Every election season some members question why SEIU Local 1000 gets involved in politics. Elected state leaders have a direct impact on the wages and working conditions of state employees. And Local 1000 members have had a direct impact on …

The bodies of two coal miners killed in a roof fall at a western Kentucky mine have been recovered and removed from the mine. The two have been identified as Justin Travis, 27, and Michael Carter, 28. The roof collapsed late Wednesday night.

The nonunion Dotki Mine, about 150 miles west of Louisville, is owned by Alliance Coal Co. According to the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) records, the roof at the mine collasped 19 times in the year before Wednesday’s incident, resulting in 13 injuries. MSHA has cited the mine 11 times this year for violations pertaining to roof support.

State inspectors also cited the mine for roof support problems, including placing roof bolts too far apart, according to the Associated Press. Roof bolts are metal rods drilled into overhead rock layers to help prevent the roof from falling.

Tony Oppegard, a former MSHA staffer and longtime mine safety lawyer in Kentucky, told Bloomberg Businessweek:

Roof falls are the No. 1 killer of coal miners. When you have a lot of roof violations, it is very troubling.

Last week, Businessweek reported Dotiki had the seventh highest number of significant and substantial safety violations—321—since January 2009, according to a list of the top 20 coal mines with high numbers of safety violations.

The New York Times reports Alliance Coal’s vice president of operations is Kenneth A. Murray, a former district manager for the Mine Safety and Health Administration in eastern Kentucky who led the investigation of a January 2006 fire that killed two men at Massey Energy Co.’s Aracoma mine in West Virginia.

Wednesday’s fatal roof collapse follows the April 5 explosion at Massey Energy’s Upper Big Branch Mine where 29 West Virginia coal miners were killed. On April 22, a 28-year-old coal miner died at the Pocahontas Mine in West Virginia.

Caps Week of Actions in San Francisco, Kansas City, Chicago, and Charlotte. Thousands More Expected to Converge on Washington, D.C. in May

New York, NY – Today, SEIU members joined thousands of clergy, workers, families, and community allie…

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka (center), Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker and NYC Central Labor Council President Jack Ahern join TWU members and 30,000 other on-the-ground and virtual marchers to Make Wall Street Pay.

Some 15,000 union members and other progressives on the ground and another 16,000 virtual marchers got Main Street’s message to Wall Street today:  Good Jobs Now! Wall Street Must Pay! Marchers in New York carried the names of virtual marchers on stickers as they marched toward the statue of the Wall Street bull.

Led by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, union members and activists from National People’s Action (NPA), NAACP, Move On and others took over Wall Street during the afternoon rush hour for a march and rally. When the marchers got to Wall Street, there were so many that they filled up two streets.

At the rally, Trumka told the cheering crowd:

We’re here today for the folks who were played for suckers in the casino economy and will be silent no more. And the message we bring is this: Wall Street, fix the mess you made.

America lost 8.5 million jobs because of the financial crisis created by Wall Street, Trumka said, and now is 11 million jobs in the hole.

We need to go back to basics, where good jobs, not bad debts, drive our growth. An economy where Wall Street is the servant, and not the master of Main Street.

Workers in the public sector and education talked about how deep budget cuts are strangling schools and public services.

NAACP President Benjamin Jealous told the massive crowd that this is the time to take back America from the Big Banks. He said while money can buy votes, money can’t vote and all the newly registered voters in the 2008 election will make a difference in 2010.

Trumka laid out three simple steps the Big Banks can take to start paying back for the damage caused by their risky actions

• Stop fighting Wall Street reform. Stop acting like what happened to our economy was some kind of accident, like a meteor fell on us. Take some responsibility for what you did. Call off the lobbyists.
• Second-Stop speculating and start lending. We bailed you out, it’s far past time you started lending to Main Street.
• Third-Take responsibility for the clean-up of the mess you made.  Pay your fair share of the cost of creating the jobs you destroyed.

During the rally and march, hundreds of participants joined a text messaging action and called Goldman Sachs, telling the Wall Street giant to stop opposing meaningful financial reform. In addition to the mass of people taking part, hundreds watched the event in a live webcast (see clips at www.aflcio.org/wallstreet) and commented live throughout the march and rally, many showing the deep hunger across the country for action to create jobs and restore our economy.

Some of the comments included:Kevin Hansel/IN: WALLSTREET- IT’S OUR MONEY AND WE NEED IT NOW!!!!!

Rita: After living through a lay-off lasting 11 months, I’m working 3 part time jobs for less pay! Stop the destruction of the working class! Solidarity Now!!!

Donna:TRUMKA CAN LEAD US INTO THE FUTURE! GOD BLESS HIM!

Liz: TAKE THIS MARCH NATIONWIDE!!!!!!!

CWA 7019: Shame on you Wall Street!

Today’s march and rally followed a week of actions spearheaded by unions and the community affiliate Working America at shareholder meetings across the country.

The first memories I have are of my family enjoying the beaches in Miami when I was three years old. I remember feeling happy, my family always had a positive outlook on life and their optimism made me feel like I could accomplish anything. I…

How the new legislation affects your family

PROMO: Health Care Reform Starts Now

originally appeared on

SEIU.org

on Thursday, Apr 29, 2010.

One hand washes the other. That’s about what a top Republican Senator told a meeting of America’s leading bankers last month. He said the best way to protect bank’s profits and business as usual was to elect more Republican Senators–and then …

SEIU has just launched a Facebook group asking the Arizona Dept of Tourism to change the Arizona state slogan from the “Grand Canyon State,” to the “Show Me Your Papers State” as a result of the passage of anti-immigration law SB 1070.

The pe…

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and more than 10,000 marchers are on Wall Street now. Our message: Make Wall Street Pay. We’re live tweeting the massive Wall Street march and rally.

Washington, DC – Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Secretary-Treasurer and Change to Win (CTW) Chair Anna Burger released the following statement on today’s introduction of the Disclose Act of 2010:

“Today, Senators Schumer, Fein…