AFL-CIO Blog

  • Black History Month Profiles: Calvin Brooks
    Black History Month Profiles: Calvin Brooks This year, for Black History Month, we're taking a look at a group of leaders who are currently active making Black history across the labor movement. Check back daily for a new profile and meet some of the people working to improve not only their community, but also to improve conditions for working people across the country. Today's profile is Calvin Brooks of SMART. Calvin Brooks serves as the business agent and financial secretary for International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART) Local 25 and treasurer of the Passaic County Central Labor Council in New Jersey. He began his 30-year career as an apprentice from 1993 to 1997, graduated to journeyperson in 1997, and worked his way up the ranks to be shop steward, foreman, general foreman and Local 25 ombudsman. Brooks is a Navy veteran, who served from 1983-1989 on the USS Nassau in Europe and the Mediterranean Sea, and a member of the Union Veterans Council, AFL-CIO. Brooks is the proud father of two children. Kenneth Quinnell Thu, 02/02/2023 - 09:59 Tags: Black History Month — Feb 2
  • Service + Solidarity Spotlight: AFT’s Share My Lesson Provides Black History Month Plans and Resources for Teachers
    Service + Solidarity Spotlight: AFT’s Share My Lesson Provides Black History Month Plans and Resources for Teachers 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. Teachers and educators play an important role during Black History Month. While lesson plans need to recognize and celebrate the contributions of Black people throughout our shared history, teachers also have the opportunity to explain to students the diversity of our society and provide inspiration and examples of how students can step up and make their own contributions to Black history. The American Federation of Teachers’ (AFT’s) Share My Lesson website provides teachers with the tools they need to make their Black History Month lessons as good as possible. From “Ida B. Wells and Her Crusade for Racial Justice” to “Memphis in 1968: The Sanitation Workers’ Strike,” Share My Lesson includes numerous lesson plans, activities and articles on a wide variety of Black history topics. Find these and other tools on the Share My Lesson Black History Month website. Kenneth Quinnell Thu, 02/02/2023 - 09:30 — Feb 2
  • Black History Month Profiles: Annie Anderson
    Black History Month Profiles: Annie Anderson This year, for Black History Month, we're taking a look at a group of leaders who are currently active making Black history across the labor movement. Check back daily for a new profile and meet some of the people working to improve not only their community, but also to improve conditions for working people across the country. Today's profile is Annie Anderson of AFSCME. Annie Anderson is head custodian at the Columbus Spanish Immersion Academy in Columbus, Ohio, where the students know her as “Miss Annie.” She makes sure her students know they are loved and can achieve great things. As an AFSCME member, Anderson uses her voice to ensure that she and her co-workers have the tools they need to provide a safe and colorful environment where kids can thrive. Kenneth Quinnell Wed, 02/01/2023 - 09:44 Tags: Black History Month — Feb 1
  • Service + Solidarity Spotlight: AFGE Seeks 8.7% Raise for Federal Workers to Close Gap Between Public and Private Sector Workers
    Service + Solidarity Spotlight: AFGE Seeks 8.7% Raise for Federal Workers to Close Gap Between Public and Private Sector 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. AFGE is seeking an 8.7% pay increase for federal workers in 2024. The raise is part of the Federal Adjustment of Income Rates (FAIR) Act recently re-introduced by Rep. Gerry Connolly (Va.) and Sen. Brian Schatz (Hawaii). AFGE applauded the legislation, which National President Everett Kelley said was needed to close the double-digit pay gap between federal employees and their private sector counterparts.  “The latest report of the Federal Salary Council shows that federal worker pay lags behind the private sector by over 23%⁠—making it difficult for agencies to recruit, hire, and retain top talent and hurting the quality of services Americans receive,” Kelley said. “The 8.7% pay increase included in the FAIR Act will not only reward federal employees’ hard work and help them keep pace with inflation, but it will also help government agencies remain competitive and deliver high-quality services to the American public. We wholeheartedly endorse this bill.”  Kenneth Quinnell Wed, 02/01/2023 - 09:31 — Feb 1
  • Service + Solidarity Spotlight: International Unions Call for Justice for 42 Miners Killed in October
    Service + Solidarity Spotlight: International Unions Call for Justice for 42 Miners Killed in October 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. International unions, led by IndustriALL Global Union, are calling for justice for 42 miners who were killed in October in Turkey’s Amasra district. The deaths were a result of an explosion at the mine and four mine workers are still in the hospital, two in intensive care. IndustriALL Global Union Assistant General Secretary Kemal Özkan (pictured above, third from left) and IndustriAll Europe General Secretary Luc Triangle (second from left) visited the mine and met with local officials, mine employees and family members of the killed miners. “It is the duty of the trade union movement to commemorate our lost fellow miners and to protect their rights. We came here to show our solidarity and express our readiness to work together to prevent future accidents. We will do our best to ensure that mine workers can work in healthy and safe conditions,” Özkan said. A fire still rages in the mine and efforts are underway to extinguish it so coal production can restart. Workers and the local community want the mine to reopen and for life to return to normal. A prosecutor is asking for a sentencing between 16 months and 1,062 years for 19 suspects, including the manager of the mine for “causing death and injury to more than one person by conscious negligence.” “We are here to join the demand for justice. The International and European union movement, public opinion and the families of victims want to know why these 42 miners were killed. We will continue to follow this case closely. Every mine worker has the right to return home healthy and safe,” Triangle said. Kenneth Quinnell Tue, 01/31/2023 - 09:48 — Jan 31