News and Media

Newly organized workers are waiting an average 458 days to secure their first contract, with many taking even longer as employers drag out the process thanks to lax labor laws. That’s unacceptable.

Tell your lawmakers it is time to stand with working people and make it easier to get a first contract.

There is bipartisan support in Washington, D.C., to add meaningful leverage for workers in their first contract fights and ensure they get the protections of a union contract in months, not years. The Faster Labor Contracts Act (H.R. 5408; S.R. 844) would create an enforceable timeline for bargaining a first contract. If negotiations are going well, the parties can choose to continue bargaining as normal. If negotiations stall, this bill would refer the dispute to mediation and, ultimately, binding arbitration. A first contract could be settled within a few months.

The good news is the Faster Labor Contracts Act just passed the U.S. House of Representatives, thanks to pressure from working people. The bad news is the Senate has not yet taken action.

It is time to stop employers from union busting by dragging their feet. Ask your senators to add their names to the Faster Labor Contracts Act today.

AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler issued the following statement in response to today’s Supreme Court decision allowing the Trump administration to terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) protections:

Today’s decision is a devastating blow to working families and the stability of our economy. We stand proudly with the valued members of our unions and communities with TPS as we continue the long-term fight for justice. 

By allowing the Trump administration to disregard the law, the court has put the lives and livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of workers at risk. TPS holders from Haiti, Syria and other countries came here fleeing danger, instability and crisis. They have built lives here, joined unions, and become integral to our workplaces and economy.

Let’s be clear about who pays the price for this decision: working people. It’s not just wrong—it is a recipe for economic disaster that will create chaos in workplaces, disrupt key industries, and make it easier for bad bosses to exploit fear and drive down workplace standards and conditions for everyone.

The Trump administration’s anti-immigrant agenda seeks to pit working people against each other—but the labor movement rejects that politics of fear. Congress must act immediately to protect TPS holders and stabilize our workforce by creating a broad and swift pathway to citizenship for those whose labor helps our country to prosper. We will keep fighting alongside immigrant workers and their families, because an injury to one is an injury to all.

###

Statement online here

Hawai’i Nurses Association/OPEIU Local 50 President Rose Agas-Yuu and OPEIU Local 40 President Dina Carlisle address the 30th AFL-CIO Convention on the bravery and commitment shown by nurses across the United States.  OPEIU represents more than 25,000 nurses and healthcare workers throughout the country.