Free Republic

File this under always double-check before hitting send.As reporters fell over themselves Wednesday morning to confirm the breaking news that President Obama had plans to announce his immigration executive order Thursday and expand upon it  Friday, some received an e-mail confirmation by mistake.AFL-CIO spokesman Jeff Hauser inadvertently forwarded an e-mail intended for immigration activists to a long list of national reporters, including several at The Washington Post.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka is backing construction of the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline in comments that downplay divisions among unions in the labor federation over the controversial project. “They are not divided on the pipeline itself,” Trumka said in a C-SPAN interview when asked about differences among unions over Keystone. “They are divided on how the pipeline is done.” ADVERTISEMENT “I think we are all unanimous by saying we should build the pipeline, but we have to do it consistent with all environmental standards, and I think we can work that out, I really do, and we are for...

President Obama is expected to announce his executive order to grant legal status for millions of illegal immigrants in an address Thursday night, according to sources close to the administration. Mr. Obama will give a broad outline of his action Thursday and follow it up with a trip Friday to Las Vegas to provide more details. The White House would not confirm the report Wednesday morning, nor have Mr. Obama’s aides announced any travel plans for later this week. But a spokesman for the AFL-CIO inadvertently disclosed the tentative plans in an email Wednesday. “We hear there will be a...

The incoming chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has been outspoken about his plans to cut federal employees’ pay and pensions. Besides his previous proposal, Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin spoke with the Washington Post this week and discussed what he wants to do when he takes over the committee in January. On his chopping block are federal employees’ pay, health insurance, pensions, and the right to join a union.“I think it’s unrealistic for public-service employees to believe they are immune from modifications to their pay and benefit packages,” said Sen. Johnson, who was elected to...

While conservative legislators across the country are gearing up to propose extreme legislation, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka issued a statement that working families and the labor union are prepared to fight back and make sure that harmful and unpopular policies don't pass. He said the labor federation would continue to focus on the agenda that working families want, one of raising wages and creating an economy that works for all Americans.Trumka's full statement:In the wake of last Tuesday’s elections, many state and local politicians have already begun to signal their intent to wage assaults on working people in their states....

Politically, are labor unions finished? It appears that might be the case. Republican Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker once again humiliated organized labor with his comfortable re-election last Tuesday. While polls showed a close race, Walker beat his Democratic opponent, Mary Burke, by a 6-point margin 52/46. Labor unions had put Walker in the cross hairs ever since his 2010 gubernatorial victory, failed to oust him in the 2012 recall (Walker received more votes in this election than in the 2010 race), and came up short again in this contest. Walker is now a definite 2016 contender, with a reputation...

Vice President Joe Biden will deliver the keynote address at next week’s AFL-CIO/AFT Summit on Career and Technical Education and Workforce Development.    The Nov. 13 event at the AFL-CIO headquarters in Washington, D.C., will focus on the importance of career and technical education (CTE) in preparing K–12 students for both college and career pathways. It also will examine the role of unions as collaborating partners with business, policy makers and local communities to create opportunities that prepare workers for good jobs, raise wages and spur economic development and community revitalization.Scheduled speakers include AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka; Snap-On Tools Chairman and CEO...

Wasting no time after the midterm elections, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka immediately stepped back into the policy arena, calling on President Barack Obama to take executive action on immigration. Executive action is particularly important now that a historically obstructionist Congress is likely to be followed by one that takes even less action on issues important to working families.Trumka's statement:The President needs to take executive action to support immigrant rights. But he also needs to take action on immigration to ensure the rights of all of us.You see, in our country today, nearly 12 million people, and 8 million workers, are...

The AFL-CIO national campaign to build stronger communities by empowering eligible immigrants to become citizens and fully engage in the democratic process has become a reality in New Jersey, with the opening of the state’s first labor-led naturalization and community center.The We Are One New Jersey Hudson County Center officially opened on Oct. 28 in Jersey City. AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Tefere Gebre joined the New Jersey State AFL-CIO for the opening ceremony, along with Sens. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Rep. Albio Sires (D-N.J.), New Jersey State AFL-CIO President Charles Wowkanech, New Jersey State AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Laurel Brennan...

This week the AFL-CIO threw its considerable weight behind Democrat-turned-independent Greg Orman in his bid for U.S. Senate in Kansas. This came on the heels of a debate that was all about defining who Greg Orman really is: ... The AFL-CIO won't run TV ads for Orman, spokesman Jeff Hauser said, but his campaign will now be incorporated into the union's extensive ground game there. The AFL-CIO had previously endorsed Kansas's Democratic Party's gubernatorial nominee, Paul Davis, who is locked into one of the country's most competitive gubernatorial contests with incumbent Republican Gov. Sam Brownback. During Wednesday's debate, incumbent Sen....

Joyce and Karen Koch aren’t related to each other. But that’s not important; they’re sisters “in spirit.” Besides, what they really want you to know is that they’re not related to the Koch brothers, the billionaire conservatives funding political candidates and causes nationwide. more...

As working people in Missouri gather for days of action demanding justice for Michael Brown, the labor movement and the AFL-CIO are joining them and supporting the groundwork being laid for racial and economic justice for the people of Ferguson and all over the country. See updates from Ferguson October (Oct. 10–13) by following the hashtag on Twitter: #FergusonOctoberIn the meantime, check out AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka's speech on confronting racism. 

Koch Brothers go on offensive to expose dark money in politics. The Koch brothers—taking a break from such nefarious endeavors as spending money in support of their political positions and, worse, donating to hospitals—are going on the offensive with a campaign to expose the vast web of dark money spun by the Democracy Alliance. The Democracy Alliance is a secretive left-wing organization which connects big-money progressive donors to a long list of progressive organizations. A chart mapping out all the groups financed by the Democracy Alliance was distributed by Republicans on the Senate floor on Monday, and it makes clear...

A Tulsa, Okla.,-based plumbers and pipe welders union is clearly flush with cash, as a dozen of their top officials made more than $200,000 last year, federal records show. Plumbers AFL-CIO Local Union 798 paid business manager Daniel Hendrix $280,000 and financial secretary/treasurer Wade Pilgreen $272,000 in fiscal 2013, according to disclosures the union filed with the U.S. Department of Labor. ... Hendrix said his pipe fitters make about $50 an hour and work at least a 60-hour a week plus expenses, and the union staff is compensated at a similar rate for their roughly 80-hour work weeks. A person...

The AFL-CIO has been calling on the White House to halt unnecessary deportations since spring 2013. Our dysfunctional and antiquated immigration system is an invitation for employer manipulation and abuse, and U.S.-born workers as well as immigrant workers are paying the price. Every day that the White House does not act, more than 1,000 people are torn from their worksites, their families and their communities, driving down wages and standards in the process.The time to act on immigration was more than a year ago, when the Senate passed a comprehensive, bipartisan framework for real reform. House Republicans refused to do...

“Working families everywhere applaud the courage of the fast food workers who are striking today and engaging in acts of civil disobedience in over 150 cities. And we applaud the unity and the collective spirit displayed by members of AFL-CIO state federations and labor councils who have joined today’s protests in solidarity.This nation was built on the fundamental beliefs that work should be a gateway to the middle class, and that no job should ever trap someone in poverty. That’s why the ‘Fight for Fifteen’ movement is surging and the protests are getting ever louder. It’s time for corporations to...

The nation’s largest labor federation took aim Tuesday at the conservative Koch brothers in ads designed to highlight the billionaire industrialists’ political clout and to gin up liberal voters. […] “For years, the Koch brothers have epitomized how corporations and the super-rich have tried to systematically destroy our democracy,” president of the 12 million-member AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said. “Today, they’re finally meeting their match.” …

With its cover story [1] on Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, The New Republic has hit an all-time low. Written by TNR Senior Editor Alec Macgillis, it reads as a commissioned hit job meant to lessen Walker’s chances of entering the GOP presidential race.Let’s start with the cover: superimposed over a photo of the governor standing by his desk is the title: “Scott Walker is So Hot Right Now: Too bad he owes his success to a toxic strain of Racial Politics.” Inside the issue, the title becomes: “The Unelectable Whiteness of Scott Walker: A Journey Through the Poisonous,...

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka issued the following statement in response to the ongoing deportation crisis in the U.S.:We face a grave moral crisis on immigration reform.  Our long-held belief is that every possible step that could be taken should be taken with great urgency.  We reiterate our urgent plea that all political leaders, in both branches, act without delay to end the deportation crisis.That means that the executive branch must provide all those who would qualify for citizenship under the bipartisan Senate Bill affirmative status with work authorization, as laid out in our policy statement. And that means that Republican leaders...

With the Allied victory in Europe and Japan complete and the greatest war the world had ever seen coming to a close, AFGE continued to secure major victories of its own.By taking our message to the streets, airwaves, and halls of Congress, AFGE achieved groundbreaking advances for federal workers as it embarked on a decades-long march toward a membership 300,000 strong. Starting in 1946, AFGE won uniformity in salary increases and extended benefits to an additional half-million federal workers. In doing so we secured a 14 percent wage increase for federal workers.Into the 1950’s AFGE continued to break new ground...