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HR Policy Association Front Group Attacks SEC Commissioner for Speaking Out on Runaway CEO Pay

This week, the HR Policy Association’s so-called “Center on Executive Compensation” criticized a member of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for suggesting companies should consider voluntarily disclosing CEO-to-worker pay ratios. The HR Policy Association represents human resource executives of more than 325 of the largest U.S. corporations, and would prefer to keep secret the pay disparity between their bosses—the CEOs—and their employees.

Florida Union Members Call for Immigration Reform

In Miami Gardens, Fla., last night union leaders, immigration activists and elected officials called for comprehensive immigration reform—including a path to citizenship for the nation’s 11 million aspiring citizens—in another in the series of actions that are part of the AFL-CIO’s immigration reform campaign. 

Washington, D.C., Workers Rally for Real Food, Real Jobs

Dozens of students, community food activists and food industry workers came out for the “Real Food, Real Jobs” march and rally, held by UNITEHERE! Local 23 yesterday at the African American Civil War Memorial on U Street. 

Guess What: Sequestration Does Not Fix the Debt

As you may have heard, the Republicans' refusal to discontinue the hostage crisis around the sequester has led to the across-the-board budget cuts kicking in today. What you may not have heard is that the sequester actually increases the the public debt-to-GDP ratio, Andrew Fieldhouse of the Economic Policy Institute points out. 

Georgia Working Families Mobilize to Stop Anti-Worker Bills

Dozens of Georgia union members urged their state lawmakers to block several anti-worker bills now before the state House and Senate in the Georgia AFL-CIO’s annual Lobby Day Thursday. At the same time, they celebrated the passage of a resolution that honors Hurricane Sandy relief workers from Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 84 and Georgia Power who traveled to New Jersey and elsewhere to help repair and recovery efforts.

Safety Issues at ExxonMobile Refinery ‘Universal” Throughout Industry, Says USW

The safety issues the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) uncovered in a July 2012 inspection of ExxonMobil’s Baton Rouge, La., refinery are the same issues that are prevalent in many U.S. refineries, including those that were the sites of two fatal disasters, say the United Steelworkers (USW).

AFL-CIO Celebrates 50th Anniversary of Push for Civil Rights and Jobs

As working families celebrate the 50th anniversary of the historic March on Washington this Aug. 28, which accelerated the nation’s own march toward social and economic justice, it's important to note union members played a big role in spreading the message that social justice is economic justice. The march, which propelled the passage of the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act, was conceptualized by labor leaders at the time—along with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.—including, A. Philip Randolph, AFL-CIO vice president and president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, and Bayard Rustin, field coordinator, who called for the march. Along with the leadership of Randolph and Rustin, the UAW, the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union and the Transport Workers (TWU) were instrumental in supporting the march.

Former Massey Official Implicates Blankenship in Scheme to Skirt Mine Safety Laws

The former president of a Massey Energy subsidiary, who also served for 20 years in top positions throughout Massey, implicated former Massey CEO Donald Blankenship in a long-term scheme to hide mine safety violations from federal inspectors.

Astronomical Health Care Costs: Pay No Attention to the Chargemaster Behind the Curtain

While many Republicans balked at passing $60 billion in relief for Hurricane Sandy cleanup (they eventually passed a little higher than $50 billion), TIME’s Steven Brill wrote that the United States spends nearly that much in health care costs each week.In Bitter Pill: Why Medical Bills Are Killing Us, Brill asks the question very few people raise: Why does the United States pay so much for health care?