|
       
Sitting on the sidelines isn’t an option when the push for immigration reform is shaping up to become one of the key political and economic debates in 2013. We — along with many workers’ rights and immigration reform advocates — are working to ensure that our nation’s leaders take a broad, inclusive, and humane approach to immigration reform policymaking to protect and advance bedrock civil, labor, and human rights for all workers in this country. Through 25 years of our history of supporting employees taking a stand to fight for dignity and respect on the job, we have witnessed the particularly inhumane and unjust treatment of immigrant workers across the country. It’s one key reason we joined with key allies to start the POWER campaign. The current U.S. immigration policy results in unscrupulous employers manipulating laws and threatening workers who try to exercise their labor rights. Too often, when immigrant workers attempt to organize to combat exploitation, employers use immigration enforcement as a weapon to squash those organizing efforts. As a result, immigrant workers — who are under the constant threat of deportation — are forced to accept diminished job conditions, which ultimately lowers the floor for all workers in this country. The victory of the CJ’s Seafood workers in securing U-Visas shows we can turn the tide for immigrant workers and protect the right to organize, thereby strengthening the opportunity for all workers to live and work with dignity. We’re ready to educate, mobilize, and inspire community members to stand with immigrant workers and push for policies that will benefit all workers in the long run. We’ll share more updates and opportunities for engagement in the weeks and months ahead in the fight for fair and inclusive immigration policy in 2013. Stay tuned, and stay off the sidelines!
Let’s take a look back at where we collectively stood up and fought back in 2012! Read more »
Earlier this month, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder signed H.B. 4246, a bill that will prevent graduate research and teaching assistants at the state’s public universities from forming unions and bargaining collectively. We asked Alix Gould-Werth (pictured), one of the graduate student research assistants (GSRA) involved in an organizing drive at the University of Michigan, to shed some light on this latest attack on workers. Read more »
There’s no doubt that this initiative would be good for workers, but it’s also crucial for the state’s economic recovery. With the ability to bargain collectively, workers can regain their grasp on the middle class and pump much-needed consumer spending into the economy.
The unions that represent the two groups of workers, the United Steelworkers and the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers, and Grain Millers International Union, give us a glimpse inside their journey in the press release cross posted below. Read more »
The issue of whether childcare workers should be able to form unions has generated considerable debate in recent years. Those who support the rights of these workers to form unions and bargain collectively emphasize the low pay and difficult environments childcare providers often face. Unions help to stabilize conditions, improve job satisfaction, and raise wages to appropriate levels—all of which are vital to providing the best possible care for children. Unfortunately, very little is known about the tangible differences unions make in the lives of childcare providers. But a new study from the Economic Opportunity Institute (EOI) helps to shed light on the value unions provide to an often-neglected and voiceless group of workers. Read more » |
Posts Tagged ‘workers rights’
Union Shop
