It's not every day a former manufacturing hub for middle-class jobs gets to reinvent itself after the factories and plants shut down and ship off. But that's exactly what's happening in Long Beach, Calif., in Los Angeles County.
Today Hyatt Hotels Corp. and UNITE HERE, the union of hospitality workers in the United States and Canada, announced a national agreement that resolves longstanding disputes between the two organizations. The agreement creates a framework for the company and the union to work together moving forward. Both UNITE HERE and Hyatt hailed the pact as a positive step.
Working families had a strong presence at the annual Netroots Nation conference for progressive activists, with several unions co-sponsoring the event, numerous labor-sponsored events and displays and 30 panels with themes about workplace rights or union activists as speakers. Netroots Nation is the largest annual conference of progressive activists and has grown well beyond its initial creation as a get-together for lefty bloggers and fans of the Daily Kos website.
Union members are turning the union "thug" label on its head today, handing out free hugs at the Netroots Nation 2013 conference in San Jose, Calif.
After all, a union hug is the only hug with a union bug.
Penny Pritzker is President Obama’s nominee to be the next secretary of commerce. She is also a longtime member of the board of directors of the Hyatt hotel chain and heir to the Hyatt fortune. But her nearly decade-long record on the board, says UNITE HERE President D. Taylor, shows why the U.S. Senate should not confirm her. In a letter to Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), Taylor writes:
Under her leadership, Hyatt has exhibited a broad pattern of labor abuses, including aggressive outsourcing, low wages and the mistreatment of housekeepers. Together these practices single out Hyatt as the worst hotel employer in the United States.
Carmen Castillo is a UNITE HERE union steward, immigrant and 19-year veteran hotel housekeeper. In November 2011, the single mother of three from the Dominican Republic won election to the Providence, R.I., City Council. Since then filmmaker Margo Guernsey and her crew have been following Castillo at home, work, on the council and in the community.
Three pioneering and historic women labor trailblazers were inducted into Labor’s International Hall of Fame Thursday night. The award ceremony honored Evelyn Dubrow , Viola Liuzzo and Anna “Annie” Klobuchar Clemenc posthumously.
Taking their cues from the young immigrant students, known as the Dreamers, the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor and UNITE HERE , the restaurant and hotel workers union, want to encourage more young students to share their stories of immigration—either their own or somebody else’s—with the country, especially with national lawmakers who may vote on an immigration reform bill as soon as later this year. The two labor organizations are sponsoring a student short film contest called “Cortos y Fuertes / Short and Strong.” The author of the best overall video will receive $2,000.
More than 80 dining hall workers at Pomona College in Claremont, Calif., voted on Tuesday to join UNITE HERE Local 11 .
On Wednesday, April 24, the AFL-CIO and MomsRising will be hosting a Twitter chat at 2 p.m. ET about earned paid sick leave. Follow the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #WellnessWed.
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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