| Wisconsin State AFL-CIO |
The mission of the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO is to improve the lives of working families—to bring economic justice to the workplace and social justice to our state and the nation. Click here to read more. Recieve updates via e-mail. Click here to sign up for the e-Activist Network of the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO. For the latest local labor news, click here to visit the BLOG of the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO. For information on the history of Labor Day and other labor history, check out: The elections this year come down to a choice between leaders who will stand with working people or those whose right-wing agenda will choke off economic recovery and put corporations back in the driver’s seat. With that said, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka outlined plans for an aggressive and massive mobilization of working people this Labor Day weekend and for the fall election. During a press conference this morning at the AFL-CIO, Trumka also announced the federation will run TV and radio ads Labor Day weekend in key markets around Major League Baseball games, NASCAR, and college football games. Click headline to read more>> 
Milwaukee AFT Local 2169 member Ashleigh Lund says she hopes that President Obama’s Labor Day appearance with AFL-CIO President AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka at the annual Laborfest "can spur people to get to the voting booths in support of worker friendly candidates this November…I am excited because this shows me that the rights of workers are still important to Obama." Click on the headline to read more>> The two groups that have traditionally spoken for small business in Washington (the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Business) often push an agenda that only big business could love. Given the disconnect between the lobbying efforts of the Chamber and the NFIB and the interests of those they say they represent, others are starting to speak up for small business. 
An Oregon streetcar maker, a Wisconsin paper mill and a Tennessee solar products manufacturer are three of the eight companies that made this year’s "Labor Day List: Partnerships that Work." 
The Koch brothers and Rupert Murdoch have self-interested agendas that go well beyond the interests of those who carry their banners. The country will be in for quite a ride should these potentates gain power... 
Is destroying Iraq's labor movement a way to ensure an environment in which giant oil corporations can operate freely, and the Iraqi government can institute further market-based reforms? That was a logical question during the Bush administration, when its neoconservative advisors openly predicted Iraq would become a beachhead for privatizing the public sector of countries throughout the Middle East. Their policy, however, has not ended with the change in administration. And today, Iraqi labor is paying for its devastating consequences. Iraq's history highlights the bitterness unions might feel over this situation So instead of playing defense, Democrats should go on the attack. Accuse Republicans of being shills for the rich. And don't stop there. Do tax jujitsu. In addition to ending the Bush tax cut for the rich, put forward another proposal for growing the economy that cuts taxes on lower-income Americans 
How badly do we need our elected leaders to come off their extended vacations and get to work stimulating the economy and creating real jobs? Take a look at two items in the news. First, bankruptcy filings nationwide reached their highest level in five years between April and June, up 11 percent from the same period in 2009. For the fiscal year that ended June 30, consumer bankruptcies jumped 21 percent, to 1.51 million, from the previous year.Click the headline to read more>> 
In a recent letter to President Obama, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and a group of bipartisan senators wrote that the key to turning our economy around and creating good new jobs is a national industrial policy that would emphasize long-range actions to rebuild our manufacturing base, which has been decimated over the past few decades. In short, they urged the adoption of a national manufacturing policy. 
They're perfect for each other. (video) As U.S. combat troops head home from Iraq, new evidence shows there is much to be done before all Iraqis are truly free. In a letter to Iraq’s Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka strongly protests a recent government order that bans all trade union activities in the government-owned electrical industry. “Well, in a free-market capitalist system, there are always winners and losers,” preached Johnson. “It’s creative destruction. That just happens. It’s unfortunate. But let’s face it, if it weren’t for that we’d still have buggy whip companies.” It does not bother Johnson that the people he describes as “losers” are Wisconsin workers. That noise you hear is the social fabric of America being ripped apart at the seam. Those cries you hear are the unfulfilled pleas from the long-term unemployed, victims of the recession and our flawed economic policies that have offshored millions of jobs. The trust fund is in far better shape than critics admit. The Beltway crowd gets fooled again, this time by Representative Paul Ryan's plan for a major overhaul of federal spending and taxes. The new health insurance reform law will give families the relief they need from skyrocketing health insurance costs, and will ensure Americans have secure, stable, affordable health insurance. 
A factsheet with responses to the rumors and lies about the health care reform bill. AFL-CIO Now Blog -- Recent News Stories
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