According to a complaint filed by the federal government, Sodexo Human Resources director Elaine Stewart and three other Sodexo supervisors interfered with and coerced workers in Columbus, OH over protected union activity. The workers are seek…

Today, Freedom House released a new report rating the level of repression of workers’ rights in 165 countries across the globe. Each of the countries’ rankings was given based on a five-category scale ranging from “Free” to “Very Repressive.” …

One Nation Working Together

PROMO: One Nation Working Together

originally appeared on

SEIU.org

on Tuesday, Aug 31, 2010.

This morning, New York Governor Patterson signed into law the first-ever U.S. law that upholds domestic workers’ rights.  200,000 nannies, housekeepers, and elder caregivers in New York will be covered under a law that provides guaranteed sick days, overtime pay, a day of rest, protection from discrimination, and notice before termination.  This groundbreaking victory is a result of a six-year campaign led by Domestic Workers United and supported by a broad coalition of labor and community organizations, including JwJ coalitions in NY State.

“Today we correct an historic injustice by granting those who care for the elderly, raise our children and clean our homes the same essential rights to which all workers should be entitled,” Governor Paterson said. “I am grateful to the sponsors for their extraordinary efforts to enact this landmark bill, and most of all to those domestic workers who dreamed, planned, organized and then fought for many years, until they were able to see an injustice

Continue reading First-Ever Law Protecting Domestic Workers’ Rights Signed in New York

In News Briefs, we go around the IBEW to hear about what’s going on with brothers and sisters across the country.

Traditional media coverage of the protest against Express Scripts, Inc. First, from MSNBC.

“We’re not asking to be millionaires, we’re just asking for fair wages, good healthcare and just a little bit of a better lifestyle,” said Express Scr…

Forty-seven years after the 1963 March on Washington, the union movement and our allies are preparing for our own march in October. Under the banner of One Nation Working Together, union members, civil rights activists and other concerned citizens will rally in support of good jobs, a quality education for every child, immigration reform and workers’ freedom to form a union.  Our rallying cry is that we must reverse the dangerous trend toward greater income inequality and finally create an economy that works for all.

To achieve that goal and to become a truly united nation working together, leaders of the One Nation coalition partners—particularly our nation’s labor leaders—could learn a valuable lesson from that earlier march on Washington: The road to justice and equality must go through the South.

During the 1963 march, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. eloquently illustrated this point when he said:

“Let freedom ring from the mountains of New York… Pennsylvania…. Colorado…. California. But not only that: Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia…. from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee….f rom every

Continue reading Opinion: Workers Who Win the South Change the Nation

SEIU President Mary Kay Henry and SEIU members and leaders were part of a crowd of around 5,000 celebrating the 47th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream Speech” in Detroit, Michigan on Saturday.

While speaking at t…

Last week we explained how university endowments can impact your campus life. You can analyze your school’s endowment and determine if it is being managed in a way that’s in line with the university’s core mission. The Endowment Toolkit for St…

Hundreds of statewide labor activists joined with community leaders and local residents to call on Hollander-Marriott and all Greater Tacoma low-paying, taxpayer-money-taking companies to fuel an economic recovery with good jobs. Washington State JwJ is a leading force calling for responsible development, which led to this event as the largest local worker rights action in recent memory.  Radio and corporate print media more than noticed.

Hollander-Marriott purchased their downtown Courtyard site at a “deep discount” from taxpayers, snatched waterfront-mountain views from the taxpayer’s Convention Center, and “brutalized” the architecture of Tacoma taxpayer-financed luxury renaissance, according to the press.  The City Council agreed to this in the name of jobs as Hollander-Marriott made promises to the Mayor, Council, and residents and their unions.

But Hollander-Marriott “went back on their word” to pay living wages, hire locally, and abide by a labor harmony agreement, according to former Mayor Baarsma.  Hollander built the downtown Marriott using Canadian workers earning poverty-wages.  The hotel continues to operate without providing affordable family health care and living wages to Tacoma workers. The

Continue reading Hollander-Marriott Takes Tax Money, Fails to Provide Good Jobs