The AFT and First Book—a nonprofit that has distributed more than 90 million new books to children across the United States—have joined forces with New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) to help encourage a culture of reading for low-income and middle-class students.

This video features AFT’s team-up with First Book to place books in the homes of the children of Freeport, N.Y., a community devastated by Hurricane Sandy in 2012.

 

After 45 years of driving a cab in New York City, Beresford Simmons says the emergence of the National Taxi Workers Alliance in the past few years is helping his family and those of other drivers reach the middle class. Simmons’ story is one of three illustrating that unions make the middle class strong, giving workers a voice in our economy, portrayed in a trio of new videos by the Center for American Progress Action Fund.

 

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AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka released the following statement in response to the Senate Judiciary Committee's immigration bill: Today brings to mind Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s wise and hopeful words, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” More than 11 million aspiring Americans took a big step toward becoming citizens today with the bipartisan Senate Judiciary Committee vote. That reflects an enormous step toward healing an injustice, the deportation crisis that has wrecked families, communities and workplaces for far too long. Read more >>>

Wilma Liebman who served 14 years on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)—including chairwoman from 2009–2011—says, “Appointments to the NLRB have been a political battleground for decades.” But, in a column in Politico, she says the current attack on the NLRB is the most vicious since the board was created in the 1930s. Read more >>>

After her husband was murdered while working as a journalist in the Philippines, Marivir Montebon arrived in the United States seeking political asylum with the hope of finding a better, safer life for herself, and for her daughter who arrived two years later.

“I always thought of a green card as a second birth certificate—a second life,” Montebon says.

When she presents at the Writing Across Borders Conference in New York on June 1, Montebon will join other women and people of color on a panel to tell their stories about escaping abuse, oppression and the legacy of slavery. See more.

Leading up to the AFL-CIO convention in September 2013, the AFL-CIO is hosting a crucial conversation about the future of working people and of unions—in union halls and online at www.aflcio2013.org.

Southern Tier Women’s Equality Coalition Delivers 500 constituent signatures to Senator Libous urging passage of the Women’s Equality Agenda

On May 17th, the regional Women’s Equality Coalition (WEA) delivered over 500 constituent signatures to the Binghamton office of Senator Libous, in coordination with eight other regional Women’s Equality Coalitions around the state. The WEA is petitioning Senators around the State, including Senator Libous, to support passage of the 10-point Women’s Equality Agenda before the state Legislature recesses on June 20.

Before delivering the petitions, WEA held a press conference to highlight why passage of the ten-point agenda is so important to women and families. Speakers were Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo, NYS Legislature, Mayor Matthew Ryan, City of Binghamton, Councilwoman Teri Rennia, Binghamton City Council President and Co-Owner of Enviren Calibrations, Samantha Suggs-Brown, 2013 Graduate Binghamton University, and Councilwoman Lea Webb, Binghamton City Council, Co-Chair Southern Tier Women’s Equality Coalition.

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Kathy D'Arminio, PEF, was the recipient of the "Special Recognition Award" presented at the NYS/PEF 2013 statewide Health and Safety Conference.

The award was presented for her dedication and advocacy in promoting the health and safety of all New York State workers. Kathy is a member of PEF Division 399 and co-chair of the PEF Region 5 Women's Program.

And Sally Weibel, PEF, who works at the DOL office at Glendale, Endicott. and is also a member of PEF's Region 5 Women’s Program, was recently honored with the IAWP (International Association of Workplace Professionals) Workforce System Customer Service Award for her work during hurricane's Irene and Lee.

Congratulations to Sisters D'Arminio and Weibel.

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Rana Plaza, the Bangladesh factory that collapsed three weeks ago, killed more than 1,100 workers, many of them young women. This tragedy adds to the more than 1500 Bangladeshi workers killed in preventable fires and building collapses since 2005. Documents found at the factory show that the workers produced for big names in global retail revealing the link between poor workers in Bangladesh and major retail brands.Obviously, the government must improve local laws and their enforcement to stop these tragedies, but brands must also take responsibility for their supply chains. They must be held accountable to the tragedy that happened in their supply chain. Read more >>>