AFL-CIO Blog

  • Best Candidates for Working People, 2018: Martin Heinrich
    Best Candidates for Working People, 2018: Martin Heinrich AFL-CIO This November's elections are shaping up to be among the most consequential in recent U.S. history. Throughout the summer and fall, we've been taking a look at the best candidates for working people. Today, we feature Sen. Martin Heinrich from New Mexico. Here are some of the key reasons why Heinrich is one of the best candidates for working people in 2018:
    • His father Pete was an immigrant who served in the U.S. military before becoming a lineman with the Electrical Workers (IBEW), so Heinrich grew up in a union household.
    • As Albuquerque City Council president, he fought to raise the minimum wage, institute community policing and create green building codes.
    • In the Senate, he serves on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, where he is leading efforts to create good jobs and a cleaner energy future.
    • Heinrich also serves on the Armed Services Committee where he has worked tirelessly to help service members and veterans get prepared for the careers of today and tomorrow.
    • He has worked to close the gender pay gap.
    • Heinrich has fought to raise the federal minimum wage to $15.
    • He has worked with local businesses and national labs to develop new products and businesses that create local jobs.
    • Heinrich wants to expand investment in education and infrastructure.
    • He has championed renewable energy investments in New Mexico to export clean energy to other states, creating more jobs in the process.
    • Heinrich created public land protections that have helped fuel the state's outdoor recreation industry, creating thousands of jobs.
    • He secured job retraining benefits for laid-off miners.
    • Heinrich is working to allow Medicare to negotiate for lower prescription drug costs for seniors.
    • He wants to expand Medicare, Medicaid and other programs to provide access to quality health care.
    • Heinrich helped win a delay in the so-called Cadillac Tax on many union health plans and is working to eliminate the tax altogether.
    • He helped close the Medicare Part D "donut hole."
    • Heinrich supports comprehensive immigration reform that protects Dreamers and includes an earned and fair path to citizenship.
    • He voted to strengthen education benefits for veterans and their children.
    To learn more about Heinrich, visit his website. Kenneth Quinnell Thu, 10/18/2018 - 09:29 Tags: Elections 2018     — Oct 18
  • The U.S. Needs to Do More to Protect Basic Labor Rights in Honduras
    The U.S. Needs to Do More to Protect Basic Labor Rights in Honduras AFL-CIO The U.S. Department of Labor recently issued a “progress” report on the Honduran government’s implementation of an action plan (MAP) negotiated between the parties in 2015. The MAP was developed in response to a complaint filed in 2012 by the AFL-CIO, Honduran unions and Honduran nongovernmental organizations under the Central America Free Trade Agreement’s (CAFTA) labor chapter, which included cases concerning child labor, illegally low pay, and denial of the right to organize and to bargain. The U.S. government found that nearly every claim in the petition was supported by the evidence and that the Honduran government had in fact routinely failed to enforce its laws. While a handful of the 17 cases in the 2012 complaint have been resolved due to the intervention of the U.S. government, the situation in Honduras is fundamentally unchanged. The majority of cases in the complaint are unresolved, particularly in the agricultural sector. Meanwhile, employers commit new systematic violations. Despite an important new labor inspection law and the hiring of new inspectors, labor law continues to be violated routinely without meaningful consequences. While fines have been increased and levied, none are actually being collected, nor are the violations being resolved. Since 2012, we have seen numerous unions busted—some with government involvement and all without government action to provide a remedy. Violence against trade unionists remains a serious problem. For example, in 2017, a worker and union member at a melon exporter was attacked and wounded with a machete as a consequence of his union activity. Trade unionists also have suffered in post-election violence. No one has been held accountable for these crimes. In the coming weeks, we will provide a detailed report card on the MAP. After focusing on progress, the current U.S. government report concludes that much work remains to be done, with persistent shortcomings in enforcement. The report names a few of the most notably intransigent employers violating the law such as Kyungshin Lear in auto parts and SurAgro-Fyffes in produce. Just as employers such as Hanesbrands and Pinehurst in the maquila sector have been freed from targeted enforcement after remediating previous violations, those employers who remain in violation should be effectively targeted for increased enforcement. The report also raises, for the first time, the issue of ongoing violence against unions, yet fails to hold Honduras and its employers accountable for the failures documented in the workers' 2012 petition and 2015 U.S. government report. Over 6.5 years, the governments of the United States and Honduras have consulted regularly on the MAP and have implemented a number of capacity-building programs. However, conditions on the ground for most Honduran workers remain just as dire as they were in 2012. Workers trying to use trade agreements to defend their rights have seen this before. A CAFTA petition to defend workers in Guatemala lingered in the enforcement system for over nine years before being dismissed without any improvement in conditions. The same cannot happen here. We urge the U.S. government, therefore, to move to the next step in the dispute settlement process to show that the steps taken so far are woefully insufficient to establish respect for basic labor rights in Honduras. The above photo was taken at a memorial for Berta Cáceres, a Honduran indigenous rights and environmental activist who was murdered in 2016. Kenneth Quinnell Wed, 10/17/2018 - 16:00 Tags: Honduras — Oct 17
  • Introducing the 'State of the Unions' Podcast
    Introducing the 'State of the Unions' Podcast AFL-CIO The AFL-CIO has launched another tool to bring you the issues and stories that matter to working people. Our new podcast, “State of the Unions,” officially debuted today with an interview with Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, the pediatrician who helped expose the Flint, Michigan, water crisis. One in four Americans listen to podcasts on a monthly basis. “State of the Unions” will capture the stories of workers across the country. It’s hosted by two young and diverse members of the AFL-CIO team: Political Mobilization Director Julie Greene and Executive Speechwriter Tim Schlittner. A new episode will drop every other Wednesday featuring interesting interviews with workers and our allies across the country, as well as compelling insights from the podcast’s hosts. Learn more about Julie and Tim in their inaugural episode and check out their interview with Dr. Hanna-Attisha. The upcoming schedule is as follows:
    • Wednesday, Oct. 31: Mayor Dahlia Vertreese (IUOE) of Hillside, New Jersey.
    • Wednesday, Nov. 14: Post-election recap and analysis.
    “State of the Unions” is available on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher and anywhere else you can find podcasts. Kenneth Quinnell Wed, 10/17/2018 - 12:12     — Oct 17
  • Best Candidates for Working People, 2018
    Best Candidates for Working People, 2018 . This November's elections are shaping up to be among the most consequential in recent U.S. history. Throughout the summer and fall, we are taking a look at the best candidates for working people. Here are the candidates we've covered so far! Check back regularly for more between today and Election Day! Kenneth Quinnell Wed, 10/17/2018 - 11:30 Tags: Elections 2018 — Oct 17
  • Best Candidates for Working People, 2018: Paulette Jordan
    Best Candidates for Working People, 2018: Paulette Jordan AFL-CIO This November's elections are shaping up to be among the most consequential in recent U.S. history. Throughout the summer and fall, we've been taking a look at the best candidates for working people. Today, we feature Idaho gubernatorial candidate Paulette Jordan. Here are some of the key reasons why Jordan is one of the best candidates for working people in 2018:
    • She will look at every opportunity to raise the minimum wage gradually.
    • Jordan wants to expand and further develop the state's renewable energy resources, including wind, solar, water, geothermal and biomass.
    • She will invest in STEM education at the high school level.
    • Jordan plans to create public-private partnerships among universities, technology companies and the Idaho National Laboratory that will expand job opportunities in the information technology sector.
    • She will pursue a strategic national marketing campaign to boost the state's tourism industry and create jobs.
    • Jordan is proposing a plan for a statewide transportation system that will link rural areas to urban areas and increase tourism opportunities.
    • She will expand broadband access, particularly in rural areas and on tribal lands.
    • Jordan wants to implement an opt-in statewide universal preschool program to help prepare more students for participation in higher education and the workforce and create more education jobs.
    • She wants to improve teacher pay to make Idaho competitive with neighboring states.
    • As a legislator, she introduced a bill to forgive teachers' student loan debts if they worked in rural schools and she wants more programs like this to be instituted.
    • Jordan wants to expand advanced placement and dual-credit classes in high schools to help students be more prepared for higher education.
    • She favors expanding Medicaid.
    • She will pursue a public medical school to increase the number of doctors, nurses, physician assistants and pharmacists working in the state.
    • Jordan wants to expand Idaho's participation in the clean energy and sustainability sector.
    To learn more about Jordan, visit her website. Kenneth Quinnell Wed, 10/17/2018 - 08:03 Tags: Elections 2018     — Oct 17