APWU is asking for our help
Senior management at the United States Postal Service is asking the Congress to sign off on its plans to eliminate six-day mail delivery service.
Click here to support six-day mail delivery.
Your brothers and sisters in the American Postal Worker Union (and in the National Association of Letter Carriers) need your help:
The [...]

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by Michael Schwalbe
Michael Schwalbe is a professor of sociology at North Carolina State University. He recently had a piece published in the print edition of the News & Observer about the importance of recognizing labor’s contributions to our society, contributions many Americans may take for granted. We have reprinted his piece here with permission:
When teaching [...]

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Tell Betsy Atkins to resign in protest
Our fellow union members at the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC, AFL-CIO) need our support in their campaign to get Reynolds American to do right by the tobacco workers who harvest the golden leaf.
Betsy Atkins is a board member at Reynolds, but despite her encouragement, Reynolds CEO, Susan [...]

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Sign the petition to give TSOs a Voice @ Work
Nine years is long enough for workers at the Transportation Security Administration to go without collective bargaining rights. Janet Napolitano, the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has the power to grant this basic human right to Transportation Security Officers. The federal employees [...]

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Labor Dept. announces new rules for H-2A
U.S. Secretary of Labor, Hilda Solis announced tough new regulations on wages and job safety protections for temporary agricultural workers. The new rules, which will go into effect in time for the 2010 growing season, “reflect the Administration’s commitment to providing fair wages and strong labor protections [...]

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UPDATE: Postponed until 2/27 due to wintry weather
Look for more information next week.
Because the change we need must come in North Carolina
The NC State AFL-CIO is proud to stand with our partners in the HK on J alliance. Our 14-point People’s Agenda speaks to the change we need in our state capital and across [...]

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Save the Dates: January 14-18, 2010
Every year the national AFL-CIO observes the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday with a conference. This year it was in Memphis, TN, the location of the 1968 sanitation workers’ strike at which King rallied for union rights and where he was later assassinated.
Next year labor leaders, rank-and-file members, [...]

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Protest outside Target in Washington, DC. Photo by United Students Against Sweatshops.

Company agrees to reopen plant it shuttered after workers unionized
North Carolina has suffered tens of thousands of job losses to foreign competition. Once those jobs leave our shores, they don’t always stay in one place for long, as multinational corporations close shops and open [...]

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URGENT: Town Hall on plant closing is Thursday (11/19)
We have received an urgent request for solidarity assistance from APWU Local 1807 in Hickory, NC. As we’ve highlighted in past email updates and in our recent newsletter, the U.S. Postal Service is cutting services and window hours, consolidating rural routes, and has even sought legislation [...]

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In fighting reforms, Big Business shows it’s darkest side
On the November 11 airing of The Rachel Maddow Show, Maddow highlights a report by David Sirota about an article in the insider, Washington, DC publication Inside U.S. Trade in which business groups reveal they’re not worried just about potential Wall St reforms:
Business groups are worried by [...]

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Geraldine Ritch lost her job to China, then her house to foreclosure in Hickory, NC (photo by Jim Bounds for Washington Post)

Western NC town has 15% unemployment, focus of report by Washington Post
North Carolina has lost more jobs – 90,000 – to foreign competition than any other state since 2002, according to the [...]

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Read the report by Public Citizen – Forced Arbitration: Unfair and Everywhere (PDF).

FairArbitrationNow.org launched to highlight, bring end to the abuse
Forced arbitration is giving up your right to go to court if you are harmed by a company. Under forced arbitration, any dispute you have with a company is handled by a third party that [...]

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UPDATE: 2nd Talk with Bill Fletcher at Quail Ridge Books at 7:30 pm
Bill Fletcher will also speak tomorrow night at Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh. Join him for a discussion about his book, Solidarity Divided: The Crisis in Organized Labor and a New Path Toward Social Justice.
When: Thursday, October 29, 2009 at 7:30 pm
Where: Quail [...]

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WATCH VIDEO: ‘Under the Bus’
A coalition of national civil rights groups, including the NAACP Voter Action Fund and the National Council of La Raza, have joined to make sure health insurance reform legislation coming together in the Congress does not “throw 46 million of us under the bus.”
Health Equity for All on [...]

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Crystal Lee Sutton at her home in Burlington, N.C. Photo Credit: By Joseph Rodriguez — Associated Press

Icon of labor movement leaves a legacy of ‘UNION’
The day before the start of our state AFL-CIO convention in Atlantic Beach, we received notice that Crystal Lee Sutton, the real life Norma Rae, had entered hospice care in [...]

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Join us for the Labor & Industry Breakfast on Friday, 9 October
Our HKonJ ally on many issues important to workers and working families in North Carolina – like the long-fought campaign to organize Smithfield Foods and our effort to win collective bargaining rights for public employees – the NC chapter of the NAACP will hold [...]

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Workers’ right to form unions must be honored
Pope Benedict XVI released a new encyclical last week to address the challenges people face because of globalization.
The Pope notes that it is often government, under the (false) assumption it’s good for the economy, that limit the freedom to form unions:
“Through the combination of social and economic change, [...]

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What difference can a union make where you work?
workSMART, a project of the Trade Union Congress, the organized labor movement in the United Kingdom, like the AFL-CIO in the United States, has put together a fantastic video that speaks to anyone who goes to a job every day where they feel like just another [...]

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Triple Play at Lobby Day
On May 26 public employees and supporters from across North Carolina converged on Raleigh for HOPE’s second Collective Bargaining Lobby Day. Hundreds of people from 22 counties lobbied their legislators in person and through HOPE’s virtual lobby and call-in day.
Our strategy this year followed on three tracks: 1. Mock funeral for [...]

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Columbian workers pay high price for Mom’s gifts
Thousands of workers, mostly female and many themselves mothers, toil on flower plantations in Columbia to farm, cut and trim the flowers many of us will give our mom on Sunday. From the AFL-CIO Blog:
This Mother’s Day, remember the mothers in Colombia who grew, cut and [...]

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VoteVets.org mobilizes for freedom to organize
Saying the freedom to organize and form unions is one of many American values for which veterans have fought and died, the AFL-CIO Union Veterans Council and VoteVets.org are teaming up to fight for passage of the Employee Free Choice Act.
“The freedom to organize is an American value, one of [...]

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Getting sick is nothing new. The way we fight the spread of infectious disease – regular hand washing, getting vaccinated, avoiding travel and staying home from work if sick – are common sense things that everyone can do.
Well, not everyone.
Nearly 1 in 2 workers in North Carolina lack even a single day of paid sick [...]

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FLOC demonstration at Reynolds shareholders meeting on May 6th
Join with the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC) at Reynolds Shareholders Meeting to show decision-makers that we support FLOC’s struggle.
Reynolds must address the injustices farm workers endure in their supply chain and give workers the respect they deserve!
What: Rally outside Reynolds American shareholders meeting
When: Wednesday, May 6, [...]

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Decades of struggle by workers and their unions have resulted in significant improvements in working conditions. However, the threat of going to work healthy and coming home severely injured – or not coming home at all – remains all too real.
According to estimates (PDF document)by the International Labor Organization (ILO), worldwide, 1 million workers suffer [...]

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Machinists of Local W369 to return to work
From the IAM web site:
Striking members of Local W369 in Moncure, North Carolina, will return to work at Moncure Plywood with their contract and their dignity intact after ratifying a new three-year contract that preserves seniority rights and sharply restricts the amount of forced [...]

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Event hosted by Young Dems of NC
From Will Cubbison, Chair of the YDNC Labor Caucus:
Join us at a reception in honor of the striking IAMAW Workers in Moncure. They have been on strike for almost 8 months over deplorable working conditions.
This reception will be open to all who can come. We ask that if you [...]

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No Fooling: Good food and fellowship for a just cause
The Moncure Solidarity Committee is organizing a baked chicken dinner and auction to benefit the striking workers at Moncure Plywood:
[Here's] a special invitation to stand up for human rights by coming to the general store in Pittsboro on Wednesday, April 1st, 6-9pm, for a special benefit [...]

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Actions start at 11 am on picket line
On Monday, March 16th, the faith based, social justice and labor community will come together to stand up for the Moncure workers who are standing up for us.
Download the flyer for this event. Please widely disseminate the flyer to friends, family, faith based organizations and list serves.
Here’s the [...]

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Join us on Monday, March 16, 2009
On Monday, March 16th, the faith based, social justice and labor community will come together to stand up for the Moncure workers who are standing up for us.
Download the flyer for this event. Please widely disseminate the flyer to friends, family, faith based organizations and list serves.
From the Moncure [...]

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Union Plus is a service of Union Privilege, which was established by the AFL-CIO to provide consumer benefits to members and retirees of participating labor unions. Union Plus has launched a special hotline for union members and their families that are struggling to keep up with their mortgage payments or facing possible home foreclosure.
Call the [...]

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READ: Front-page story lays bare pain inflicted by 7-month standoff
Readers of the News & Observer saw a front-page article in today’s paper on the strike at Moncure Plywood.
Entitled “Strikers Persist in Worst of Times”, the story focuses on how the protracted standoff with management and the tough economy are making life for workers walking the [...]

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Response to Anti-Worker Event
Workers, local academics and civil rights leaders joined the community at the North Carolina Justice Center for a press conference on the importance of the Employee Free Choice Act and the freedom to bargain for a better life. The gathering was a response to an anti-worker event by Americans for Prosperity to [...]

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Situation is critical for many strikers at Moncure Plywood
July 20, 2008 – union members of IAMAW Lodge W369 go on strike at Moncure Plywood. Six months later the company has done everything it can to avoid negotiating a fair contract for its workers, including hiring replacements.
Walking a picket line this long is finally taking its [...]

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First law signed by our new President is workers’ rights bill
What a difference ten days make in the struggle for workers’ rights. Last Thursday, our new President signed his first piece of legislation, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.
Joining President Obama at the bill signing ceremony was Mrs. Ledbetter, along with First Lady Michelle Obama, [...]

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3rd H.K. on J. set for February 14
Join the NC State AFL-CIO and other labor organizations for the rally and march on Saturday, February 14, 2009. Here’s more information from the announcement at the HK on J web site:
The H K on J coalition is united in support of a 14-point People’s Agenda for better [...]

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WATCH: Broadcast set for tonight (1/22) at 7:30 pm
Rob Holliday, reporter with PBS affiliate UNC-TV, interviewed state AFL-CIO president James Andrews for a feature story on unions in North Carolina that will air tomorrow night on the show North Carolina NOW.
What: North Carolina NOW feature story on unions in NC
When: Thursday, January 22, 2009 at [...]

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Meeting in Raleigh, Feb. 27 to Mar. 1
State Federation, Central Labor Council and Regional Affiliate leaders, officers, delegates and staff will gather in Raleigh, North Carolina, on February 27, 2009, to plan our Campaign to Win a Voice for Workers in our government, in our workplaces, and in our communities throughout the South.
Please [...]

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Ads call for economy that works for everyone again
Union members, families, friends and allies turned out in force November 4, 2008 to take a message of hope and change all the way to the White House.
Now is the time for action. American Rights at Work has debuted two new television ads – part of a [...]

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By Fred Azcarate, Voice@Work Director for the AFL-CIO
In a blog entry for USAService.org, a web site designed to promote President-elect Barack Obama’s call for a national day of service on Monday, January 19, Fred Azcarate shared his own thoughts on how best to honor those who have come before us:
“The Labor Movement – the Folks [...]

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