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Ten years ago this week, the United States launched the invasion of Iraq. The nation remains divided on the wisdom, strategy and outcome of the war that claimed the lives of 4,488 U.S. service members and left more than 32,000 wounded. But there is one certainty—the men and women who honorably fought and served in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past decade have come home to an economy that works even less for them than it does others. Job loss, stagnant wages and a widening gap between working families and the wealthy and Wall Street are some of these problems.
On Wednesday, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) introduced the Healthy Families Act, which would give workers the opportunity to earn paid sick leave they could use for personal illnesses or to take care of sick family members, among other uses. The act also would allow workers to use earned sick time to deal with the effects of domestic violence.
What comes to mind when you think about Major League Baseball (MLB)? Multimillion-dollar ball players and even multier-million-dollar owners? Shiny new stadiums with $300 luxury VIP seating and $10 beers and $8 hot dogs for those of us in the bleachers? The $6 billion Fox Sports/Los Angeles Dodgers TV deal and others like it?While MLB seems to be printing money faster than Topps prints baseball cards, ESPN New York reports that the club owners are considering eliminating pensions for the everyday, regular folk employees who work behind the scenes to keep the glitter dome running—club employees from office workers to trainers to minor league coaches and staff to scouts.
On Wednesday night, workers from the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas casino will engage in the first act of civil disobedience on the Las Vegas strip by union members in more than 20 years. The workers have been negotiating a contract with the casino owner, Deutsche Bank, for more than two years and they contend that the owner refuses to agree on measures that are standard in other major casino contracts on the strip. Workers plan to engage in action by blocking traffic. Contracts for the workers will expire June 1.
If the Easter bunny knows what's good for him, he'll make sure to drop off union-made in America sweets on Easter weekend. Check out some highlights from the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor's resource site, Labor 411. These Easter shopping list ideas are brought to you by the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) and United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW).
Ana Avendaño, assistant to the president and director of immigration and community action at the AFL-CIO, sent the following message to working family activists:Immigration has been all the buzz here in Washington, and you might have heard about it on your local news or radio station. It’s great news, because the story of immigrants in this country is rich and complex, and there’s a lot that goes into finding a road map to citizenship for the 11 million aspiring Americans. We’re hosting an online education session next week in the evening for anyone who wants to learn more about why the AFL-CIO is so invested in this fight for a commonsense immigration process. We want you to be there, so every member of our community knows how to talk about this issue. Will you join us?
Source: Baltimore Brew
Source: www.thenewcrossroads.com
Source: NYTimes
Source: NYTimes
