One of the rights unions have long fought for is the right to not work—the right to weekends, to work days that don’t stretch from before dawn to past dusk, to extra pay if you work extra hours, to vacations and sick leave and family leave. All of that, of course, is under assault by corporations and the Republican lawmakers who put corporate wishes into law. A new AFL-CIO survey shows just how badly:
It’s not just vacations and holidays, though. It’s the ability to take time off work to care for a loved one who needs you, and that’s an ability that’s unequally distributed in the American workplace:
Fifty-three percent (53%) of younger women and 53% of noncollege-educated women think their employers would give them time to care for a sick family member. Comparatively, 76% of younger men and 64% of noncollege-educated men expected the same of their employers.
And by the way, if you’ve ever wondered how relevant unions are today, if you were tempted by the Republican argument that they won all the important battles in past decades and aren’t needed today, check this out:
Union members polled are much more likely to receive Labor Day off and overtime pay compared with their nonunion counterparts. While 78% of all working people polled have Labor Day off, 85% of union members do. Furthermore, 66% of union members receive overtime for working on Labor Day, compared with 38% of nonunion members. Seventy-nine percent (79%) of union members enjoy access to paid vacation, compared with 68% of nonunion members. Finally, 75% of union members have access to paid sick leave, compared with only 64% of nonunion members.
Happy Labor Day. Keep fighting for workers in America and around the world.
● Rightwing alliance plots assault to 'defund and defang' America's unions.
● A National Labor Relations Board regional office has issued a complaint saying workers at the gig economy platform Handy Technologies are employees, not independent contractors. Of course, the company will be taking this up to the Trump-controlled NLRB, so ...
● An … interesting take on the Trump White House from AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka:
“You had two factions in the White House. You had one that actually had some of the policies that we would have supported on trade, on infrastructure, but [they] turned out to be racist,” Trumka said. That was likely a reference to members of the Steve Bannon-nationalist wing of the administration, many of whom agreed with the AFL-CIO that trade deals like NAFTA have been a raw deal for U.S. workers.
“On the other hand, you had people who weren’t racist, but they were Wall Streeters,” Trumka went on. “And the Wall Streeters have come to dominate the administration, and moved his agenda back to everything that I think they fought against in the election.”
They turned out to be racist? I mean, we kind of knew that all along, right? That was pretty much the whole deal with them.
● A success for American steel in the new Tappan Zee Bridge.
● About those coal miners Donald Trump loves so much:
Owen Mark Jones, 51, of Pickens, was the sixth coal miner to die on the job in West Virginia so far this year. That’s twice the number of miners who died in the state’s coal industry in 2016. Nationally, Jones was the 12th coal miner to die on the job so far in 2017, compared to eight last year.
● Costco drops trucking company accused of labor violations:
Earlier this month, four prominent Democratic Senators, led by Sherrod Brown of Ohio, sent letters to 16 retailers, calling on them to root out “shameful” labor abuses first outlined by the USA TODAY Network.
Soon after, Costco Wholesale dropped Pacific 9 Transportation, one of the biggest port trucking companies in Southern California.
● Americans express support for traditional public schools in new poll, even as Trump disparages them.
● Carol Burris, executive director of the Network for Public Education, takes on a study that claims charter schools help nearby public schools.
● These dock workers just showed the labor movement how to shut down fascists.
●