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.
Yesterday, we asked AFL-CIO Convention delegates and attendees by text message what their favorite part of the convention has been so far. Here's what they said.
Welcome to the 2013 AFL-CIO Convention live blog. Comments will appear after moderation. See our comment guidelines here . You can participate in the discussion from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. PDT (11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. EDT).
Check out the live blog after the jump.
No worker is invisible, and that's exactly what AFL-CIO delegates and attendees said as they hit the streets of Los Angeles last night to raise awareness about the value of work.
Check out the video highlights in this post, and see our blog post from yesterday explaining what these cardboard workers are all about .
Last night, women of the labor movement came together to talk about creating a movement that matters to women at a "Bread and Rosie" reception.
Sponsored by Union Plus, the reception featured special guests and speakers, including former Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Elizabeth Shuler, AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker and María Elena Durazo, executive secretary-treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor.
You all know the facts, said economist Joseph Stiglitz, addressing the 2013 AFL-CIO Convention delegates. America's workers productivity has soared, yet wages have stagnated.
"You've worked hard since 1979, your output per hour has increased 40%, but pay has barely increased," said Stiglitz. "The Great Recession has made things worse....95% of the gains from 2009 to 2012 went to the upper 1%. The rest, the 99%, never recovered."
Welcome to the 2013 AFL-CIO Convention live blog. Comments will appear after moderation. See our comment guidelines here . You can participate in the discussion from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. PDT (11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. EDT).
Check out the live blog after the jump.
Bankruptcy laws are rigged against working people. Employers, corporations and lenders often exploit these laws to weaken our retirement security, cut health care and leave young workers saddled with student loan debt, without the prospect of a good job or the ability to discharge the debt through bankruptcy.
Today, the AFL-CIO passed a convention resolution addressing the need to reform our country's bankruptcy laws to better shield workers from harm in the form of broken pension and health care promises and to diminish economic hardship that comes from these bankruptcies.
A safe job is a fundamental workers' right. It doesn't matter whether you work in a coal mine, a classroom, a construction site, a hospital or a garment factory in Bangladesh or China, every worker should be able to go to their job and return home safely at the end of the day.
As we pay tribute to the years of service AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker has given to working families, the voting rights and labor movement, we sat down with her, along with Bloomberg BNA Daily Labor Report, to talk about some of her greatest memories and her plans for the future during her retirement.
Watch the tribute video in the post, and check out what Holt Baker had to say.
Welcome to the 2013 AFL-CIO Convention live blog. Comments will appear after moderation. See our comment guidelines here . You can participate in the discussion from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. PDT (11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. EDT).
Check out the live blog after the jump.
It’s been four years since low-wage workers got a raise. Sign the petition to tell Congress it’s time to raise the minimum wage.
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