ILA leves AFL-CIO

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILA) has announced it is leaving the AFL-CIO. The 40,000+ members of the ILA, the union has been involved in jurisdictional disputes with other unions, and has been very critical of the labor movements support of "Obamacare". More info at LaborNotes.

Pigs flying?

The AFL-CIO, the SEIU and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce are exploring a joint effort on immigration reform. Enlightened business interests have for years been pushing sane immigration policies. Labor economists predict labor shortages in coming years. One of the effects of the Hispanic participation in the 2012 election is to remove demonizing immigrants from the political debate.

Trumka tells Mass. vote for the woman

AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka made a hard pitch to vote for Elizabeth Warren over Sen. Scott Brown in the Massachusetts Senate race, even though she's not one of the boys.

Young Workers Summit

Next week the AFL-CIO will host a Young Workers Summit in Minneapolis. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis will participate. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka has made no secret of his priority of recruiting and involving younger workers.

Unintended Consequences

Steve Greenhouse writes in the New York Times (registration required) that last year's Citizen's United opinion has liberated unions from campaign reform restrictions and the result is reinvigorated outreach efforts. Money quote:

Before the Citizens United ruling, unions were banned from using dues money to reach out to nonmembers in political campaigns, but now unions plan to campaign among the 89 percent of Americans who do not belong to unions. Union officials have long complained that when their foot soldiers knocked on doors in, say, Milwaukee or Columbus, Ohio, they wasted huge amounts of time because they could visit only union members’ homes and often had to skip 90 percent of the houses. Now they can knock on every door on a block.

Bad Boss Monday

Working America, which is an affiliate of the AFL-CIO, recently sponsored a bad boss contest. Some of the winners are described here. Its enough to make you appreciate your own superior's eccentricities, well, maybe not. Its not surprising that a labor affiliate would sponsor this contest. The number one reason employees seek out union representation - mistreatment by their boss. Not wages, not benefits, not even oppressive working conditions drive employees to a union as much as bad treatment by the boss.

Union approval very partisan

Every year, just before labor day, Gallup polls the American public's attitude toward labor unions. 2010 post here. This year a few more Americans view unions in a slightly more favorable light (52%), up from a 2009 low of 48%. But the real story is the whopping 52 point differential between Democrats (78% favorable) and Republicans (26% favorable). Last year Republicans had a 34% favorable view.

Location, location, location

Unions have heartburn over the location of the 2012 Democratic Convention in Charlotte, NC. North Carolina has the lowest union density in the country.

Labor in the Magnolia State

The Clarion-Ledger online has a pretty good overview piece on the state of labor in Mississippi.

Labor irrelevant?

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka declared labor would distance itself from Democrats unsupportive of labor's agenda. This pronouncement was treated as news by some, but it isn't really a new position. Just ask former Arkansas senator Blanche Lincoln. But Meyerson's WaPO opinion piece places the move in proper context, and the context is a bleak one for labor.

You couldn't be more wrong

Sometimes you have to laugh at the stretch used to make political hay. This piece from the Cato Institute makes the argument that Samuel Gompers, the iconic labor leader, who opposed government intervention on behalf of workers in the early years, would today also oppose government intervention. This often used tactic effectively persuades some readers because the source of the alleged assertions is not challengeable by the target audience. The problem is Gompers lived in a different time. He died in 1924, prior to the Great Depression and prior to the passage of the National Labor Relations Act. He lived in an era where many actions of state and federal police powers actively discouraged labor's economic self help agenda. More after the jump

Rats! again

Bloomberg has an article about the inflatable rat. Former New Orleans labor attorney Bill Lurye is quoted. Bill is now Associate General Counsel with the AFL-CIO.

Sing, brothers and sisters

The AFL-CIO blog has posted 45 songs in the union song contest. Enjoy.

Mott's strike continues

The AFL-CIO has more on the Mott's strike. The blog article itself doesn't add much, but check out the links. Again its nice to have the issues surrounding the strike reported across the opinion spectrum. It helps to place the strike in context and allows an economic analysis of the issues.

Dead Horse beaten

Michael Whitney at Firedoglake has some decidely unkind things to say about President Obama's speech to the AFL-CIO's executive counsel. The Hill has more on the speech, but Whitney is right.

Women and the labor movement

The Berger-Marks Foundation seeks to encourage and assist women labor organizers. It has released a new study, Stepping Up, Stepping Back which is based upon discussions held at a March 2010 conference in New Orleans. Its headline conclusion: Without changes labor will lose its female activists to other causes. Ending the old boys club, meaningful opportunities for younger activists, ending sexual harassment within unions, empowerment of younger activists all are seen as areas for needed change.

Union values American values?

The AFL-CIO Blog attempts to make the July 4th point that union values are American values. The media is blamed for labor's "bad" image.

Digital piracy costs jobs

The AFL-CIO opposes piracy. Says it costs jobs, lots of jobs.

Top lobbyists

The Hill identifies 2010's top lobbyists. Of the list of 32, only three are connected to labor unions. (Henry-SEIU, Loveless-AFSCME and Trumka-AFL-CIO).

Banner down

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce reports the AFL-CIO has removed the giant EFCA banner which has hung for a year on the outside of the labor federations Washington headquarters. While this symbolic gesture is greeted with pleasure in Chamberland, it likely means that labor is shifting away from its public campaign to amend the National Labor Relations Act only to focus on less visible change through rule-making and other actions by the NLRB.