The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has made it very easy to find union-made tires by requiring that each tire carry a code that shows the company and the location of the plant that manufactured the tire. DOT requires that each tire sold in the United States carry a code that looks something like this: DOT BE XX XXX XXX. The two letters or numbers that follow the DOT identify a particular factory as listed below.

David B. Durkee, who served as secretary-treasurer for the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) since 1998, is the union’s new president after the BCTGM’s General Executive Board approved his nomination. He succeeds Frank Hurt, who retired Jan. 1 after 20 years in office. The board also approved Steve Bertelli as secretary-treasurer.

The AFL-CIO wishes you and your family a Happy New Year filled with solidarity, justice and peace.  

We hope you'll continue to be active readers and commenters in our AFL-CIO Now blog community. 

My Fair Share is a cross-post from Working America’s Dear David workplace advice column. David knows you deserve to be treated fairly on the job and he’s available to answer your questions, whether it is co-workers making off-handed comments that you should retire or you feel like your job's long hours are causing stress.

Question:

What can you do about not being paid a fair wage for the work you do? I make a lot of money for the company I work for feeding a robot up to 4,000 packages per hour. How do I get some of the money I make for the company through high production paid to me?

—Marty, Indiana

As you plan your New Year's Eve celebration, don't forget to check out this list of union-made in America wine and champagne from our friends at Labor 411, the union business directory from the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor. Beverages include those brought to you by the United Farm Workers (UFW), the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) and the Teamsters (IBT). 

Passed Over is a cross-post from Working America’s Dear David workplace advice column. David knows you deserve to be treated fairly on the job and he’s available to answer your questions, whether it is co-workers making off-handed comments that you should retire or you feel like your job's long hours are causing stress.

Question: 

I have been working for a company for about two years. The company recently acquired another company. There were many layoffs as the companies merged. I was moved over to another department. A director-level position was created in this new department and someone was given the promotion. The rest of us never knew about the position and certainly didn't have a chance to apply for it. The person receiving the promotion has a lot less experience and qualifications for the job. When I confronted his boss about this, he minimized the importance of the role. Is it legal to promote someone into a new position without allowing others to apply, especially if the person who was promoted is less qualified?

—Pamela, Massachusetts

International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) General President Harold Schaitberger issued this statement on the shooting in Webster, N.Y., that killed two firefighters:

Before the National Rifle Association press conference today with NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre, who claimed having armed cops in schools would end gun violence in schools, AFT President Randi Weingarten and the National Education Association (NEA) President Dennis Van Roekel released a statement to proposals to arm teachers from Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas). 

When the Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star recently published a cartoon featuring so-called “union thugs” in trench coats talking in “does and dem” patois expressing dismay about the "right to work" for less vote in Michigan, with American manufacturing encased in cement ready for a deep six off a pier in the background, and inferring workers were the reason for the demise of Hostess, Seafarers (SIU) Communications Director Jordan Biscardo fired off  a letter to the editor in protest.

Not only was the letter published, but the paper apologized for the cartoon. Here’s Biscardo’s letter:

The first edition of “We Stand in Solidarity with Migrant Workers” appeared on the AFL-CIO Now blog in 2010.  

Dec. 18 is International Day of Solidarity with Migrants and marks the date the United Nations adopted the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families.

To commemorate this day, we have compiled personal stories of the immigrant experience at the AFL-CIO. As you’ll see, our colleagues’ collective experiences are a tapestry of the immigrant experience. Our co-workers have come to the United States from around the world for a variety of reasons—to escape war and repression, to work, to feed their families back home, to study and to marry.