AFL-CIO Blog

  • Service + Solidarity Spotlight: Working People Across the Nation Join Workers First Caravan for Racial + Economic Justice
    Service + Solidarity Spotlight: Working People Across the Nation Join Workers First Caravan for Racial + Economic Justice During the COVID-19 pandemic and widespread protests in response to the killing of George Floyd, working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities. In our new Service + Solidarity Spotlight series, we'll showcase one of those stories every day. Here's today's story. Thousands of workers across the country joined together on June 17 in a national day of action. We called for the Senate to pass the HEROES Act and for Congress to take actions to address structural racism. The HEROES Act is grounded in America’s Five Economic Essentials that are desperately needed to keep working people safe and financially secure. This day of action was just the beginning. Today and every day that follows, working people will mobilize like never before to make the HEROES Act the law of the land and rid our institutions of systemic racism. Check out this video recapping the various actions around the country. Kenneth Quinnell Mon, 06/22/2020 - 12:50 — Jun 22
  • Has the Supreme Court Shielded Us from Trump Administration Health Care Rules?
    Has the Supreme Court Shielded Us from Trump Administration Health Care Rules? The Supreme Court last week handed down a landmark decision barring employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity⁠—a significant step forward in the full inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals in the workplace and in broader society. While this case is an important advance in civil rights, it may also undermine the Trump administration’s new health regulations designed to eliminate existing civil rights protections. The AFL-CIO applauds the Supreme Court for its decision in Bostock v. Clay County. Our affiliates represent people in a broad array of work settings and organizational cultures. We believe a person should be judged by their actual performance on the job, not stereotypes of a particular occupation or a particular gender. Union members are protected from invidious discrimination by their employers because of union contracts that protect them from being fired or discriminated against without just cause. But the court’s ruling provides essential workplace protections for millions of workers in the 27 states without LGBTQ anti-discrimination laws.  The case also may have implications for work-based health coverage and other benefits. For example, employers may need to adjust group health plan coverage of gender dysphoria and related services, adjust benefits for same-sex and opposite-sex spouses, and review the need for gender assignment as an identifier in benefit plan administration.  The court’s ruling also undercuts the legality of harsh new regulations from the Trump administration issued three days before the court’s decision that would allow doctors, hospitals and other providers to withhold medical care from transgender people.   The court’s decision in Bostock rests on an interpretation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act—so it doesn’t address the health care regulations directly. But those regulations rely on an interpretation of sex discrimination in Title IX of the Education Amendments Act and other laws that are quite similar to Title VII. Courts often look to interpretations of Title VII when they decide the meaning of the anti-discrimination provisions in Title IX. With the Supreme Court rejecting the administration’s narrow understanding of Title VII when it comes to hiring and firing, most experts believe the courts will look skeptically at new health regulations that seek to reduce protections against discrimination in the same way.    The AFL-CIO, along with hundreds of other organizations, submitted comments to the administration last year urging them not to go forward with these new regulations, which are part of a broader Republican effort to undermine the Affordable Care Act (ACA). As an organization that recognizes the importance of work-based health insurance, we believe it is critical that payers and health care providers provide the full range of medically necessary health care services, regardless of whether or not a worker conforms to the stereotype⁠—whether it is a stereotype for that particular occupation or a stereotype for a particular gender. By preventing insurers from denying coverage based on gender identity, the ACA protections have saved lives. One study found that the suicide rate among transgender and gender-nonconforming people dropped by as much as 50% in states that barred such discrimination.  Of course, the timing of these new rules couldn’t be worse⁠—limiting access to health care during a pandemic. Turning away patients based on their sexual orientation or gender identity not only may have life-threatening implications for those individuals but the well-being of the broader community. The next big test will be later this month when the administration must decide whether or not to publish the regulations in the Federal Register. The Supreme Court has given the administration valuable guidance on the scope of federal nondiscrimination laws. One can only hope that the administration is listening because going forward with these regulations would do nothing to help the Department of Health and Human Services fulfill its mission to promote the health and well-being of people across the nation. Kenneth Quinnell Mon, 06/22/2020 - 09:07 Tags: LGBTQ Rights — Jun 22
  • Service + Solidarity Spotlight: Union Member Uses Seat on City Council to Lead Fight to Ban Tear Gas
    Service + Solidarity Spotlight: Union Member Uses Seat on City Council to Lead Fight to Ban Tear Gas Braxton Winston During the COVID-19 pandemic and widespread protests in response to the killing of George Floyd, working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities. In our new Service + Solidarity Spotlight series, we'll showcase one of those stories every day. Here's today's story. Braxton Winston knows what it’s like to be tear-gassed by the police while exercising his First Amendment rights to nonviolently protest police brutality. A member of the Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) and a City Council member in Charlotte, North Carolina, since 2017, he has led the fight to ban the use of tear gas in his city. Last week, the Charlotte City Council voted to stop funding chemical agents for the police department. Winston wrote an editorial column for The Washington Post, in which he described his experience and what led him to fight for this change: “No chemical agents should be used on a human being anywhere in this world. And that certainly includes American streets as citizens exercise their First Amendment rights. Being exposed to tear gas and pepper ball rounds is a miserable experience that I will never forget…. “Our police chief has argued that without chemical agents, police will be forced to use batons to break skin and bones. But that is not an acceptable answer to the people of Charlotte. What’s more, comments like that hurtfully evoke Bull Connor’s German shepherds and fire hoses. If the current police chief, or the new chief set to take over in September, cannot figure out how to deal with human beings without the tactics of violence and fear, the people that make up this city will be here, step by step, to show him how to deal with us as the sentient beings we are.” Kenneth Quinnell Fri, 06/19/2020 - 10:41 Tags: COVID-19, Community Service — Jun 19
  • Working People Join Caravan for Racial and Economic Justice
    Working People Join Caravan for Racial and Economic Justice On Wednesday, working people across the United States joined the Workers First Caravan for Racial + Economic Justice. In observation of social distancing guidelines for public safety, working people took to their cars and joined caravans across the country. America faces crises on three critical fronts: a public health pandemic, an economic free fall and long-standing structural racism. To address these crises, we must focus on America’s Five Economic Essentials, which cannot be addressed without also taking on racial injustice directly.  America's Five Economic Essentials are:  1. Keep front-line workers safe and secure. 2. Keep workers employed and protect earned pension checks. 3. Keep state and local governments, our public schools and the U.S. Postal Service solvent and working. 4. Keep America healthy by protecting and expanding health insurance for all workers. 5. Keep America competitive by hiring people to build infrastructure. Here are some highlights of yesterday's caravans from around the country: Kenneth Quinnell Thu, 06/18/2020 - 10:18 — Jun 18
  • Service + Solidarity Spotlight: New York State's Labor Movement Stands United for Racial Justice
    Service + Solidarity Spotlight: New York State's Labor Movement Stands United for Racial Justice Chris Garlock/Union City During the COVID-19 pandemic and widespread protests in response to the killing of George Floyd, working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities. In our new Service + Solidarity Spotlight series, we'll showcase one of those stories every day. Here's today's story. The horrific and senseless death of George Floyd has left Americans reeling during an already uncertain time. Leaders of the labor movement are speaking out and fighting for equality, justice and civil rights. On the New York State AFL-CIO’s “Union Strong” podcast last week, state federation President Mario Cilento (TNG-CWA) and Secretary-Treasurer Terry Melvin (CSEA-AFSCME) addressed racial injustice in America and what the labor movement can do to change it. “There is no contract that allows murder on the job. There is no contract that allows a worker to supersede any local, state or federal law,” said Melvin, who is also the president of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU). “What has to happen is long-term reform. Institutional reform to reflect the needs of the community. Reform that humanizes the citizens and devalues the problem….Our elected officials can do more than they want to do and are comfortable blaming the union and the contract.” “I know right now there is so much pain, there is so much anger, there is so much frustration, there is so much tension,” Cilento said. “But our goal should be to match those feelings with an equal amount of hope, and that only happens if we stand united in our commitment to make real and lasting change. Let me start by being very clear, as a labor movement in New York state, we recognize, we believe and we know that Black Lives Matter.”  Listen to the podcast here. Kenneth Quinnell Thu, 06/18/2020 - 09:41 Tags: COVID-19, Community Service — Jun 18