AFL-CIO Now Blog

After Two Decades of Darkness, a Daybreak in Burma?

superuser — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:18:00 -0500

No Super Bowl Payoff for Hyatt Housekeepers

superuser — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 11:18:00 -0500

In a radio ad airing on Indianapolis-area stations during Super Bowl week, UNITEHERE! reminds listeners one of the first things many young NFL players do after signing a first contract is “buy their mom a house, or build her a new kitchen or let her retire.”

Many NFL players were raised by moms who cleaned houses, cleaned hotels or cleaned both. We all have a special place in our heart for the women of Indianapolis who do that work.

The commercial (click here to listen) to raise awareness about hardworking hotel housekeepers is airing at the same time housekeepers at the Hyatt Regency Indianapolis are fighting to keep their jobs and boost their poverty-level pay at a hotel where rates can be more than $1,000 a night for a room during Super Bowl week.

Last month after area hotel workers filed a federal lawsuit alleging wage and hour violations against Hyatt subcontractor Hospitality Staffing Solutions (HSS) and 10 downtown hotels, including the Hyatt Regency Indianapolis, Hyatt announced that it would cut ties with HSS, according to UNITEHERE .

Thus far, Hyatt has refused to hire the HSS workers directly and that means 20 workers, some who have been on the job for nine years as full-time employees, will be out of work after Feb. 8.

On Friday, DeMaurice Smith, executive director of the NFL Players Association (NFLPA), NFL players and local leaders joined Hyatt workers and supporters in a rally outside the hotel demanding Hyatt end its abuse of subcontracted workers and hire outsourced workers directly. Says Jackie White, who works at the Hyatt Regency Indianapolis in the housekeeping department:

I’ve worked at the Hyatt for over 30 years in housekeeping and I’m very proud to be welcoming Super Bowl visitors to Indianapolis. It is a celebration for our city. That said, I am concerned about what the legacy of the Super Bowl will be for Indianapolis hotel workers. The Hyatt will be making millions of dollars during the Super Bowl, and we deserve more for the hard work we do.

The commercial asks listeners that before kick off today, “when you’re at church, please say a prayer, let’s thank God for the women who raised us, for the women who are cleaning out hotel rooms.”

In Indy, we’re fans of our moms, we should support hotel housekeepers here, and they’re among the lowest paid in America. We pay for the stadiums, pay the players’ salaries and pay to build the hotels, so let’s pay the moms.

‘Brotherhood Outdoors’ Takes Sheet Metal Worker on Bow Hunt for Elk

superuser — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 10:18:00 -0500

On this week’s episode of “Brotherhood Outdoors,” Lee Hengsteler, a member of Sheet Metal Workers (SMWIA) Local 359 in Arizona, gets to realize a dream he’s had since he was 6 years old: He heads to Montana to hunt elk.

The show airs on the Sportsman Channel at 8 p.m. EST and PST every Thursday.

His bow hunting expedition was made possible when his wife, Neva, applied to the show on his behalf. Says Hengsteler:

People like me don’t win things like a guest shot on a nationally televised show, but Neva insisted on applying for me. I have one heck of a wife.

The award-winning “Brotherhood Outdoors,” Union Sportsmen’s Alliance’s (USA‘s) hunting and fishing series pairs union members with renowned outdoorsman Tom Ackerman for a guided hunting or fishing trip in North America or the opportunity to show off their skills by taking Ackerman to their own favorite hunting or fishing sites.

You can click here to apply to be a guest on “Brotherhood Outdoors.” Says Hengsteler:

Tell all those union men and women out there to apply for a guest shot on “Brotherhood Outdoors,” and tell them they can win. I’m just a normal blue-collar working guy, and I won, thanks to my wife.

Click here for more photos form his elk hunt and here for more on the hunt.

Hey, ALEC! Gotcha!

superuser — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 21:18:00 -0500

Rep. Ellison Calls for End of Crystal Sugar Lockout

superuser — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 21:18:00 -0500

Wednesday marked the six-month anniversary of America Crystal Sugar Co.’s lockout of 1,300 workers and Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) told the U.S. House: “It’s time for the company to negotiate.”

In a speech on the House floor, Ellison said the workers, members of Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco and Grain Millers (BCTGM) Local 167G at plant sin Minnesota, North Dakota and Iowa, have been

denied the basic and most fundamental right to work and support their families. These workers have gone to bat for the company. These workers stood shoulder to should with the company to fight for a better sugar program in the farm bill just because that’s how dedicated they. What have they got in return? They’ve gotten locked out. They are not on strike. They are locked out because they refuse to accept an unfair take it or leave contract. They have been locked even though they have agreed to a no-strike guarantee. It’s wrong, these 1,300 folks deserve better from this company.

Locked out worker Jay Holter told Steve Share, editor of Minneapolis Labor Review,

We’ve given the best we’ve got to this company and this is how we are treated. It’s probably only a year and a half ago the company gave us shirts that said, “You’re the best at what you do.”

Click here for Share’s full update on the lockout.

State Dept. Cracks Down on Abuse of Foreign Students by Hershey and Others

superuser — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:18:00 -0500

More than 1,200 Workers Join AFL-CIO Unions

superuser — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 18:18:00 -0500

Important Note for Recent Union Plus Scholarship Applicants

superuser — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 11:18:00 -0500

Tom Chiancone, Union Plus Scholarship Program Manager, sends this report on recent problems some people had applying online for a Union Plus scholarship.

If you tried to complete the Union Plus Scholarship application prior to the Jan. 31 deadline, please accept our apologies for any problems you may have experienced submitting your application in the past couple of days. Our partner’s online application system had trouble handling the recent extremely high volume of activity, but we’ve worked with them to resolve the issues.

We have a record of all applicants who logged in or attempted to log in to the application system since Jan. 29, 2012 and our provider sent an e-mail to all applicants at 12 pm ET on Feb. 1, 2012. This e-mail noted that your application has been re-opened and you have until 5 p.m. (EST) Friday, Feb. 3 to login to complete and submit your application. NOTE: E-mails were sent to the email address provided during the set up your scholarship login ID.

Also, at 12 p.m. ET on Feb. 1, an e-mail was sent to all applicants that successfully submitted, verifying your complete application was received.

If you do not get an e-mail, please send a request to open your application to info@unionplus.org and make sure to include your login ID. You can also check your e-mail junk or spam folders in case the message was delivered to those folders.

NOTE: If you had NOT already started your application before the Jan. 31 deadline, we are NOT accepting NEW scholarship applications at this time.

Thanks for your understanding and good luck with your education pursuits!

Yep, That Makes Sense

superuser — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 11:18:00 -0500

Indiana Working Families Ready to Take Back the State

superuser — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 22:18:00 -0500

AFL-CIO Field Communications staffer Cathy Sherwin sends us this from the Indiana statehouse.

Far from conceding defeat after the passage of a so-called right to work (RTW) bill, tens of thousands of Hoosier workers came together in solidarity to march from the statehouse to Super Bowl village in Indianapolis. From the steps of the statehouse, Indiana AFL-CIO President Nancy Guyott said today would mark a new start to taking back the state, starting with “the biggest march Indiana has ever seen!”

Construction workers and teachers, grocery clerks and truck drivers cheered on the workers and elected officials with chants of “Remember November,” vowing to take back the state door by door, neighborhood by neighborhood. WISH-TV has some great aerial footage here.

The overreach and extreme politics that led to today’s vote – including actions by RTW supporters that included shutting the doors to the statehouse, cutting off debate, and an ad campaign bankrolled by secret special interests have given the voting public a window into the Indiana Capitol. In poll after poll, Hoosier voters say they don’t approve of these strong-arm tactics by GOP leaders.

By using his final months in office to push this divisive attack, Gov. Mitch Daniels has tarnished his legacy, an outcome that he predicted only a few years ago when he said “right to work” would cause a
“civil war.”‘ At today’s rally and march after the vote, that quote was turned on its head by Guyott. She called out the governor, but said that today’s vote was the opposite of a civil war, “brother against brother,” because in Indiana,

Brothers and sisters were standing together to work for the sake of their children and grandchildren.