Congress and the media paid homage to the agenda of the billionaires and Wall Street, with the manufactured “fiscal cliff” PR campaign frenzy that just ended. So now can we get back to the country’s priorities? Can we talk about jobs now?
The hundreds of thousands of East Coast residents—especially in New York and New Jersey—who continue to feel the sting of Hurricane Sandy more than two months after the storm, now are "feeling the sting of a House Republican slap to the face after Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) backed out of a promise to vote on an emergency aid package for hurricane victims," said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) called Boehner’s decision to cancel the vote “a cruel knife in the back.”
Sign the New York State AFL-CIO petition to pass Hurricane Sandy relief.
AFGE is urging Congress to reject an attempt by Rep. Michael Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) to extend a freeze on federal worker salaries that has been in effect for the past two years. AFGE National President J. David Cox said that the proposal is a "cheap political ploy" that would inflict serious damage to the already modestly paid working families whose members hold federal government jobs. Cox also pointed out the freeze would harm the communities where these workers live since they will spend another year unable to afford much outside of bare necessities.
The 22,000 Communications Workers of America (CWA) members employed at AT&T West will soon vote on a new contract after a tentative agreement was reached late last month. The workers are employed at AT&T operations in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas and Missouri.
Part of the so-called "fiscal cliff" agreement included extending federal unemployment insurance (UI) for workers who have been jobless for more than 26 weeks.
The National Employment Law Project (NELP) details five ways extending UI benefits the economy.
Update: The House voted 257 to 167 to approve the Senate agreement.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka responds to the Senate agreement on the "fiscal cliff":
The agreement passed by the Senate last night is a breakthrough in beginning to restore tax fairness and achieves some key goals of working families. It does not cut Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid benefits. It raises more than $700 billion over 10 years, including interest savings, by ending the Bush income tax cuts for families making more than $450,000 a year. And in recognition of the continuing jobs crisis, it extends unemployment benefits for a year. A strong message from voters and a relentless echo from grassroots activists over the last six weeks helped get us this far.
I'm the blog editor and social media manager at the AFL-CIO. Interviewing union musicians was my introduction to the labor movement. My first job after graduating college was in Syracuse, New York, where I wrote and edited the International Musician, the monthly magazine for the American Federation of Musicians (AFM). Protecting Social Security and Medicare from benefit cuts brought me to Washington, D.C., where I spent two years as a new media coordinator at the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare. I came to the AFL-CIO in the summer of 2012, just in time to re-elect President Barack Obama. When I'm not tweeting about America's unions, it's likely I'm watching Syracuse basketball and football.
William Spriggs serves as Chief Economist to the AFL-CIO, and is a professor in, and former Chair of, the Department of Economics at Howard University. Bill assumed these roles in August 2012 after leaving the Executive Branch of the U.S. Government.
Bill was appointed by President Barack Obama, and confirmed by the U.S. Senate, in 2009 to serve as Assistant Secretary for the Office of Policy at the United States Department of Labor, taking a leave of absence from Howard University to do so. At the time of his appointment, he also served as chairman for the Healthcare Trust for UAW Retirees of the Ford Motor Company and as chairman of the UAW Retirees of the Dana Corporation Health and Welfare Trust, vice chair of the Congressional Black Caucus Political Education and Leadership Institute; and on the joint National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Public Administration’s Committee on the Fiscal Future for the United States and the UFCW National Commission on ICE Misconduct; and, as Senior Fellow of the Community Service Society of New York; and served on the boards of the National Employment Law Project and the Eastern Economic Association.
Bill’s previous work experience includes roles leading economic policy development and research as a Senior Fellow and Economist at the Economic Policy Institute; as Executive Director for the Institute for Opportunity and Equality of the National Urban League; as a Senior Advisor for the Office of Government Contracting and Minority Business Development for the U.S. Small Business Administration; as a Senior Advisor and Economist for the Economics and Statistics Administration for the U.S. Department of Commerce; as an Economist for the Democratic staff of the Joint Economic Committee of Congress; and, as staff director for the independent, federal National Commission for Employment Policy.
While working on his PhD in Economics from the University of Wisconsin, Bill began his labor career as co-president of the American Federation of Teachers, Local 3220 in Madison, Wisconsin.
He is a member of the National Academy of Social Insurance and the National Academy of Public Administration.
I am a long-time blogger, campaign staffer and political activist. Before joining the AFL-CIO in 2012, I worked as labor reporter for the blog Crooks and Liars. Previous experience includes Communications Director for the Darcy Burner for Congress Campaign and New Media Director for the Kendrick Meek for Senate Campaign, founding and serving as the primary author for the influential state blog Florida Progressive Coalition and more than 10 years as a college instructor teaching political science and American History. My writings have also appeared on Daily Kos, Alternet, the Guardian Online, Media Matters for America, Think Progress, Campaign for America's Future and elsewhere. I am the proud father of three future progressive activists, an accomplished rapper and karaoke enthusiast.
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