Congress is headed toward yet another manufactured budget crisis after House Republicans today passed legislation that AFL-CIO Government Affairs Director William Samuel says will provoke another government shutdown by making “ransom demands” that are “unacceptable” and “unrealistic."
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Today, AFL-CIO Community Services Coordinator Will Fischer and AFL-CIO Union Veterans Council Director James Gilbert laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery for National POW–MIA Remembrance Day.
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If you are a union member who participates in
Union Plus
programs and have been affected by the deadly floods that struck Colorado, you may be eligible for
financial assistance
.
Union Plus Disaster Relief Grants of $500 are available to help participants in the Union Plus Credit Card, Insurance or Mortgage programs who are facing financial hardship due to the latest natural disaster. The money does not have to be repaid.
If you are not involved in the Union Plus program, the
Denver Post has a list of other resources for Coloradans
and ways you can assist those affected by the floods.
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The House voted Thursday night to cut
$40 billion from the food stamp program
that helps feed hungry, low-income and often jobless people and families. As many as 6 million could be thrown off the rolls of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
The bill was aggressively promoted and adamantly backed by tea party Republicans, including Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.). The vote was
217–210
, with all Democrats and 15 Republicans voting “no.”
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In the song, Kanye West refers to a problem that is becoming recognized as one of major importance to America's working families focused on fairness and civil rights—the growth of the private prison industry and the extreme lengths that the corporations that dominate the industry will go to pad their own profit margins, regardless of the effect that it has on families and communities across the nation.
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Health is a class issue. As the rich have become even richer, they’ve enjoyed better health and longer lives. In 1980–1982, the most affluent Americans could expect to live 2.8 years longer than those in the poorest group; by 1998–2000,
the gap had increased to 4.5 years
. Just imagine how much the chasm has widened since 2000.
It’s hard to imagine a more stark class dividing line, or a more poignant reminder of the heartbreaking consequences of income inequality.
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While there’s a move—led by Republican lawmakers but with support from some Democrats—to cut Social Security benefits through a so-called
“chained" CPI
and raise the retirement age, a bill introduced in the House this week goes in the other direction: it
strengthens Social Security
benefits.
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More workers at Amazon.com’s warehouses—that some describe
as high-speed, high-tension sweatshops
—have filed federal court suits against the company and its contractors that supply the mostly temporary and low-paid workers for workplace rules that require them to undergo unpaid security checks at breaks and the end of their often 12-hour shifts.
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On Tuesday, the U.S. Census Bureau issued its annual report on income and poverty in the United States. It revealed what has been obvious in the five years since the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the onset of the Great Recession; something is really broken in our country. Since 1980 we have seen a steady climb in the share of income going to the top 5% of American households, except the downturns of 2001 and 2008. During those downturns, financial bubbles burst and the top lost income share. In both cases, the Federal Reserve System acted aggressively to save the financial sector and stave off further contagion from the sector of finance and speculation into the sector of goods production and employment—the real economy. The restoration of the financial sector restored the incomes of the top 5%, and the recovery after 2001 and the current recovery restored the steady growth of inequality.
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