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AFL-CIO Now

Showing blog posts by Jackie Tortora

Jackie Tortora

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. 

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Wytkind: Transportation Doesn’t Take Weekends Off

I encourage transportation workers everywhere to support the Letter Carriers (NALC) this Sunday for its Day of Action to educate and mobilize Americans in support of continuing six-day mail delivery from the U.S. Postal Service (USPS).

Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe’s reckless, unilateral move to end Saturday delivery will disproportionately harm those who need it the most—our nation’s poor, elderly, people with disabilities and those in rural areas. It will hurt small business, cut jobs and send the USPS on a severe downward spiral.

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Tip Theft...We're Not Talking About Restaurant Customers Grabbing Money off the Table

Chances are you may not have heard of tip theft. And if you have, it's probably not what you think. Tip theft is when restaurant owners and managers systematically steal restaurant and hotel workers hard-earned money. 

Check out this video from Rhode Island activists asking their state to pass legislation to end tip theft. 

Sign the petition: Pass the Bill to End Tip Theft in Rhode Island; and if you're in Rhode Island, call your state and local representatives

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Made in America: Union-Made Passover

Photo courtesy of Suzy T's Flickr photostream:

As you plan your Passover seders, make sure you check out these tasty union-made in America recipe ingredients and drinks. These highlights come from our friends at Labor 411, the union business directory from the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor. Food and drink include those brought to you by the Machinists (IAM), United Farm Workers (UFW), the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) and the Teamsters (IBT). 

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Made in America: Union-Made Easter

Photo courtesy of cafemama's Flickr Photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cafemama/

If the Easter bunny knows what's good for him, he'll make sure to drop off union-made in America sweets on Easter weekend. Check out some highlights from the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor's resource site, Labor 411. These Easter shopping list ideas are brought to you by the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) and United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW).

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Salon: Can Unions Save the Creative Class?

Artists are finding it harder and harder to get paid...is it time for them to strap on a hard hat and form unions? Salon writer Scott Timberg asks this question in his new article, Can Unions Save the Creative Class? This article is part of a Salon series brought to you by the AFL-CIO.

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Supreme Court Hears Arguments in Arizona About Law That Denies Legal Voters the Ability to Vote

Photo Courtesy of Jeff Kubina

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments today in the case of Arizona v. Inter Tribal Council of Arizona Inc., determining the constitutionality of Arizona’s Prop. 200, a law that requires voters to present certain documents as proof of U.S. citizenship when using the federal form to register to vote at the polls.

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Trumka: Perez a Strong Pick for Labor Secretary

Thomas Perez. Photo courtesy of mainjustice.com

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka reacted today to the news President Obama will nominate Thomas Perez as the new secretary of labor:

Working men and women will be well served by President Obama’s choice of Tom Perez to lead the Department of Labor.

Throughout his career, Perez has fought to level the playing field and create opportunities for working people, whether in the workplace, the marketplace or the voting booth. He has worked to eliminate discrimination in housing, provide access to education and health care, end hate crimes, crack down on employers who cheat workers out of wages and expand our democracy by protecting the fundamental right of every American to vote. In the 1990’s, he worked on the front lines of the effort to pass comprehensive immigration reform under the leadership of the great Senator Ted Kennedy—a job that will serve him well in today’s drive for commonsense immigration reform.

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Senate Group Developing Plans to Make It Harder for Relatives of U.S. Citizens to Immigrate to America

Photo courtesy of the National Domestic Worker Alliance (NDWA) We Belong Together Campaign

The Washington Post reported yesterday that key senators in the "Gang of Eight" negotiations over creating a commonsense immigration process are developing plans to reduce family visas, a decidedly anti-family stance. 

The united labor movement’s immigration principles are straight-forwardly pro-family: “Family reunification is an important goal of immigration policy and it is in the national interest for it to remain that way.”

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Salon: Restaurant Horror Show

Photo courtesy of ROC's Flickr photostream: www.rocunited.org

If you think a tip for a server at your favorite restaurant is a gesture of recognition for good service, you're mistaken. 

“People think a tip is extra, to show gratitude for really good service, but it’s really not,” said Daisy Chung, executive director of the Restaurant Opportunities Center of New York, an advocacy group for restaurant workers. “Consumers should really know that they’re subsidizing workers’ wages, it’s not on top of it. You’re making up the difference for the fact that someone doesn’t make minimum wage.”

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