News

Maine Workers Are Organizing!

IN THIS EDITION:

  • USW 900 Worker Dies from Coronavirus Amid Outbreak at Rumford Mill
  • Over 80 Maine Union Members Signed Up for Strike School!
  • Waterville KVCAP Drivers Headed to a Union Election
  • Portland Museum of Art Workers Organizing Union
  • Want to Volunteer as a Paid Pollworker on Election Day? 

$15 Minimum Wage on the Ballots in Portland and Rockland

This November, voters in Portland and Rockland will have the opportunity to vote on ballot measures to gradually increase the hourly minimum wage from $12 to $15 from 2022 to 2024.

Portland to Vote on Responsible Contracting Ordinance

This November, voters in Portland will have the opportunity to vote on a referendum that would help address climate change while creating good union jobs in the process.

Workers Will Not Tolerate Trump Trashing the Constitution

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka issued a strong warning to Donald Trump Friday that the nation’s workers are ready to stop any attempt by the administration to trash the U.S. constitution.

He was reacting to announcements by Trump that he considers the mail-in voting process unacceptable and that he will not commit to a peaceful transfer of power should he lose the election. Trump has said, essentially, that only an election he wins would be one he would recognize.

Steelworkers Had Hope; Then Trump Broke His Promises

Members of the United Steelworkers (USW) at a steel factory in Columbus, Ohio, had hope when the Trump administration promised to protect their jobs. Fred Silvia, president of USW Local 9309, said: “Initially, we felt the tariffs were going to help us. Unfortunately, there was still steel coming in from overseas and our business just started dropping off.” Production at the steel factory where USW members worked was indefinitely halted in June. “The tariffs were a short-term fix to a long-term problem that we still currently have today.

Wage Hikes, Responsible Contracting & More

IN THIS EDITION

  • Portland Voters to Consider “Responsible Contracting” Ballot Measure
  • $15 Minimum Wage on the Ballots in Portland and Rockland
  • Register Now for the Virtual Climate Jobs and Just Transition Summit 
  • Can We Count on You to Help Elect Pro-Labor Candidates?
  • Corporations Funnel Billions to Billionaire Investors as Millions Struggle
  • 127 Years Ago This Week: The First Major Shoe Strike in Maine

Faith and Labor Movements Are Bridging Trump’s Racial Divide With Hope and Love

This election year, America faces interlocking crises—a global health crisis, economic collapse, and systemic racism. Even as we live in fear of disease and economic ruin, we have had to watch the on-camera murders of unarmed Black people by officers who have sworn to protect and serve us. So many of us have stood outside nursing homes and hospitals as our loved ones died inside, alone. In response, we are struggling with despair and asking, Dare we hope for profound change in our public life?

Faith and labor partnership launched on Birmingham bombing anniversary

Rev. William Barber, who heads the nonprofit Repairers of the Breach and the Poor People’s Campaign, joined Richard Trumka, president of the country’s largest federation of unions, at the church to announce a formal partnership to work for social, racial and economic justice. Trumka said the labor movement honors the bombing’s four young victims: Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson and Carol Denise McNair. “But our debt to this community is greater than that,” he said.

Honoring Workers Requires Action

IN THIS EDITION: 

  • Labor Day Caravan Rolls Through Portland
  • Without Federal Aid, State & Municipalities Forced to Make Cuts
  • To Build Union Power We Need to Build Movements & Elect Pro-Labor Candidates
  • Collins-Approved NLRB Guts Union Protections

Watch: NFLPA Video on Racial Justice

As the new professional football season begins, the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) released the first in a series of videos of members speaking out on racial justice. The video focuses on NFLPA members’ activism and their participation in the Black Lives Matter movement. The members shared their perspectives on kneeling and what using their platform looks like this football season. “I had that mindset of I’m going to kneel this year as well.

Joe Biden and Richard Trumka: Put power back in workers' hands

Fifty-five years ago, in a speech to the convention of the Illinois AFL-CIO, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. laid out with characteristic moral clarity the essential role of unions in American life. “The labor movement,” he explained, “was the principal force that transformed misery and despair into hope and progress … [When] the wave of union organization crested over the nation, it carried to secure shores not only itself but the whole society. Civilization began to grow in the economic life of man, and a decent life with a sense of security and dignity became a reality rather than a distant dream.”