Labor Campaign for Single Payer, August 9, 2010

On August 14, we will celebrate the 75th Anniversary of Social Security. Widely recognized as the most successful social program in US history, Social Security has lifted millions of senior citizens out of poverty. From orphaned children to disabled Americans, its supplemental programs provide an essential safety net to millions more. Together with Medicare, it exemplifies the social insurance model: providing coverage as a birthright to rich and poor alike with a single standard for all.

Motoko Rich, New York Times, August 7, 2010 With the departure of thousands of temporary Census workers and thousands more let go by state and local governments, businesses could not rescue the American labor market in July. Over all, the nation lost 131,000 jobs last month, according to the Department of Labor, which also said that June was far weaker than previously indicated. Private employers added 71,000 jobs last month, but those figures were overtaken by the 143,000 cut as the Census wound down. It is also about half the number that economists say is needed to simply accommodate population growth, so the tepid job increases cannot begin to plug the hole ... US

American employers shed 131,000 jobs in July. Data sparks rally in government bonds but stock indices fall. Katie Allen, Guardian, August 6, 2010 Employers in the US shed twice as many jobs as expected in July, fanning fears that the recovery in the world's largest economy will not see a revival in employment. The US government said 131,000 jobs were lost overall, compared with forecasts for a 65,000 fall. The drop was mainly due to work finishing for temporary staff hired by the government to conduct its census. But private hiring was also weaker than expected. ... US

Sal Rosselli, National Union of Healthcare Workers, August 6, 2010

If so, will you join us in the most important battle for democracy in the history of the modern labor movement?

National Organization for Women, August 6, 2010 The National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform is moving under cover of darkness to recover the billions spent on Wall Street bailouts, tax breaks for the wealthiest and unfunded wars. How? By cutting benefits under the Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid programs. President Obama created the commission to review the country's budget deficit but recklessly also gave the body authority to consider Social Security and other entitlement programs. The commission is stacked with people who are hostile to Social Security and/or indifferent to the devastating effect cuts would have on millions of middle-class people, especially women. ... Stop

Sandy Felder, AFL-CIO, August 5, 2010

Please join Executive Vice President Arlene Holt-Baker on a special Labor 2010 One Nation conference call and Webinar on Monday August 9 at 4 PM.

As we move ahead to implement the AFL-CIO Labor 2010 political program to elect candidates supportive of working families, we need to inspire our members to not only vote but get actively involved by speaking to their co-workers at the workplace, in their neighbourhoods and on the phones.

Mike Hall, AFL-CIO, August 5, 2010 Despite the nation’s overall economic problems, Social Security is still in long-term strong shape, according to the most recent report by the Social Security Board of Trustees. The trustees project that after 2037, tax revenue will be sufficient to pay 78 percent of full benefits. The projected funding shortfall over 75 years is actually lower than in last year’s report. ... Report

AFL-CIO Executive Council Statement, August 4, 2010

Our nation stands at a critical crossroads. The 30-year drive for a low-wage, high-consumption society that imports more and more of what it consumes has hit the wall.  Millions are unemployed, with little recovery in sight. A record number of Americans who want desperately to work have been jobless for more than 6 months. At the same time, Wall Street continues to roll up big profits.

Banks and corporations have made off with trillions of public dollars, while small businesses can’t get loans and cities are being forced to make cuts to public education and public safety, harming our children and our communities.

Roger Bybee, In These Times, August 3, 2010 Looming high over Milwaukee's near South Side is a tower with the world's largest four-sided clocks, sitting atop the castle-like headquarters of Rockwell Automation. When the gigantic clocks struck midnight and July 31 slid into August 1, it ended the last contract and the 73-year history of one of Wisconsin's most storied unions, United Electrical Radio and Machine Workers Local 1111. When the Rockwell operation was still controlled by the Allen-Bradley Corporation, turning out switches, relays, timers, starters, and other automation equipment, Local 1111 claimed about 7,000 members. ... UE

National Union of Healthcare Workers, August 3, 2010 On Monday, 48 SEIU shop stewards at Kaiser Santa Rosa announced their support for NUHW in the statewide Kaiser election on September 13. ... SEIU

Clare Martinet, Labor Notes, August 2, 2010 Peering out cautiously from behind a window, an Arizona resident watched as hundreds of immigrants, union members, clergy, and other community members marched past his home in downtown Phoenix July 29. Hailing from Arizona, California, and elsewhere, we were headed to the Capitol to join the vigil in protest of Arizona’s SB1070 law, which had just gone into effect. Thousands of Phoenix residents had kept this vigil going for 103 consecutive days, and neither the sweltering heat of the day nor the unexpected rain showers of the evening could keep us away. ... On

Bobby Caina Calvan, Sacramento Bee, July 31, 2010 A major showdown between two rival unions is expected to begin September 13 when 44,000 Kaiser workers in California decide if they will oust their union in favor of an upstart labor group. Next week, the National Labor Relations Board is expected to order a vote-by-mail election that could last several weeks. It would be the largest private-sector union election in decades. The National Union of Healthcare Workers is seeking to win the right to represent Kaiser employees. ... Two

44,000 Kaiser workers win the right to join NUHW and leave SEIU in a mail ballot election starting September 13. National Union of Healthcare Workers, July 30, 2010 San Francisco - The National Labor Relations Board has scheduled a government-protected mail ballot election beginning Sept. 13 for nearly 44,000 Kaiser Permanente workers to join the National Union of Healthcare Workers and kick out the incumbent union SEIU. For the thousands of Kaiser workers who began petitioning the labor board to join NUHW more than 17 months ago, victory is finally in sight. ... NLRB

Mike Hall, AFL-CIO, July 29, 2010 As Social Security turns 75 years old August 14, the nation’s most successful social program likely will be under attack by the federal budget deficit commission, which, by all accounts, is considering benefits cuts and raising the retirement age. Today, more than 60 groups, including the AFL-CIO, announced the creation of the coalition Strengthen Social Security ... Don’t Cut It. The group is launching a major mobilization to push back the commission’s phony assertions, backed by the Wall Street spin machine, that claim Social Security is a major component of the budget deficit and is teetering on the brink of disaster. ... Coalition

Mike Hall, AFL-CIO, July 29, 2010 In a major profile of Rose Ann DeMoro, executive director of the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United (CNA/NNU), Bloomberg Businessweek writes: DeMoro is expert at dishing out political pain with a flourish, a talent that has endeared her to her 86,000 constituents in the California Nurses Association. Under DeMoro’s leadership, the union has recast itself from a special-interest trade group to a consumer and patient advocate that lobbies hard - and volubly - for universal health care and patients’ rights. ... Businessweek