AFL-CIO Blog

  • Pride Month Profiles: Adam Piasecki
    Pride Month Profiles: Adam Piasecki For Pride Month, the AFL-CIO is spotlighting various LGBTQ+ Americans who have worked and continue to work at the intersection of civil and labor rights. Today's Pride Month profile is Adam Piasecki of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). Adam Piasecki is an elementary school teacher, president of the Ithaca Teachers Association, a member of the New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) board of directors, a Mid-State Central Labor Council trustee, a member of NYSUT's Civil and Human Rights Committee, a NYSUT delegate, a National Education Association state delegate and a New York State Teachers' Retirement System delegate. Kenneth Quinnell Tue, 06/07/2022 - 09:53 — Jun 7
  • Service + Solidarity Spotlight: F-35 Instructor Pilots on Strike for Respect, Fairness at San Diego’s Miramar Air Station
    Service + Solidarity Spotlight: F-35 Instructor Pilots on Strike for Respect, Fairness at San Diego’s Miramar Air Station 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. Military pilot instructors at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego, like the ones in the new “Top Gun: Maverick” film, went on strike on Friday. Lockheed Martin has refused to fairly compensate the eight highly accomplished pilots who are members of Machinists (IAM) Local 1125. These workers have advanced qualifications that include the requirement to perform and teach specialized tactics in the air combat environment to F-35 military pilots. “Each instructor here has proudly served our nation’s military in the fighter squadrons across the world and continues to put in countless hours to perfect our craft and ability to instruct at very high levels,” said Military Pilot Trainer Ryan Cunningham (pictured above, fourth from the left). “We’re asking that Lockheed Martin treat us with the same respect we demonstrate to this company, our military, and specifically this profession, each and every day.” Kenneth Quinnell Tue, 06/07/2022 - 09:45 — Jun 7
  • Pride Month Profiles: Marisa Borreggine
    Pride Month Profiles: Marisa Borreggine For Pride Month, the AFL-CIO is spotlighting various LGBTQ+ Americans who have worked and continue to work at the intersection of civil and labor rights. Today's Pride Month profile is Marisa Borreggine of UAW. Marisa Borreggine studies the interface between climate modelling, sea-level theory and ancient human migration. At Harvard, they helped create the Queer Earth Scientist Organization (QuESO) and served as vice president of the Harvard Graduate Students Union (HGSU-UAW) from 2020 to 2021. They currently specialize in handling grievance cases related to power- and identity-based harassment and discrimination and train grievance officers on trauma-informed grievance handling strategies. Kenneth Quinnell Mon, 06/06/2022 - 09:50 — Jun 6
  • Service + Solidarity Spotlight: UAW and AFT Call for School Buses Across the Country to Be Union-Made Electric Vehicles
    Service + Solidarity Spotlight: UAW and AFT Call for School Buses Across the Country to Be Union-Made Electric Vehicles 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. The UAW and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) called on school districts across the country to electrify the nation’s school bus fleet and to do the work with union labor. The Biden administration is providing seed money to accelerate the process as part of the infrastructure bill that passed last year. “After a week like last week,” AFT President Randi Weingarten said, “it’s pretty remarkable to have a press conference that shows you what is possible.” Watch the full press conference. Kenneth Quinnell Mon, 06/06/2022 - 09:30 — Jun 6
  • Economy Gains 390,000 Jobs in May; Unemployment Steady at 3.6%
    Economy Gains 390,000 Jobs in May; Unemployment Steady at 3.6% The U.S. economy gained 390,000 jobs in May, and the unemployment rate remained steady at 3.6%, according to figures released Friday morning by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Continuing strong job creation numbers are a clear sign that the worker-friendly policies implemented by President Biden are having a positive impact on working people. In response to the May job numbers, AFL-CIO Chief Economist William Spriggs tweeted: Last month’s biggest job gains were in leisure and hospitality (+84,000), professional and business services (+75,000), transportation and warehousing (+47,000), construction (+36,000), state government education (+36,000), private education (+33,000), health care (+28,000), manufacturing (+18,000), wholesale trade  (+14,000), local government education (+14,000), mining (+6,000). Employment in retail trade declined by 61,000. In May, employment showed little change in other major industries, including information, financial activities and other services. Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rate for Asian Americans declined to 2.4% in May. The jobless rates for teenagers (10.4%), Black Americans (6.2%), Hispanics (4.3%), adult men (3.4%), adult women (3.4%) and White Americans (3.2%) showed little or no change over the month. The number of long-term unemployed workers (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) was edged down in May and accounted for 23.2% of the total unemployed. Kenneth Quinnell Fri, 06/03/2022 - 14:33 — Jun 3