News

Executive Paywatch: The Gap Between CEO and Worker Compensation Continues to Grow

CEO pay for major companies in the United States rose nearly 6% in the past year, as income inequality and the outsourcing of good-paying American jobs have increased. According to the new AFL-CIO Executive Paywatch, the average CEO of an S&P 500 Index company made $13.94 million in 2017—361 times more money than the average U.S. rank-and-file worker.

‘We Are All Immigrants’

Tefere Gebre came to the United States in 1984 as a teenager. He and four friends had left their home in war-torn Ethiopia and walked nearly 500 miles across the desert to a refugee camp in Sudan.

This Is How You Really Appreciate Teachers

When it comes to appreciating educators, please heed an old expression: Walk the walk, don’t just talk the talk.

Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO statement on Janus decision

The Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO issued this statement by President Pat Eiding on today's Supreme Court decision in the Janus v. AFSCME Council 31 case:

Today, the US Supreme Court issued its decision in the Janus case. As many expected, a narrow majority of the Court has issued a broadside attack on the well-being of workers and on democracy in the workplace. And make no mistake: this decision is nothing more than another phase in a longtime campaign by the forces of wealth and privilege to destroy America’s labor movement.

Philly High School Students -- Send In Your Labor Day Logo Designs!

The Tri-State Labor Day Dan Ezzio Memorial Art Contest is open for submissions! All Philadelphia high school students, grades 9 through 12, are eligible to submit an illustration on the theme of What Labor Day Means To Me.

Entries should interpret the theme to include illustrations indicative of all races, cultures, and genders, and/or a variety of occupations/professions.  Please see the attached “The History of Labor Day” for more information about what Labor Day is.

Stiglitz: Benefits of Multiple Layers of Financial Regulation So Much Higher Than Costs

Joseph Stiglitz, a professor at Columbia University, who was the Nobel laureate in economics in 2001, spoke at a talk on Monday with Damon Silvers, the director of policy and special counsel at the AFL-CIO, part of a day-long strategy session on “Bargaining for the Common Good in the World of Global Finance” held by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung office in New York, a non-profit political German foundation.

AFL-CIO Chief Warns Red to Blue Candidates That Being a Democrat Isn’t Enough

House Democratic candidates in town this week for training at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in Washington got a visit from AFL-CIO President Richard L. Trumka for some tips on how they can win back working-class voters.

“I don’t have to tell you that you can’t count on the D next to your name to gain our support,” Trumka told Democratic leadership and a room full of candidates on Red to Blue, the DCCC’s program for its strongest candidates.

Belabored Podcast #155: The Future of Collective Action

In the belly of the political beast in DC, grassroots organizers gathered at AFL-CIO headquarters to discuss collective action under Trump, beyond the beltway. Activists representing teachers, housekeepers, graduate students, and airline workers talked about union power in the wake of the Janus decision and keeping hope alive for the next generation of young labor leaders.

Rebuilding Power in Open-Shop America: A Labor Notes Guide

The moment you may have been dreading arrived June 27, when the Supreme Court imposed the open shop on the public sector nationwide with its decision in Janus v. AFSCME District 31.

Despite setbacks and high court’s ruling, unions show spark

Their membership has been declining for decades. They’ve been bedeviled by crippling new laws, and by a devastating U.S. Supreme Court decision just this week. From all appearances, it would seem that labor unions are an endangered species.

But here’s the surprise: Organized labor is showing new signs of life.

Supreme Court won't have the last word on worker rights

In Janus v. AFSCME, the US Supreme Court's conservative 5-4 majority held that public employees cannot be required by state law to pay a fair share of the cost of services that unions must provide members and nonmembers alike.

Janus comes a month after Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis, where the same majority decided employees can be required by companies to submit all workplace grievances to private arbitration and waive their rights both to go to court and join together in class-action lawsuits.