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 >>>

Marcus Hedger will have to wait even longer to get his job back if Senate Republicans continue to block President Obama’s bipartisan nominees to serve on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Call your senators toll free at 1-888-264-6154 and tell them to confirm the board nominations now. Hedger was illegally fired in 2010 from his pressman’s job at an Illinois printing company for his union activities on behalf of his fellow union members in the Graphic Communications Conference of the Teamsters. Last September, the full NLRB—two Democrats and one Republican, at the time—ruled he should get his job back with back pay. Read more >>>

Most voters agree that big corporations and the wealthy should start paying their fair share in taxes. But, of course, big corporations and the wealthy don’t want to do that. They want to pay less, and they are used to getting their way. So what do you do? Some people in Washington think the answer is a “grand bargain.” In a “grand bargain,” Republicans agree to stop protecting millionaires from having to pay a single penny more in taxes. In return, Democrats agree to cut Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare benefits. Read more >>>

The vast majority of America's workers have largely been shut out of the nation’s economic growth over the past three decades, reports the 12th edition of The State of Working America from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). Released today and available online, the report finds that the typical American family has added hundreds of extra hours of work each year, while also earning better education credentials, yet is still struggling to keep up. Read more >>>

The North Central Indiana AFL-CIO Council and United Way in South Bend are giving community members the opportunity to Adopt a Family and heat a home. Dawn Chapla, AFL-CIO Community Services liaison, wrote the grant that will match donated dollars for heating, provide free budget counseling and provide a case coordinator to develop and work on a plan of action.

The Postal Service is critical to our economy—delivering mail, medicine and packages on time and at an affordable price, without a dime of taxpayer money.

But no company can grow or even maintain its business by cutting its service. Reducing the scope and quality of service by eliminating Saturday delivery service or closing post offices and facilities will not restore the Postal Service to health. It would likely drive mailers away and therefore worsen the Postal Service’s financial problems

Read more >>>

The United States Postal Service (USPS) is under attack in Washington. A 2006 postal reform law requires the USPS to pre-fund 75 years' worth of future retiree health benefits within just 10 years. No other federal agency or private enterprise is forced to pre-fund similar benefits like this, especially on such an aggressive schedule.

This unnecessary mandate costs the USPS $5.5 billion per year and is the sole reason for its losses over the past four years. Now, some in Congress want to take this opportunity to gut the USPS, eliminating hundreds of thousands of jobs, ending Saturday delivery and closing hundreds of post offices in communities across the nation.

Help save 120,000 American jobs and an essential part of our economy by stamping out this foolishness!

This coming Tuesday working men and women in every single Congressional district across America will hold rallies in support of House Resolution 1351, a bill that addresses the financial crisis facing the Postal Service and saves jobs.

Join us on Tuesday, September 27, 2011 from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. at an event near you and help us deliver a message to Congress: Save the Postal Service!

Read more >>>

Tomorrow, Wednesday September 7th, the Indiana General Assembly's Interim Committee on Employment will meet to consider legislation to ban all project labor agreements in the state – another attack on working people.

The committee, which is led and controlled by the Republican majority, will convene at 9:00 a.m. in the chambers of the Indiana House of Representatives on the 3rd floor of the Indiana Statehouse. Read more >>>

As we approach another Labor Day, millions of Americans remain unemployed and underemployed. Yet, instead of working to create jobs and put people back to work a bipartisan majority of lawmakers in Congress and the White House are pushing legislation to send even more of our jobs overseas.

On April 10, 2011, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler called to thank the leadership of the Indiana State AFL-CIO and Indiana’s union men and women for their work in recent months. Shuler told the leaders assembled “against all odds, you were able to fend off serious threats to working people.” And she encouraged them to keep fighting – to keep building structure to ensure this attack does not happen anywhere again in this nation. Represented in the meeting were affiliates such at IBT, OPEIU, UNITE HERE, Ironworkers, NALC, Steelworkers, UAW, IFT, ISTA, SEIU, AFSCME, as well as others!

Click here to read the full text of Secretary-Treasurer Shuler's remarks!