By The AFL-CIO

– Today AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, Secretary-Treasurer Elizabeth Shuler and Executive Vice President Tefere Gebre released the following statement in response to the murder of 49 people at Pulse, an LGBTQ nightclub in Orlando:

“Bayard Rustin said to be afraid is to behave as if the truth were not true. We in the labor movement are not afraid. We are resolved to do everything in our power to make sure this never happens again. The truth as we know it is both devastating and infuriating. 49 souls were lost in a cowardly act of violence. These are our brothers, sisters and friends. At least one was our member.

“For the LGBTQ community, clubs like Pulse are a space where people can feel safe and be their true selves. Sunday’s horrific act is a reminder of how fragile that safety can be. While we have made undeniable progress toward equality, too many in our country still face derision, discrimination and violence. These flames of hatred have been fanned by those in public life who want to marginalize an entire group of people for political gain. It’s despicable and it must stop.

“But this was more than just an attack on the LGBTQ community. The victims were overwhelmingly young and Latino.Sunday’s massacre was an assault on everything our movement stands for: equality, justice, solidarity and inclusion.

“It was also an extraordinarily difficult situation for our first responders, who had the traumatic job of sorting the dead from the living, effectively working in a war zone. We thank the police, fire and health care providers who saved lives and continue to care for the injured. We will stand with them in the trying days ahead.

“Labor is one big family, made up of people of all races, religions, genders, sexual orientations and gender identities. As a family, we will work to provide comfort to our brothers and sisters in Orlando and across the United States. And we will make it our daily mission to ensure America’s workplaces and union halls are safe and free from bigotry.

“There will be some who try to use this tragedy to further divide us, to pit communities against each other and scapegoat entire faith traditions. Let us be perfectly clear: giving in to division and fear will only add insult to injury. This is a moment for us to come together, embrace our common humanity and take the necessary steps to make our country safer, stronger and more united.”

Source – http://www.aflcio.org/Blog/Political-Action-Legislation/AFL-CIO-Statement-on-the-Orlando-Massacre

By Martha Woodall

– The union that represents blue-collar workers in the Philadelphia School District overwhelmingly approved a new four-year contract Saturday that its leaders called “historic.”

The union local – SEIU 32BJ – said the new agreement ends concessions that it made in the last contract that saved the district $100 million over four years and helped the school system during a financial crisis.

Ernie Bennett, District 1201 leader for 32BJ, said the new pact boosted workers’ wages through a combination of bonuses, across-the-board increases and step raises based on years of experience. Under an agreement with the district, he declined to reveal numbers because bargaining continues with other unions.

“I remember where we were four years ago, and it wasn’t a good place,” Bennett said. “We made sacrifices not only to keep our jobs but because we love our students. Many of us have children and grandchildren in the district . . . This deal shows that our sacrifice was appreciated.”
Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. agreed.

“Four years ago 32BJ members stepped up in a time of crisis and put the students of Philadelphia first,” he said in a statement issued shortly before 6 p.m. “This contract recognizes the tremendous contributions that these members made.”

The union represents more than 2,000 bus drivers, bus attendants, maintenance workers, cleaners, and building engineers. Average starting hourly wages currently range from $12 for a cleaner to $20 for a trade mechanic.

“I’m happy,” Bennet said in an interview after more than 500 members ratified the contract during a meeting at the union’s headquarters on North 5th Street near Spring Garden Street.

Negotiations began in April for a new contract to replace the 2BJ agreement that expires Aug. 31.

Four years ago, when the district was facing a projected $282 million deficit, the union approved what its leaders called an “unprecedented” contract. Members of 32BJ agreed to forgo raises totaling 5 percent that they were due under their existing contract and to have their wages frozen for four years.

In addition, members agreed to make weekly contributions of between $5 and $45 – depending on income – to help reduce the district deficit.

In return for those concessions, the district promised to preserve the jobs of nearly all members and to provide them employment security through Aug. 31 of this year.

Under the new agreement, the weekly wage deductions will end July 1 – two months before the current contract expires.

At a City Council hearing on the district’s budget in May, Hite said the district was determined to reach new contracts this year with CASA, 32BJ, and the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers. The PFT contract expired in 2013.

Source – http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20160612_New_contract_approved_by_Philly_schools__32BJ_blue-collar_workers.html

By The PA. AFL-CIO

– Pennsylvania AFL-CIO leaders denounce bill as anti-worker and ideologically driven by misguided legislative leaders bent on privatizing the jobs of public workers.

Harrisburg (June 8, 2016) – In a strong statement of disappointment, the top elected leaders of Pennsylvania’s labor movement today issued statements denouncing the Pennsylvania House of Representatives passage of HB1690 expanding state wine sales to private retailers.

“The Pennsylvania House of Representatives were wrong to pass a bill that undermines workers rights by expanding liquor and wine sales to corporate retailers who pay workers sub-standard wages with little or no benefits and undermines a highly profitable publicly owned system that provides critical revenue to the Commonwealth and employs thousands of workers in good, family sustaining jobs. While we are truly disappointed with the legislators and legislative leaders who supported HB1690, we want to thank those who stood with Pennsylvania workers in opposing it,” said Richard Bloomingdale, President of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO.

“Make no mistake about it, HB1690 doesn’t help anyone. This bill will make it easier for minors to buy alcohol, retailers to default on paying liquor and sales taxes and workers to be exploited. The bill is more about ideology than improving service and convenience and is being pushed by twisted, misguided legislative leaders who won’t rest until they have privatized every job in Pennsylvania,” said Frank Snyder, Secretary-Treasurer of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO.

The Pennsylvania AFL-CIO is a federation of Labor organizations representing more than 800,000 public, private sector, and building trade workers and their families that live and work in every community of our Commonwealth.

Source – http://www.paaflcio.org/?p=6900

By WAYNE PARRY, The Associated Press

– ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) – Most unionized workers at Atlantic City’s Trump Taj Mahal casino are either doing without health insurance altogether, or relying on taxpayer-subsidized care, a new survey shows less than a week after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the termination of health care benefits.

A survey released Monday by Local 54 of the Unite-HERE union finds 33 percent of Taj Mahal casino workers have no health coverage, while another 50 percent rely on coverage under the Affordable Care Act, Medicare or Medicaid.

The U.S. Supreme Court recently upheld the termination of health insurance and pension benefits for Taj workers that were eliminated by a bankruptcy court judge.

The casino’s new owner, billionaire Carl Icahn, says the previous level of benefits is unaffordable in Atlantic City’s new economic reality.

“I feel like I’m working just to pay for health insurance,” said Mayra Gonzalez, a food preparation employee who has worked at the Taj Mahal since the day it opened in 1990. She and her husband are diabetic, and the cost of medicine, supplies, insurance payments and co-pays leave little for other expenses.

“It’s really hard to pay the bills,” she said. “I work really hard, and these things used to be covered. We’ve had to make sacrifices. Vacations? Forget it.”

Gonzalez pays $241 a month for health insurance with a $3,000 annual deductible. When she was covered through her job, there were no employee premium payments required, and an annual deductible of $400.

Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, cut ties with the company before the benefits were eliminated.

The former Trump Entertainment Resorts filed for bankruptcy in 2014 and asked the judge to let it cancel expensive parts of the union contract, including health insurance and pension benefits. The judge agreed, and the union appealed the decision all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which upheld the decision to eliminate the benefits on May 31.

The results of the survey of just under 500 unionized Taj Mahal workers are somewhat better than those taken a year earlier. In the 2015 survey, the union found 44 percent had no health insurance, and 23 percent relied on government subsidies to purchase it.

The union did not have similar data for its workers nationwide.

The company gave workers a stipend to help purchase coverage, but many workers say it does not come close to the cost of insurance on the private or government-run markets.

Icahn, who also owns Atlantic City’s Tropicana casino, has repeatedly accused the union of running its health plan as a profit-making enterprise for the union itself, and said his company would not pay the fixed health care costs demanded by the union.

The union says it is unfair for the company to push the burden of insuring Taj Mahal workers onto U.S. taxpayers.

Source – http://www.philly.com/philly/business/labor_and_unions/20160606_ap_57acc88d90ce49529ae1fa9da6c11a07.html

By The AFL-CIO

– In a recent sermon, Pope Francis condemned bosses who exploit workers and the so-called ‘prosperity gospel’ that teaches that profits are more important than people. An excerpt:

We consider this drama of today: the exploitation of the people, the blood of these people who become slaves, the traffickers of people—and not just those who deal in prostitutes and children for child labor, but that trafficking we might call “civilized”: “I’ll pay you this much, without vacation, without health care, without … everything under the table. … But I will become rich!” May the Lord make us understand today the simplicity that Jesus speaks to us of in the Gospel of today: a glass of water in the name of Christ is more important than all the riches accumulated through the exploitation of the people.

Source – http://www.aflcio.org/Blog/Corporate-Greed/Pope-Francis-Condemns-Bloodsucking-Bosses