Wisconsin State AFL-CIO Blog

Wisconsin AFL-CIO, Wisconsin USAS Announce Partnership

Today, the state’s largest labor federation and the University of Wisconsin at Madison’s chapter of the largest national student organization that focuses on labor issues praised the national announcement of a partnership between the AFL-CIO and United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS). The alliance between AFL-CIO and USAS will strengthen collaboration at the local level between the groups around organizing and advocacy to build power for students and workers.  There are three locals of USAS in Wisconsin located at UW-Madison, UW-Oshkosh, and UW-Parkside.

The new partnership builds on calls for innovation and inclusion at the just-concluded AFL-CIO convention in Los Angeles, where delegates agreed to open the door to the labor movement and engage with allies outside unions to tackle the challenges confronting working people. Wisconsin State AFL-CIO leaders, Phil Neuenfeldt and Stephanie Bloomingdale, attended the convention as delegates and voted in favor of resolutions which aim to broaden the labor movement and make the labor movement more inclusive by developing stronger formal partnerships with community groups, worker centers, and school organizations focused on workers’ rights issues.

“Through USAS and SLAC, students work to expose and hold accountable corporations that exploit people who work on our campuses and in the overseas factories where our collegiate apparel is produced,” said Lingran Kong, a member of SLAC (Student Labor Action Coalition) at UW-Madison and a coordinating committee member of USAS. “Our partnership with the Wisconsin AFL-CIO reflects our commitment to pursue justice for all workers in our community.”

Today’s partnership agreement between the AFL-CIO and Wisconsin USAS locals is the first concrete step since the convention unanimously agreed to expand community partnerships. 

“It was incredibly exciting to be part of the national AFL-CIO’s most innovative and diverse conventions in recent history,” said Stephanie Bloomingdale, Secretary-Treasurer of the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO. “I was very honored to be a part of pushing forward changes that will expand the diversity of our movement, and we look forward to working together with SLAC on campaigns that will extend shared prosperity to all workers, all students and our communities.”

UW-Madison SLAC is on one of the national organization’s 150 affiliated locals which are located on campuses throughout the country.  It has the distinction of being the first local to form in the nation.  As part of the nation's largest youth-led campaign organization dedicated to building a student-labor movement, SLAC has worked on locally and nationally-coordinated campaigns for corporate accountability and economic justice in partnership with organizations of workers. Recent campaigns include support for striking fast food workers, fighting for justice for Palermo’s pizza workers, urging the university to cut ties with Adidas and launching a national campaign to end death traps in Bangladesh. 

See the AFL-CIO Convention Resolution: Building Enduring Labor-Community Partnerships
http://www.aflcio.org/About/Exec-Council/Conventions/2013/Resolutions-and-Amendments/Resolution-16-Building-Enduring-Labor-Community-Partnerships

 

See the AFL-CIO, USAS National Partnership Agreement:
http://www.aflcio.org/content/download/102711/2716051/file/USAS-AFLCIO_PartnershipAgreement.pdf

10 Important Initiatives Coming Out of the AFL-CIO National Convention

The AFL-CIO quadrennial 2013 convention in Los Angeles was a flurry of exciting activity that promises to remake the labor movement in the United States and build a movement for all working people to deal with the new challenges and political landscape working families must navigate. While there were many important discussions and plans made at the convention that will be expanded on in the coming months and years, here are ten important initiatives that came out of the resolutions passed by the convention delegates that you should know about:

1. Opening up and Broadening the Labor Movement: The delegates recognized the need to expand the labor movement to be more broad and inclusive and to recognize all working families, whose rights are under assault in recent years. No fewer than six resolutions were passed to expand the labor movement and partner with allies in new ways. The first invites every worker in America to join the labor movement, either through affiliate unions or through Working America. Another one provides for supporting political campaigns that protect and expand workers' rights to organize. A third related resolution calls for expanded efforts to help workers organize around the globe. Other areas of renewed focus would be on organizing in the southern United States, in building lasting community partnerships with organizations that share our values and expanding and protecting voting rights so working families have a say in choosing those who pass laws that affect their rights.

2. Economics for Shared Prosperity: The convention delegates approved several resolutions that call for new ways of thinking and talking about the economy, moving away from the conservative, pro-corporate way of discussing the economy. The first initiative calls for an economics of shared prosperity, which focuses on creating living wage jobs for all who seek them, providing workers a voice on the job, health care for everyone, aging with dignity, jobs that support families and high-quality education for all children. The AFL-CIO also has committed to creating a curriculum and training program to teach working families how to talk about the economy in more accurate terms that don't let pro-corporate interests drive the conversation. The federation also supports policies that will fix the parts of the economy that are having the biggest negative impact on working families. This resolution called for legislation that would create good jobs, improve economic security for all of America's workers and make the tax system more fair through requiring Wall Street and the wealthiest 2% pay their fair share. Another resolution supported by the delegates focuses on the need to raise wages if we want to fix what is wrong with our economy, and lays out a broad agenda of efforts at the federal, state, and local levels that aim to raise wages and labor standards for everyone who works in America.

3. A Road Map to Citizenship for Aspiring Americans: At the convention, the AFL-CIO recommitted to its ongoing support for and leadership in creating an immigration system that protects U.S. workers, reduces the exploitation of immigrant workers, reduces employers' incentives to hire undocumented workers, keeps families together, creates a road map for aspiring Americans and contributes to shared prosperity for all.

4. Embracing and Including the Diverse Workforce: The AFL-CIO embraced diversity at its convention as never before, with people of color and women representing 46% of delegates. An inclusion conference held before the convention kicked off ways to work more closely with communities of color, young workers and the LGBT community. In addition to the resolution on the road map to citizenship for aspiring Americans and the resolutions on expanding the labor movement, the delegates passed resolutions on:

• working women: focusing on equal pay for equal work; respect for the balance between work, family and community; forging and expanding partnerships with allies; and increasing equality and building women's leadership within the labor movement.
• young workers including recognizing the importance of young workers in the current and future economy; expanding young worker programs to all levels of the federation; and giving young workers a seat on the AFL-CIO general board.
• adding gender identity and gender expression to the federation's constitutional equality section.

5. Retirement Security for All: With seemingly endless attacks in recent years on retirement security, the AFL-CIO calls for strengthening and improving Social Security benefits, much stronger protections for private and public pension laws and other legislative improvements to laws that protect working families in their retirement years. Any proposal to cut Medicare or Social Security to fund lower taxes for corporations and the 1% is immoral and unacceptable.

6. A New Approach to Trade and Globalization: The convention also passed a resolution calling for improvement in international trade deals, with a focus on protecting workers' rights around the world, environmental protection, preventing corporations from interfering with national sovereignty and public interest regulations and making it clear that the AFL-CIO would oppose trade deals that don't live up to these ideals.

7. Opposing Mass Incarceration for Profit: The AFL-CIO recognizes that the private prison industry, which pushes for laws that increase incarceration rates so they can pad their profits, creates negative incentives for state and local governments to lock up more people, even when crime rates are low. Such policies also harm communities, are unsafe for both inmates and prison employees and have a strongly disproportionate effect on people of color.

8. Reclaiming the Promise of Public Education: As a key component of any strategy of improving the lives of working families, the AFL-CIO supports a broad range of educational reforms that ensure that all children have the opportunity to attend safe, high-quality schools. The delegates also condemned the attacks on public education by Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett (R) and Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter (D).

9. Implementing the Affordable Care Act: The convention delegates passed a resolution that supports the responsible implementation of the Affordable Care Act, the protection of workers' rights in any health care changes made by government or private corporations, and continues to support the ultimate goal of a single-payer system.

10. State Federation and Central Labor Council Accountability: Because of the importance of effective state federations and central labor councils (CLCs) in fighting back against right-wing attacks in the states and the possibilities for expansion of workers' rights at the state level, AFL-CIO is moving forward on several initiatives to maximize efforts in the states.  The first is to require state federations and large CLCs to hire qualified campaign managers and develop and implement strategic plans that include community engagement programs.  The second is to create a special committee that will develop and monitor the performance of state federations, CLCs and affiliate unions.  Each year, 10 states will undergo a thorough peer review and the findings and recommendations of the review will be reported.

This is a crosspost from the AFL-CIO Blog Now by Kenneth Quinnell.

Community Fundraiser for Solidarity Singers

Join AFSCME Council 48 for a fundraiser in support of the Solidarity Singers who are standing up for first amendment rights and to stop Gov. Walker's attacks on democracy. 

 

WHEN:     Saturday September 28, 1pm – 4pm

WHERE:   AFSCME District Council 48
                 3427 West St. Paul Avenue
                 Milwaukee, WI 53208

WHAT:     Solidarity Singers Fundraiser

Event includes:
         Songs by the Solidarity Singers
         Arrestees speaking about their experiences
         Labor & Legislative Leaders
         Food and Drink provided

Cost is $10 per person and all proceeds will go to cover court costs for those who have been arrested.

To purchase tickets, contact Nicole Collazo-Santiago at (414) 333-1606 or via email at ncollsan@wiafscme.org.

To donate to the Solidarity Singers online, go to page: www.solidaritysingalong.org

 

Photo Credit:  Richard Hurd

Education March and Rally in Milwaukee on Sept. 21

Join education professionals, community members, faith leaders and students to march for public education and public schools. 

Public Education is a Civil Right March and Rally, Saturday, September 21, 2013.

• 10:30 Gather to March at Milwaukee High School of the Arts, 2300 W. Highland Avenue.

• 1:00 Rally at Forest Home Ave. School, 1516 W. Forest Home Avenue.

We demand the following because all of our children deserve a world-class public education! 

• Fully fund public schools
• Keep a strong taxpayer voice in school governance
• Stop privatization of public education
• Hold voucher schools accountable
• Require quality physical infrastructure for all schools

Wisconsinites Celebrate Labor Day!

Wisconsinites celebrated Labor Day in droves on Monday, September 2.  Across the state working Wisconsinites celebrated hard work, union rights and remembered the contributions of working people who came before us to provide safe working conditions, the eight hour day, and collective bargaining rights. 

Families celebrated in Eau Claire, Fond du Lac, Green Bay, Hawkins, Janesville, Kenosha, La Crosse, Madison, Marinette, Milwaukee, Neenah, Oshkosh, Racine, Wausau and Wisconsin Rapids with picnics, face painting, marches, car shows, parades, food, festivals and family fun.  With over 14 events in Wisconsin, Labor Day was a time for solidarity and togetherness for all working people in the community.  

Madison’s Labor Fest had a record turnout with community groups, human rights groups, immigrant rights groups, LGBT rights groups and union members coming together over bands, brats and solidarity.

In Milwaukee, teachers, steelworkers, letter carriers, nurses, machinists, low-wage workers, immigrant rights activists and the community came together to march for union rights, living wages and a path to citizenship for all workers. 

Deirdre Dunlap a low-wage worker from Milwaukee spoke to a crowd of thousands at Zeidler Union Square Park. Dunlap, who raises two daughters on $5.25 an hour, called for living wages for all workers.  Over 200,000 workers in the Milwaukee area face poverty-level wages. 

“I can’t always meet the needs of my family making $5.25 an hour plus tips,” explained Dunlap.  “Recently my daughter needed new shoes for back to school and I had to choose between paying a bill on time or getting my daughter the shoes she needed.  As a full-time working Mom, I shouldn’t have to make these decisions.”

Milwaukee County Supervisor David Bowen announced at the picnic that County Supervisors will work to implement a living wage ordinance for Milwaukee County to ensure all public projects pay a family-supporting wage. 

In La Crosse, Wisconsin AFL-CIO President Phil Neuenfeldt led a parade of workers and community members through the streets of downtown.  This year’s La Crosse Labor Day celebrations were held in honor of Jack Reihl, a La Crosse native and former President of the Wisconsin AFL-CIO, who dedicated his life to advancing the needs of Wisconsin workers.

 

In Menasha, a parade marched through the cities of Menasha and Neenah.  After the parade, everyone celebrated at the local labor temple. 

In, Wisconsin Rapids families celebrated with bingo and Janesville held a three-day festival with car shows and bounce houses.

Click here for pictures of Labor Day events around the state.

Check out the Media Coverage of Labor Day Events!

Milwaukee 

CBS 58, County supervisor says board will push for living wage ordinance

Fox 6 News, Downtown Milwaukee plays host to Labor Day rally Monday

Journal Sentinel, Labor Day marchers rally for higher pay, cheer living-wage proposal

Madison

State Journal, People turn out in droves to celebrate Labor Fest

NBC 15, Labor Fest Draws Large Crowd


WI Rapids

WI Rapids Tribune, Labor Day a tribute to America's workers, end-of-summer celebration Wisconsin 

La Crosse

WXOX Channel 19, La Crosse celebrates Labor Day with Parade, festival

La Crosse Tribune, Parade celebrates Labor Day, local workers

Channel 8, Local union member spends Labor day giving back

Green Bay

Green Bay Press Gazette,  Families enjoy food and fun at Labor Day picnic 

Neenah

WBAY, Labor Day Celebrations Focus on Heritage

Oshkosh

Oshkosh Northwestern, Labor Day picnic at South Park (photo gallery)