Jackie Tortora Archive

In response to President-elect Donald Trump’s Twitter attack on United Steelworkers (USW) Local 1999 President Chuck Jones, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said:

Chuck Jones is a man of passion, conviction and integrity who would do anything for his union brothers and sisters. USW President Leo W. Gerard is exactly right—Chuck is a hero. An attack on him is an attack on all working people.

Chuck is right to call out the president-elect for inflating the number of jobs that will be saved at Carrier. He understands better than anyone that these are more than numbers—they are people with families to support and bills to pay.

Instead of attacking those who have been working hard to save jobs, the president-elect needs to engage with local union leaders at Carrier and at his hotel in Las Vegas. Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas is breaking the law by not bargaining with its newly unionized employees. Mr. Trump will soon occupy the White House. His words and actions need to befit that office.

As the number of hate-related incidents has been escalating in the recent days following the 2016 election campaign marked by the extreme and hateful rhetoric of Donald Trump, working people in unions are calling on the president-elect to take a stand. During his acceptance speech, Trump said he would work to unite all working people.

Working people are demanding that Trump commit to representing all of America’s people by "loudly, forcefully, unequivocally and consistently denouncing these acts and the ideology that drives them."

Today, AFT hosted a press conference where teachers and leaders of faith spoke out against this hateful rhetoric and the incidents they've seen rise in schools and institute of higher learning as a result. Watch the video below (the program in the video starts at the 15 minute mark):

Another Donald Trump bombshell dropped this week—and it's not pretty. 

Trump talks a big game on creating good manufacturing jobs in the United States, but his business practices say otherwise. 

A new Newsweek study shows Trump purchased steel from Chinese manufacturers rather than from U.S. producers, in at least two of his three recent construction projects.

Did it somehow slip his mind there are steel manufacturers in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin?

Newsweek points out there's nothing illegal about Trump using foreign materials and manufacturers, but it's laughable to think Trump has ever really cared about America's manufacturing:

Trump has not committed any crimes by purchasing his steel and aluminum from China, nor did he engage in wrongdoing by using Chinese textile factories to make his clothing lines. But, given the only beneficiaries of his decisions to go with cheaper Chinese metals for his construction project are Trump and his family, he is not someone who ever attempted to lead by example by only buying products made in America. He filled his bank accounts with millions of dollars that could have gone to blue-collar workers, many of whom now believe he is the man who will bring back the jobs that he secretly helped to destroy.

On the anniversary of the last time the federal minimum wage was increased to $7.25, it's timely to go over some basic facts on the minimum wage. 

Here are 10 important figures to remember when we talk about the minimum wage:

$18.42

How much the federal minimum wage would be if it had kept pace with productivity (i.e., how much we can produce, on average, for an hour’s worth of work) over the past 48 years. It would grow to more than $19 per hour by 2017. Instead, it’s $7.25. Learn more.

$15,080

The annual income for a full-time employee working the entire year at the federal minimum wage.

0

The number of states where a minimum wage working person can afford a one-bedroom apartment working a 40-hour week—without paying more than 30% of their income. Learn more.

Funny, we think candidates who support working people would agree it's becoming harder and harder to afford a middle-class life. Wages simply haven't kept up with the cost of living. 

Yet Donald Trump, who got a boost from dad with a million-dollar loan, thinks our wages are too high already. 

And he says he's for working people...

West Virginia state Sen. Robert Karnes (R) doesn't think too highly of everyday working people trying to create a better life and earn wages to sustain a family on. In fact, he called the concerned citizens who attended a recent "right to work" bill debate "free riders." Watch the video above.

Karnes is one of the Republicans in leadership in the West Virginia Senate pushing a bill that out-of-state corporate CEOs just love. One that would lower wages, make workplaces less safe, increase poverty and lower access to adequate health care. It's clear the Republican leaders don't think too highly of West Virginia's working people. 

Jesse Isbell from Oklahoma City, Okla., knows all about the dangerous effects of right to work legislation. The law was passed in 2001 in Oklahoma and five years later, Isbell lost his job of 36 years at the Bridgestone Tire plant when the work was shipped to Mexico.

Labor Day is the unofficial end of summer. While the day honors the hardworking women and men who make this nation go and grow, the weekend also gives us a chance for one more big backyard barbecue blowout. Here’s some union-made food and drink to get your barbecue off to a great start.

Text MADE to 235246 for more union-made-in-America product lists. 

Our list comes courtesy of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM); the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW); the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor's website Labor 411 and Union Plus.

Meat & Buns & Bread & Beans

• Arnold
• Ball Park franks
• Earthgrains bread
• Entenmann's
• Hebrew National franks
• Nature's Harvest bread
• Oroweat bread and buns
• Oscar Meyer & Boar’s Head hot dogs
• Oroweat buns (hot dogs and burgers)
• Stroehmann bread and buns
• Sara Lee buns (hot dogs and burgers)
• Burnham and Morrill (baked beans)

In case you missed it, National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) General Counsel Richard F. Griffin made a pretty significant announcement about McDonald's and its role as an employer to workers in franchise locations all over the country. 

Historically McDonald's has claimed it has no authority over wages or complaints of workers' rights violations at its franchise locations because that is up to the individual owners, but the NLRB general counsel determined McDonald's could be liable as a joint employer in these kinds of situations. 

There's been a lot of head scratching over what this announcement means and its implications for other large companies and workers at these kind of fast food franchises, so here is some basic information to break it all down for you.

It's pretty frustrating seeing all the headlines that claim the economy is alive and kicking. Sure, there is economic growth and a steady increase in jobs, but what kind of jobs are we talking about exactly?

Well, they aren't the kind of jobs we think of first when it comes to steady, middle-class jobs. No big surprise here, low-wage service sector jobs like those in the fast-food industry are seeing the biggest gains. 

Bryce Covert at The New Republic has a nice summary of what America's workers are up against when it comes to wages.

By now you've probably heard all about the Hobby Lobby Supreme Court decision. We don't need to get into all the details here, but the bottom line is: This is a blow to workers' rights, especially for women. 

The AFL-CIO Executive Council today condemned the Hobby Lobby decision made by five male justices as "radical" and said the ruling is a "major blow in the struggle for women’s health and threatens the Affordable Care Act’s goal of ensuring that all working families have access to cost-effective preventive health care."

In our new regular feature, we'll be taking a look at the villains who are doing their best to prevent the United States from raising wages for all or some Americans. In this series, we're going to look past the usual suspects—for example, while it is true that too often elected officials get in the way of a fair economy, we want to dig deeper.

This week, we're focusing on Staples, the office supply chain store, and the United States Postal Service (USPS). Staples and USPS have teamed up to scheme a privatization deal of retail post office operations. USPS is contracting services to Staples, with “postal counters” staffed with low-wage, nonunion, high-turnover Staples employees rather than postal employees who have a voice on the job through their union, Postal Workers (APWU).

Celebrate your dad in solidarity style this Father's Day by getting him a gift that sports the union label. Check out some union-made Father's Day gift ideas from our friends over at Labor 411, the union business directory from the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor.

Don't forget to text MADE to 235246 for more union-made-in-America product lists. 

• Hugo Boss (UNITE HERE)
• Jim Beam (United Food and Commercial Workers [UFCW])
• Joseph Abboud clothing (UNITE HERE)
• Klein Tools (Boilermakers [IBB])
• Knob Creek whiskey (UFCW)
• Louisville Slugger (UAW)
• Naturalizer shoes (UFCW)
• Old Spice (UFCW)
• Pierre Cardin cologne (UFCW)
• Red Wing Shoes (UFCW)
• Spalding basketball (Machinists [IAM])
• Stella Artois beer (IAM)
• Timex watches (IAM)
• The Union Boot Pro (UFCW)

Memorial Day is the unofficial kickoff to the summer holiday season. While the day honors those who have given their lives defending the nation—and Jimmy  Gilbert, director of the AFL-CIO’s Union Veterans Council, will write more on that next Monday—the weekend also marks the start of grilling season. Here’s some union-made food and drink to get your barbecue off to a great start. 

Text MADE to 235246 for more union-made-in-America product lists. 

Our list comes courtesy of Union Plus, the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM), the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) and the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor's website Labor 411.

Currency manipulation allows countries such as China to devalue their currency, artificially making Chinese goods less expensive and American products more expensive. This is a major contributing factor in our lopsided trade relationship with China.

Lilly Ledbetter found out she was being paid less than her male counterparts for nearly two decades when she was a supervisor at a Goodyear Tire and Rubber plant. And then she made the decision to fight back.

Now, five years after Congress and President Barack Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act into law, we have to acknowledge there is still a lot of work to do.

Women are still being paid 77 cents on the dollar of what men earn, despite the fact that more women are going to college and getting advanced degrees. 

Show your solidarity Super Bowl Sunday by not only cheering on your favorite NFL Players Association (NFLPA) members, but also buying union-made-in-America food and drinks for your party. Check out these union-made Super Bowl party products, compiled by our friends at Labor 411, the union business directory from the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor. Food and drinks are brought to you by the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM), the UAW, Machinists (IAM), the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) and the Teamsters (IBT).

Raise the minimum wage? Psshh, let's lower it.

Arguments against raising the minimum wage are getting sillier and sillier. Recently Steve Forbes, who is worth $430 million, said raising the minimum wage is a "job killer" and wants us to hear the hardship stories of employers in hopes that the American people will be persuaded against a much-needed raise.

We're much smarter than that. It's obvious that the wealthiest people in America have sucked up all the pay raises, writes AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka in a column in The Guardian. "Since 1997, all income growth has gone to the wealthiest 10%. Most of those increases have gone to the richest 1%."

Yesterday, workers at large hotels and car services outside the SeaTac International Airport, just south of Seattle, became eligible for a wage increase to $15 an hour after a groundbreaking ballot initiative to significantly raise the minimum wage passed last November.

A judge in the King County Superior Court last week suspended the part of the law that would cover 4,700 people who work within the airport itself, saying that the airport is technically a separate jurisdiction belonging to the Port of Seattle, even though those workers were major proponents of the measure. As it stands now, the law covers 1,600 people who work at hotels and car services outside the airport.

Employees of airport contractors are appealing the county judge's decision and filed a "petition for discretionary review" with the Washington State Supreme Court on Dec. 31.

In Rhode Island, a group of teachers, nurses and other union women know exactly what that feels like. After organizing a protest outside a political event, they were labeled "Hags," "Cockroaches" and "W-H-O-R-E-S" by WPRO radio personality John DePetro.