Alexandria Knox's Blog – March 2012 Archive (17)

This is a live recorded call to a sheltered workshop in MN. Listen and hear how this lady admits to paying below minimum wage and how she just laughs and says the people love the work they do and she admits they get paid sometimes two cents! And no benefits not even health insurance! I think I have all the evidence I need on this one. Union union, close these slave sweathshops down and this was recorded at four their time and those people were still working in the background so figure eight…

In the history of American labor, the United Mine Workers of America has occupied a position of unquestioned leadership. The UMWA led the struggle to establish collective bargaining in American industrial life in the twentieth century. Its principles and policies, its strength and unity, and its outstanding leaders have been an inspiration to generations of working families for over one hundred years. The richness of the UMWA's history is a testament to the firm determination…

Teamsters Union, U.S. labor union formed in 1903 by the amalgamation of the Team Drivers International Union and the Teamsters National Union. Its full name is the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen, and Helpers of America (IBT). In 2005 the union had 1.4 million members; the majority of its members are truck drivers. The Teamsters has been one of the few unions to support Republican candidates, backing Richard Nixon in 1972 and Ronald Reagan in the…

The entire labor movement is based on one simple idea. It’s so simple that maybe we don’t spell it out as often as we should: With a union, the whole is more than the sum of its parts. When workers organize, the group has more power than each member would have their own.

An employer will always have much more power than a lone worker. If Sandy the widget-press operator asks her boss for a raise, the boss can easily turn her down. What’s she going to do? Quit?…

Samuel Gompers was the first and longest-serving president of the American Federation of Labor (AFL); it is to him, as much as to anyone else, that the American labor movement owes its structure and characteristic strategies. Under his leadership, the AFL became the largest and most influential labor federation in the world. It grew from a marginal association of 50,000 in 1886 to an established organization of nearly 3 million in 1924 that had won a permanent place in American…

C�sar Ch�vez was a folk hero and symbol of hope to millions of Americans. In 1962, he and a few others set out to organize a union of farm workers. Nearly everyone told them it was impossible. But for a time they succeeded beyond anyone's wildest imaginings. An ardent advocate of nonviolence, Ch�vez was one of the most inspirational labor leaders of the 20th century, with an influence that stretched far beyond the California fields.

via…

A songwriter, itinerant laborer, and union organizer, Joe Hill became famous around the world after a Utah court convicted him of murder. Even before the international campaign to have his conviction reversed, however, Joe Hill was well known in hobo jungles, on picket lines and at workers' rallies as the author of popular labor songs and as an Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) agitator. Thanks in large part to his songs and to his stirring, well�publicized call to his fellow…

Beloved by many contemporaries as a man "too good for this world" who would give the clothes off his back to anyone in need, "Gene" Debs was a prominent leader of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen (BLF) in his youth. Later he helped found the American Railway Union (1894), the Socialist Party of America (1901) and the Industrial Workers of the World (1905). The best-known apostle of industrial unionism in the early years of the 20th century, Debs ran for president of the United…

Typically clad in a black dress, her face framed by a lace collar and black hat, the barely five-foot tall Mother Jones was a fearless fighter for workers� rights�once labeled "the most dangerous woman in America" by a U.S. district attorney. Mary Harris "Mother" Jones rose to prominence as a fiery orator and fearless organizer for the Mine Workers during the first two decades of the 20th century. Her voice had great carrying power. Her energy and passion inspired men half her age…

President of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) from 1920 until 1960 and founding president of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), John Llewellyn Lewis was the dominant voice shaping the labor movement in the 1930s. The CIO owed its existence in large measure to Lewis, who was a tireless and effective advocate of industrial unionism and of government assistance in organizing basic industry.

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I listen to Rush Limbaugh.Most of us are saddled with them: the relatives who listen to Rush Limbaugh, watch Fox News and repeat their poison over the Thanksgiving turkey. Attacks on unions are high on the agenda this year, so you may be hearing about the virtues of right-to-work for less laws.

via teamsternation.blogspot.com

Thank you…

Sidney Hillman, the founder of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America (now UNITE!) and its president from 1914 to 1946, invented trade unionism as we know it today. He sought "constructive cooperation" between the union and garment firms to ensure the economic health of the industry and raise the standards of workers within it and pioneered dispute resolution mechanisms that foreshadowed today's grievance and arbitration procedures. Thanks in large part to his efforts,…

William Green was the second long-term president of the American Federation of Labor, serving from 1924 until his death in 1952. An advocate of labor-management cooperation, legislated wage and benefit protections and industrial unionism, he continued the federation's evolution (begun under its first president, Samuel Gompers) away from the "pure and simple unionism" of its origins and toward the more politically involved "social reform unionism" characteristic of…

Disabled workers deserve real jobs

Here is an excerpt from this outstanding article I found when I was looking up more resources for my project. This is my passion. I am a disabled person and want to ensure all of my fellow disabled workers are treated fairly and like every other American. This is why I am currently learning all I can to become a union organizer and advocate for America's…

via www.youtube.com

This is why unions are so important to this country and the world. I am studying to become a union organizer because I know what its like to be treated unfairly.

via www.youtube.com

This is why I do what I do. We can make a better world for workers. We can organize anywhere. If we can change things in workplaces, we can make great changes in this country and all it takes is one simple word, organize. My goal in this…

AFL-CIO Top National Officers: Richard L. Trumka, President

Reposted from above:

“If you want to help workers, you first need to help people.”

"On September 16, 2009, Richard L. Trumka was elected President of the AFL-CIO by acclamation at the Federation’s 26th convention in Pittsburgh, Pa. His election, following 15 years of service as the AFL-CIO’s Secretary Treasurer, capped Trumka’s…