AFL-CIO Blog

  • Service + Solidarity Spotlight: UNITE HERE Ramps Up Campaign to Save Daily Housekeeping at Hilton Hotels
    Service + Solidarity Spotlight: UNITE HERE Ramps Up Campaign to Save Daily Housekeeping at Hilton Hotels Working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our regular Service + Solidarity Spotlight series, we’ll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story. As tourism comes back, the hotel industry is trying to cut guest services and the workers who make these services possible, and Hilton—where unions spent over $100 million in 2018 and 2019—is leading the way. UNITE HERE is preparing to launch a national campaign to restore thousands of hotel housekeeping jobs and is asking for the labor movement’s support. Click here to access UNITE HERE’s toolkit for labor allies and be part of the campaign. Hilton recently announced the end of automatic daily housekeeping, threatening the travel experience and housekeepers’ livelihoods. UNITE HERE is pushing for hotel rooms to be cleaned every day because that’s the standard of service guests have come to expect and love. Travelers say cleanliness is a top priority in poll after poll, and they should not have to request this standard service at a full-service hotel. Kenneth Quinnell Thu, 09/02/2021 - 09:30 — Sep 2
  • Building a New Future for Working Families
    Building a New Future for Working Families Our worlds have been turned upside down in the past 20 months, as we have adapted how we worship, work, educate our children, grocery shop and so much more. This also has been a time when many of us more fully realized the stark injustice of income inequality and its suffocating impact. As a nation we recognize that we were kept safe and comfortable because of workers, from health care to first responders to grocery workers to farmworkers. We have come to appreciate how essential their contribution is to our lives. Many of these workers suffered greatly and many are still suffering. Restaurant workers, hotel housekeepers, convention hall workers and so many more are still waiting to be called back to work and to experience economic recovery. This Labor Day, let's honor all of these workers and recommit ourselves to support them in securing their rights. Pope Francis got it right in a speech in June, when he challenged us, saying, “Let us look for solutions that will help us build a new future of work based on decent and dignified working conditions, originating in collective negotiation and promoting the common good, a phrase that will make work an essential component of our care for society and Creation.” Building this new future is underway in Illinois and in the United States. The Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives and is now being considered in the U.S. Senate, will recognize all workers for their God-given inherent dignity and their right to organize. The PRO Act would allow workers to more freely join a union without harassment, which is quite common now. The PRO Act would close the income inequality gap, help secure safe workplaces, strengthen the middle class, stabilize communities and put the U.S. on par with other industrialized countries. The PRO Act is the most significant worker empowerment legislation since the Great Depression. Closer to home, Illinois voters will soon consider the Workers’ Rights Amendment. It would enshrine the rights of workers into the state constitution…giving workers in Illinois real protections. Laws reflect our values. But laws do not get passed by themselves. They require a community, organized and appreciative of the value and dignity of workers and of work itself. They require communities of faith, as Pope Francis urges, to get engaged and stand in solidarity with workers, with the labor movement. Chicago is the hometown of the American labor movement. And this year, the Chicago Federation of Labor (CFL) celebrates its 125th anniversary…founded just five years after Pope Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum. That spirit of social justice is woven throughout the 125 years the CFL has fought for working families. Fighting for laws and public policy that promote the dignity, value and respect for workers. It requires organizations like ARISE Chicago, which connects our broad interfaith network to working people. I am proud to serve on the Religious Advisory Board for ARISE/Chicago. On this Labor Day, let us remember the words of Cardinal Mundelein who said of the Church of Chicago more than 100 years ago now: “Our place is beside the worker.” Happy Labor Day! Kenneth Quinnell Wed, 09/01/2021 - 12:19 — Sep 1
  • Service + Solidarity Spotlight: Help Our Union Family in Tennessee Recover from Massive Flooding
    Service + Solidarity Spotlight: Help Our Union Family in Tennessee Recover from Massive Flooding Working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our regular Service + Solidarity Spotlight series, we’ll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story. Historic rainfalls hit middle Tennessee this past weekend, leaving at least 20 dead and thousands with major property damage. The labor movement is stepping in to help our members and the communities affected by the flooding. You can show your solidarity by making a donation to the Central Labor Council of Nashville and Middle Tennessee’s disaster relief fund. Either click here or mail a check to the central labor council at P.O. Box 290153, Nashville, TN 37229 with “Flood Relief” in the memo line. Kenneth Quinnell Wed, 09/01/2021 - 09:43 — Sep 1
  • Service + Solidarity Spotlight: FLOC Hosts Mobile Health Clinic for Farm Workers
    Service + Solidarity Spotlight: FLOC Hosts Mobile Health Clinic for Farm Workers Working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our regular Service + Solidarity Spotlight series, we’ll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story. Members of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC) took part in a mobile health clinic event on Aug. 4 at Nature Fresh Farms near Toledo, Ohio. There, farm workers received general checkups, physicals and COVID-19 vaccinations. Farm workers said they greatly appreciated the chance to receive treatment closer to where they live and work. “Thanks to our collective bargaining agreements, we created this mobile health clinic and it’s been ongoing for 30 years,” said FLOC President Baldemar Velasquez. In addition to the mobile clinic, the union has vaccinated some 6,000 community members at its union hall in Toledo. “Our theme has always been to get the vaccine to the people, as opposed to making them find it on their own.” Kenneth Quinnell Tue, 08/31/2021 - 09:40 — Aug 31
  • Working People Mourn the Loss of Acting Legend, Former SAG President Ed Asner
    Working People Mourn the Loss of Acting Legend, Former SAG President Ed Asner Yesterday, we lost not only an acting legend, but an activist whose work addressed many issues, including those that working people face daily. Asner is most known for an unparalleled acting career, which spanned from his much-beloved Lou Grant role in the 1970s and '80s to his memorable performance as Carl Fredricksen in Pixar's animated film "Up," to more than 100 other roles in television, film and video games. He served two terms as president of the Screen Actors Guild and received the organization's Life Achievement Award. His seven Emmys are the most ever awarded to a male actor; he has a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame; and he was inducted into the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' Hall of Fame. Few actors have ever accomplished as much on the screen as Asner. But his work off screen was even more important. Born to Orthodox Jewish parents who emigrated to Kansas City, Missouri, from Russia, his background and upbringing led him to be an outspoken advocate for victims of oppression or injustice. He worked tirelessly for fairness for actors and actresses, and raised money to help union members survive a TV strike while his own popular TV show was affected by the strike. He was outspoken against the foreign and domestic policies of Ronald Reagan. As president of SAG, he helped secure victories that helped expand the rights, salaries and benefits of many actors. He did work for the California Federation of Teachers, the Campaign for Peace and Democracy and Democratic Socialists of America, while also fighting to help expand universal health care. SAG-AFTRA President Gabrielle Carteris celebrated Asner's life: “There have been few actors of Ed Asner’s prominence who risked their status to fight for social causes the way Ed did. He fought passionately for his fellow actors, both before, during and after his SAG presidency. But his concern did not stop with performers. He fought for victims of poverty, violence, war, and legal and social injustice, both in the United States and around the globe.” In 1984, Asner spoke to his devotion to his union and the labor movement when he wrote: “Our union is our bill of rights. It sets standards for compensation and hours of work, to counter exploitation. It fights for human rights and creative rights, against the forces of bigotry and censorship. It establishes our right to health benefits when we are sick, and pensions when we are old. It provides a redress of grievances when we are abused and gives us a voice that cannot be outshouted by networks or studios. It asserts our right to share in the profits gleaned by our labor. The union is our way of showing we care about each other, that we believe in more than the survival of the fittest.” Hollywood, the labor movement and the United States lost an important icon when Ed Asner passed yesterday. Read more at SAG-AFTRA. Kenneth Quinnell Mon, 08/30/2021 - 11:02 — Aug 30