
Continue reading

Columbus Janitors Won’t Be Taken to the Cleaners


Bobby Copley is one of nearly 1,000 Columbus janitors who may go on strike if their demands for full-time work, affordable health care, and decent working conditions aren't met.   (Photo courtesy of SEIU Local 1) When a representative from SEIU Local 1 first showed up at Bobby Copley’s door in Columbus, Ohio, about two years ago, “I was about to throw her out of the house. I was totally anti-union...
Continue reading

Dollar Store Caught Nickel-and-Diming Workers; Uber Sued; NFL Gets Off Cheap on Concussions


Those bronze plastic gods at the Dollar Store may not come with a clear conscience. (Monado/ Flicker /Creative Commons)   Dave Jamieson has a must-read exposé on how the Dollar Store skims from its employees' wages by classifying them as managers. From The Huffington Post : In interviews and court documents, former and current store managers claim major dollar store companies classify them as mana...
Continue reading

After Largest School Shutdown in History, Spared Schools See Few Financial Benefits


Whittier Elementary, in Chicago's mostly Latino Pilsen neighborhood, is starting the year without an athletic facility after the city demolished the school's field house in July, citing disrepair. The field house also housed a community education center and library (Josh K/ Flickr /Creative Commons).   In pushing through the closures of 50 neighborhood Chicago schools this summer over the vocifero...
Continue reading

Bullet-proof Jobs: Summer Employment May Help Stem Youth Violence


A 2011 installation outside of Chicago's Fourth Presbyterian Church displayed 77 t-shirts, representing the 77 Chicago youth who were killed by violence during the 2010-2011 school year. (Photo by Marit & Toomas Hinnosaar via Flickr )   It’s conventional wisdom: Kids get into trouble when they have nothing better to do. Now, research reveals that a summer youth employment program might reduce ...
Continue reading

Fast Food Strikes Hit a Record 58 Cities, As Campaign’s Tactics Are Debated

Fast food strikes reached record numbers yesterday, with organizers estimating that some 1,000 stores and restaurants in 58 cities were affected by workers walking off the job. In addition to growing in cities that have seen numerous strikes in the past, like New York City, Chicago and Detroit, the strikes entered into previously uncharted territory, including Raleigh, N.C., Wilmington, Del., Miss...
Continue reading