The Mine Workers (
UMWA
) will appeal a federal judge’s decision today to dismiss
a class-action suit
the union and a group of active and retired miners filed against Peabody Energy and Arch Coal in October. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Charleston, W.Va., charged that the companies had violated federal pension laws when they transferred the health and pension benefits of more than 10,000 active and retired miners to the newly created Patriot Coal Corp. in 2007 to avoid their obligations to the miners.
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The
UAW’s 2014 Union-Built Vehicles List
features quality, variety and fuel-efficient vehicles along with a number of new additions that represent new jobs for America’s workers. As a result of 2011 bargaining between the
UAW
and Ford, Fusion sedans are being made at the Flat Rock, Mich., Assembly Plant. The Fusion was previously made only in Mexico. Also, the Ford Transit Connect van, insourced from Europe, is now being produced at the Kansas City Assembly Plant in Claycomo, Mo.
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Neutex Advanced Energy Group, a Houston-based maker of LED lights, light bulbs and fixtures, brought its core manufacturing operation from China back to the United States last year and turned to the Electrical Workers (
IBEW
) to staff its facility.
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As part of the AFL-CIO's ongoing book club series, author Anat Shenker-Osorio will be discussing her book
Don't Buy It: The Trouble with Talking Nonsense about the Economy
at AFL-CIO headquarters in Washington, D.C., Thursday, Oct. 3, from noon to 2 p.m. Attendees are invited to bring their lunches, and beverages will be provided.
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SAG-AFTRA National President Ken Howard officially opened the union's national convention yesterday, in the most important governance event since the merger of SAG and AFTRA. “What we have created today is an overwhelming and moving tribute to the power of this union to improve the lives of its members all across the country,” he said. “When we work together, we are a powerful voice. When we work together, we are proud and strong. When we work together, we are an unstoppable force that diligently and selflessly works to empower and strengthen the union and our fellow members. We are taking the first, early steps on a remarkable journey. There will only ever be one first SAG-AFTRA convention.”
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The widely respected Pew Charitable Trusts is engaged in a major ongoing campaign with right-wing Enron billionaire John Arnold to undercut public pensions across the country, writes David Sirota in
a report released Thursday
for the Institute for America's Future. According to Sirota, Pew positions itself as a nonpartisan organization dedicated to the public interest, but when it comes to pensions, Pew has taken an extreme position and allied itself with conservative activists bent on undoing public pension programs across the country to protect corporate subsidies.
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House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.)
was in Philadelphia
on Monday to promote the expansion of charter schools, vouchers and alternatives to public education. Touring select cities to spread the mantra of school "choice," Cantor made a couple of callous decisions when visiting the City of Brotherly Love. Rather than draw attention to the funding crisis facing Philadelphia’s public schools, he chose to ignore the plight of its
134,000 students
. Cantor applauded the rise of charter schools, which have played a direct role in creating the school district’s current crisis.
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After seven years of organizing and two vetoes, California domestic workers finally got some good news today as Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signed the Domestic Worker Bill of Rights into law.
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Lori J. Pelletier will lead the
Connecticut AFL-CIO
after delegates to the state federation’s convention elected her to the newly created position of executive secretary-treasurer, which will be the principal officer running the federation’s day-to-day operations. She has served as secretary-treasurer since 1999. Pelletier is the first openly LGBTQ person elected to the top office at an AFL-CIO state federation.
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They endured weekly mandatory captive audience meetings in the basement of their Lexington Avenue MetroPCS store, tight monitoring from management and even a visit from T-Mobile U.S. CEO John Legere and other top executives who trekked from Bellevue, Wash., headquarters to the Harlem store. But this week, the workers voted 7–1 to join the Communications Workers of America (
CWA
).
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