Kenneth Quinnell Archive

Here are some of the key findings of the report:

• When working people collectively bargain for wages, benefits and employment procedures, as union members they have higher wages, more benefits and more stable employment as a result of the bargaining agreement.

• Household wealth is dependent on several factors, including income, savings, people having benefits like health insurance and life insurance.

• Higher wages lead to higher savings, particularly when combined with job-related benefits, such as health and life insurance, since those benefits require union members to spend less out-of-pocket to protect their families.

• Union members have higher job stability and protections, which lead to longer tenures at a workplace. This can lead to more savings as longer-tenured employees are more likely to be eligible for key benefits that accrue over time.

• Nonwhite families with a union member in the household have a median wealth that is 485% as large as the median wealth of nonunion families of color.

Here are the key reasons why Proposition A is wrong for Missouri:

• Proposition A will drive down wages for Missouri families: If it passes, Proposition A will drive down wages for all Missourians. New research from the Economic Policy Institute shows that “right to work” laws like Proposition A are associated with lower wages and a weaker middle class. EPI found that wages were 3.1% lower in states with right to work laws like Proposition A. EPI’s Heidi Shierholz said, “If Missouri goes in the direction of right to work, we will see that the wages of workers, including those that are not in unions, will decline. Most middle-class workers spend their wages on things like food and clothes at local retailers.” The wage decline will harm businesses where middle-class workers shop.

• Proposition A is not what it seems. Don’t trust it: While supporters of Proposition A claim it will benefit working people, the reality is that it will take away choices from Missourians. The Supreme Court already has ruled that workers don’t have to join a union if they choose not to. The court also has ruled that working people have the freedom to organize and join together to bargain for a better return on our work. These things are at stake with Proposition A.

Advocates for working people soundly rejected the ruling in Janus. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka:

The Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision in Janus v. AFSCME, Council 31, abandons decades of commonsense precedent. In this case, a bare majority of the court, over the vigorous dissent of four justices, has conceded to the dark web of corporations and wealthy donors who wish to take away the freedoms of working people. Until it is overturned, this decision will be a political stain on what is intended to be the most honorable, independent body in the world. But more importantly, it will further empower the corporate elites in their efforts to thwart the aspirations of millions of working people standing together for a better life.

But here’s the thing: America is heading in a different direction. All over the country, workers are organizing and taking collective action as we haven’t seen in years. More than 14,000 workers recently formed or joined unions in just a single week. This followed a year where 262,000 workers organized and the approval rating of unions reached a nearly 14-year high. Working families know the best way to get a raise, better benefits and a voice on the job is through a union contract. The corporate narrative of the labor movement’s downfall is being dismantled by working people every single day.

We have never depended on any politician or judge to decide our fate and we aren’t about to start now.

AFSCME President Lee Saunders:

Unions will always be the most effective force and vehicle to propel working people into the middle class. Despite this unprecedented and nefarious political attack—designed to further rig the rules against working people—nothing changes the fact that America needs unions now more than ever. We are more resolved than ever to fight like hell to win for our members and the communities they care so much about. AFSCME members don’t do this work to get rich. They do it because it’s a calling—and for that service, they deserve respect. They deserve the same freedoms as the CEOs and billionaires who continue to rig the rules against everyone else. The American labor movement lives on, and we’re going to be there every day, fighting hard for all working people, our freedoms and for our country.

Here are nine things you need to know from the Grand Theft Paycheck report:

1. The top dozen companies from the report, in terms of wage theft settlement payouts, are Walmart, FedEx, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase & Co., State Farm Insurance, AT&T, United Parcel Service, ABM Industries, Tenet Healthcare, Zurich Insurance Group and Allstate. With the exception of Tenet Healthcare, each of these companies had profits in 2017 of $3 billion or more.

2. More than 450 big companies have paid out $1 million or more in wage theft settlements.

3. Since 2000, there have been more than 1,200 successful collective actions that have been resolved for a total in penalties of more than $8.8 billion.

Here are some of the key things you need to know about the tax law and the effects it has on working people (using Harley-Davidson as an example):

• Harley-Davidson is laying off 800 workers at a Kansas City, Missouri, factory by the fall of 2019.

• The company says it expects to add 450 full-time, casual and contractor positions to its plant in York, Pennsylvania. This is a net loss of 350 jobs, but considering that some of the new jobs aren't full-time, the loss is bigger.

• The company just announced a dividend increase for shareholders and a stock buyback plan where it will purchase 15 million of its shares with a current value of just under $700 million.

• In the first three months after Trump signed the tax bill, corporations have spent a record $178 billion in stock buybacks.

• Harley-Davidson is a profitable company, making between $800 million and $1 billion in pre-tax profits.

"This year’s report provides further proof that the greed of corporate CEOs is driving America’s income inequality crisis," said AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler. "Too many working people are struggling to get by, to afford the basics, to save for college, to retire with dignity while CEOs are paying themselves more and more. Our economy works best when consumers have money to spend. That means raising wages for workers and reining in out of control executive pay."

Orlando TSA Workers Defeat Privatization Push: AFGE members who work in airport security at Orlando International Airport defeated attempts to privatize security at one of the busiest airports in the country. Despite Orlando being named the top airport in customer service satisfaction, the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority previously voted to replace federally trained TSA officers with private screeners. Under pressure from AFGE members and an outraged public, GOAA reversed its earlier vote.

With Tuesday Victories, New Jersey Labor Candidates Program Notches 971st Victory: The New Jersey State AFL-CIO's labor candidates program continues to rack up victories. On Tuesday, Jerell Blakeley, a United Steelworkers (USW) Local 397 member, was elected to the Trenton City Council; Ed Osborne with Laborers (LIUNA) Local 1153 was elected to the Newark City Council; and Anthony Vauss with Operating Engineers (IUOE) Local 68 was elected mayor of Irvington. Another candidate, Marge Caldwell Wilson, a member of Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 1087, qualified for a runoff election for Trenton City Council.

Chicago Tribune Guild Reaches Historic Agreement with Tronc: Tronc, the company that operates the Chicago Tribune and numerous area publications, voluntarily recognized the Chicago Tribune Guild, which is an affiliate of The NewsGuild-CWA (TNG-CWA), after more than 85% of eligible employees signed cards supporting unionization. Leaders from the TNG-CWA said that voluntary recognition from a company as large as Tronc was unprecedented in their experience.

In an op-ed, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka (UMWA) and Boston Mayor Martin Walsh said:

As unions, businesses, engineers and policy makers celebrate Infrastructure Week from May 14–21, we’re reflecting on the investments that add value to America. For every dollar a country spends on public infrastructure, it gets back nearly $3, according to a 2014 study from the International Monetary Fund.

Keep this in mind when you hear that the American Society of Civil Engineers, or ASCE, has called for $2 trillion to repair, renovate or replace water lines, public schools, bridges and mass transit systems. On top of that, another $2 trillion could make America the global leader in the infrastructure technologies of the future, such as high-speed rail and smart utilities.

That kind of serious infrastructure spending would create countless jobs in manufacturing. Enacting ironclad Buy America provisions would kick-start production in steel and other battered industries, putting millions of people to work and lifting wages. These broad economic benefits explain why year after year, the AFL-CIO joins with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to ask Congress to invest in America’s national infrastructure.

These are challenging times for working people and their unions, and the prospects for worker safety and health protections are uncertain. What is clear, however, is that the toll of workplace injury, illness and death remains too high, and too many workers remain at serious risk. There is much more work to be done. Here are 15 key things you need to know from this year’s report, which primarily covers data from 2016.

Let's start with the cast of superb performers such as Chadwick Boseman, Lupita Nyong'o, Michael B. Jordan, Danai Gurira, Letitia Wright, Daniel Kaluuya and many others. They are among the group of 160,000 actors, announcers, broadcaster journalists, dancers, DJs, news writers, news editors, program hosts, puppeteers, recording artists, singers, stunt performers, voice-over artists and other media professionals who are members of SAG-AFTRA.

The screenplay, one of the better writing jobs ever done for a superhero movie, was written by Ryan Coogler and Joe Robert Cole, members of Writers Guild of America West, which represents thousands of writers who create content for television shows, movies, news programs, documentaries, animation and the web.

About the legislation, Doggett said:

Let’s level the playing field for domestic companies by ensuring that multinationals pay the same tax rate on profits earned abroad as they do here at home. This legislation would set the minimum tax on the foreign profits of multinationals equal to the statutory corporate tax rate on domestic profits and apply that rate to a similar base. It would end discrimination against companies with mostly domestic sales by not advantaging multinationals with such a huge tax break on profits earned abroad.

More specifically, the bill would:

• Equalize the tax rate on profits earned abroad to the tax rate on profits earned here at home. The new tax law allows companies to pay half of the statutory corporate tax rate on profits earned abroad, and for many it may be nothing or next to nothing. This legislation would end the preferential tax rate for offshore profits and ensure companies pay the same rate abroad as they do in the United States. This leveling of the playing field is achieved by eliminating the deductions for "global intangible low-tax income" and "foreign-derived intangible income."

Now, corporate lobbyists and the special interests that fund them are trying to undo many of the things King, the sanitation workers and many others have fought hard to win. Through a Supreme Court case, Janus v. AFSCME Local Council 31, they are ratcheting up their fight to divide and conquer us. These are the same extremists who are working to limit voting rights, roll back economic protections and gut the laws that protect working people. 

The Supreme Court soon will hear the Janus case, and it will have a big impact on our voice in the workplace. Tomorrow, working people across the country will be standing up in defense of the freedoms that we've fought for with a day of action from coast to coast (find an event near you).

Working people across the country have been using their voice to reject the attacks on unions in the Janus case. Here are some highlights of what they've been saying.

And most of that would come from women’s pockets. Nearly 70% of tipped workers are women, and a majority of them work in the restaurant industry, which suffers from some of the highest rates of sexual harassment in the entire labor market. This rule would exacerbate sexual harassment because workers will now depend on the whims of owners to get their tips back.

In a letter to Congress, the AFL-CIO opposed the rule change in the strongest possible terms, calling for the proposal to be rescinded:

Just days before the comment period for this [Notice of Proposed Rulemaking] closed, an extremely disturbing report appeared indicating that analysis of the costs and benefits in fact occurred, but was discarded. On Feb. 1, 2018, Bloomberg/BNA reported that the Department of Labor "scrubbed an unfavorable internal analysis from a new tip pooling proposal, shielding the public from estimates that potentially billions of dollars in gratuities could be transferred from workers to their employer." Assuming these reports are correct, the Department of Labor should immediately make the underlying data (and the analyses that the Department conducted) available to the public. We call on the Department of Labor to do so immediately and to withdraw the related Notice of Proposed Rulemaking.

A new study from the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United and the National Employment Law Project shows that waiters and bartenders earn more in tips than they do from their base hourly wage. The median share of hourly earnings they make from tips makes up nearly 59% of waitstaff earnings and 54% of bartenders' earnings. Allowing employers to take much or all of that tipped income would be a major blow to many working in the restaurant and bar industry.

This list is compiled from Union Plus, the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor's resource site, Labor 411, the AFL-CIO Union Label and Service Trades Department (UL&STD) and the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) website. Check them out for even more gift ideas.

The Paradise Papers helped shine a spotlight on the practices used by companies like Nike to avoid paying taxes on earnings they make in the United States. Nike is a client of the offshore law firm Appleby, which helped Nike shift the billions in profits through such methods as transferring ownership of trademarks, including Nike’s iconic swoosh logo, to a Bermudian subsidiary and then to a Dutch limited partnership.

The AFL-CIO’s shareholder proposal will go to a vote at Nike’s 2018 annual meeting and has been co-filed by Domini Investments. The proposal asks Nike to adopt a set of "responsible tax principles" that include:

• Considering the impact of Nike’s global tax strategies on local economies and government services that benefit Nike;
• Annually reviewing Nike’s tax strategies and assessing the alignment between the use of such strategies and Nike’s stated values or goals regarding sustainability;
• Periodically assessing the reputational consequences, including views of customers, shareholders and employees, of engaging in practices deemed to be "tax avoidance" by such stakeholders; and
• Ensuring that Nike seeks to pay tax where value is created.

Stephen Mittons, AFSCME Council 31 member, child protection investigator for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services:

My work as a child protection investigator for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services is vital to the safety of our state’s most vulnerable children and families. This court case is yet another political attack on the freedom of my colleagues and I to speak up to ensure that we can safely and adequately manage our caseloads, which reflects our commitment to safety and public service to our communities.

Jeff Price, AFT Local 3 member, teacher at Central High School, School District of Philadelphia:

My union just went through a lengthy contract fight in Philadelphia. We had to fight hard to protect our students’ basic needs, such as having at least one nurse and counselor in each school and ensuring that kids had necessary textbooks and materials. And we had to fight back against the district's desire to eliminate class sizes and get lead testing for the school's water fountains. Most people assume that the union only fights for teachers' rights, when in reality, most of our contract is there to protect the basic rights and needs of our students. Those rights are at grave risk in Janus.

In response to the poll, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said:

Union workers empowered by the freedom to negotiate with employers do better on every single economic benchmark. Union workers earn substantially more money, union contracts help achieve equal pay and protection from discrimination, union workplaces are safer, and union workers have better access to health care and a pension.

Here are the other key findings of the survey:

1. Union membership is a key factor in whether a worker has paid time off. While 78% of working people have Labor Day off, that number is 85% for union members. If you have to work on Labor Day, 66% of union members get overtime pay (compared to 38% of nonunion workers). And 75% of union members have access to paid sick leave (compared to only 64% of nonunion workers). Joining together in union helps working people care and provide for their families.

2. Working people go to work and make the rest of their lives possible. We work to spend time with our families, pursue our dreams and come together to build strong communities. For too many Americans, that investment doesn't pay off. More than half of Americans work more holidays and weekends than ever before. More than 40% bring home work at least one night a week. Women, younger workers and shift workers report even less access to time off.

 

1. Unions amplify the voices of working people on the job: Organized labor is one of the largest institutions in America: One in nine U.S. workers—16 million of us—are represented by unions. Joining a union means that you and your co-workers have a say in the workplace. When working people come together to negotiate, it means they are more likely to have their voice heard, which means they are more likely to win wage increases, better access to health care and workplace safety, more reasonable and predictable work schedules, and more satisfactory avenues for settling workplace disputes.

2. Working people in unions are as diverse as Americans as a whole: Union members are much more diverse than we are depicted in the media. Nearly two-thirds of union workers from 18-64 are women and/or people of color. Almost half of union members are women. More than one-third of union members are people of color. Black workers are more likely to be union members than white or Hispanic workers.

3. Working people in unions come from a variety of sectors: Nearly 40% of working people in unions are in education and health services. Nearly 14% are in public administration. More than 12% are in transportation and utilities. Just over 9% of union members are in manufacturing.

In order to get on the ballot, supporters must gather some 107,510 signatures in six of eight congressional districts. Hundreds of Missourians showed up to cheer along campaign representatives, who delivered 163 boxes filled with 57,277 pages, containing 310,567 signatures, nearly three times the required amount. All of the state's 115 counties were represented, and the numbers were sufficient to qualify in all eight congressional districts.

Here is what Missouri's working people said about right to work and the referendum:

"Right to work is wrong. It's wrong for Missouri workers. It's wrong for Missouri families. It's time for Gov. Greitens and extreme politicians to stop doing the bidding of their dark money donors and begin fighting for Missouri families," said Lori Giannini, a 12-year grocery clerk at Schnucks from St. Charles County.

Republicans are rushing to get these nominations through, but it is imperative that Congress use upcoming hearings and meetings to find out whether these men will side with working people or with the richest 1% of Americans. NLRB decisions and actions have a real impact on the lives of working people, particularly their ability to join together with co-workers to advocate for positive change at work.

Of the nominations, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said:

Marvin Kaplan has never practiced labor law, and his experience comes from crafting legislation for politicians that rigs the rules against working people. William Emanuel has a long record of practicing labor law on behalf of employers, most recently at one of the most infamous union-busting law firms in the country. On their face, the resumes of both nominees appear to be in direct conflict with the mission of the NLRB.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka explained the importance of these details:

This year’s report provides further proof that the greed of corporate CEOs is driving America’s income inequality crisis. Big corporations continually find ways to rig the economy in their favor and line their CEOs’ pockets at the expense of the workers who make their businesses run. Too often, corporations see workers as costs to be cut, rather than assets to be invested in. It’s shameful that CEOs can make tens of millions of dollars and still destroy the livelihoods of the hardworking people who make their companies profitable.

Here are five key things you should know from this year's Executive Paywatch report:

1. The average compensation for an S&P 500 CEO last year was $13.1 million. In contrast, production and nonsupervisory workers earned only $37,632, on average, in 2016. The average S&P 500 CEO makes 347 times what an average U.S. rank-and-file worker makes.

2. Last year, S&P 500 CEOs got a 5.9% raise while working people struggled to make ends meet.

Even Republicans admit that when pressed. Indiana passed a similar law in 2015 and video has surfaced from a forum April 24 in Milwaukee, where Indiana's House Assistant Majority Leader Ed Soliday (R) admits that the prevailing wage repeal in his state didn't save a penny.

Soliday said:

We got rid of prevailing wage and so far it hasn’t saved a penny. Probably the people most upset with us repealing [prevailing] wage were the locals. Because the locals, quite frankly, like to pay local contractors and they like local contractors to go to the dentist in their own town.

The exaggerations in those hearings that we were going save 22%. Well, total labor costs right now in road construction is about 22%, and I haven’t noticed anyone who’s going to work for free. [They claim] there’s some magic state out there that’s going to send all these workers into work for $10 an hour and it’s just not going to happen. There’s not 22% savings out there when the total cost of labor is 22%. It’s rhetoric. So far, I haven’t seen a dime of savings out of it.

Analysis of the Wisconsin legislation shows that $1.2 billion will be lost annually if the bill passes because of reduced economic activity. Study of the Indiana repeal shows that the state lost jobs because of it, and neighboring Kentucky saw a very similar number of new construction jobs appear in the aftermath.

***

Reposted from the AFL-CIO.

Congress has until April 30 to pass legislation that would make sure we continue to keep this promise. On that day, the extension Congress passed in December will expire, as will funding for many retired mine workers' health care.

Call 855-976-9914 to tell Congress to pass the Miners Protection Act.

UMWA President Cecil Roberts spoke to the importance of passing the Miners Protection Act, which was introduced this year by West Virginia Sens. Joe Manchin (D) and Shelley Moore Capito (R):

We believe something will be done about the health care for 22,600 retirees and their dependents by the end of April, because if that doesn’t happen, they will lose their health coverage. I don’t believe the leadership on either side wants to see that happen.

We’ve got bipartisan support to this. It’s got to happen with respect to the health care.

No other group of workers actually was promised this by the United States government. These people earned these benefits. This is not a handout. This is not welfare. This is something these people are entitled to because they worked for it and energized this nation.

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:

• E: B.F. Goodrich – Tuscaloosa, Ala.
• BF: B.F. Goodrich – Woodburn, Ind.
• VE, YE, YU, 8B: Bridgestone/Firestone – Des Moines, Iowa
• D2, E3, W1, Y7: Bridgestone/Firestone – La Vergne, Tenn.
• 2C, 4D, 5D: Bridgestone/Firestone – Morrison, Tenn.
• UP: Cooper – Findlay, Ohio
• UT: Cooper – Texarkana, Ark.
• JU, PC, UK: Goodyear – Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada
• JJ, MD, PU: Goodyear – Gadsden, Ala.
• DA: Dunlop – Buffalo, N.Y.
• JN, MJ, PY: Goodyear – Topeka, Kan.
• JE, MC, PT: Goodyear – Danville, Va.
• JF, MM, PJ: Kelly-Springfield – Fayetteville, N.C.
• CF: Titan Tire – Des Moines, Iowa
• JH, MN, PK: Titan Tire – Freeport, Ill.
• B plus serial #: Titan Tire – Bryan, Ohio
• CC: Yokohama Tire – Salem, Va.

It's not too late yet to find that perfect holiday gift that carries a union label and is made in America. Below is a wide range of gift possibilities, from clothes to games to sports equipment and more, made by members of UNITE HERE, Boilermakers (IBB), Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM), Machinists (IAM), United Steelworkers (USW), Teamsters (IBT), UAW, United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union/UFCW (RWDSU/UFCW) and United Farm Workers (UFW).

This list is compiled from Union Plus, the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor's resource site, Labor 411, the AFL-CIO Union Label and Service Trades Department (UL&STD) and the BCTGM website. Check them out for even more gift ideas.

Apparel and Accessories

• Brooks Brothers (UNITE HERE)
• Joseph Abboud (UNITE HERE)
• Majestic Athletic (UNITE HERE)
• Timex watches (IAM)
• Naturalizer shoes (UFCW)
• Nunn Bush shoes (UFCW)
• Red Wing Shoes (UFCW)

Beauty Products

• Avon (UFCW)
• Caress skin care (UFCW)
• ChapStick (USW)
• Dove beauty products (UFCW)
• Revlon (UAW)
• Old Spice (UFCW)

Investing in infrastructure is one of the critical problems that America faces. Infrastructure improvements are necessary to keep up with a modern global economy, to create jobs and to make sure that America is ready to face unknown challenges the future brings. A new report from Damon Silvers, director of policy and special counsel for the AFL-CIO, and the Roosevelt Institute makes the case that such investment is vital for our future and lays out the types of investments that will do the most to help us move forward.

Roosevelt Institute President and CEO Felicia Wong explains:

America needs genuine infrastructure investment now more than ever—and that means more than just filling potholes. It means building the foundation for 21st century commerce, which is a long-term strategic necessity. It includes public investments in high-speed rail, universal broadband and a carbon-reducing power grid, all of which will drive growth and help usher in shared prosperity for millions of Americans.