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The following is the list of endorsements by the Texas AFL-CIO Committee on Political Education (COPE), which is the political arm of the state labor federation.

Delegates to the COPE Convention made endorsement decisions for statewide candidates. Endorsements of candidates for Congress, the Texas Legislature and the State Board of Education take place at the Central Labor Council level, and will be added here as they arrive. (Please note: Some Central Labor Councils do not endorse in uncontested races.)

“These endorsements set the stage for a campaign for change on Texas priorities,” Texas AFL-CIO President Becky Moeller said. “The labor movement in Texas will do everything possible to alter the narrative for working families in Texas.”

Brother John Patrick of USW has been elected by acclamation to the vacant secretary-treasurer position in the state labor federation.

The Texas AFL-CIO Executive Board took the action today. Patrick will fill the unexpired term of Paul Brown, who resigned effective Jan. 31 to pursue other opportunities.

A news release appears below.

Republican Senate leaders are so frightened that a member of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) might actually have an open mind about workers’ rights, that in two purely partisan maneuvers, they’ve blocked a majority vote on one of President Obama’s nominees for an NLRB seat. Read More>>

Earlier this week, we noted a new study that predicts health insurance premiums will jump between 10 percent and 11 percent this year. Now a new government report says health care costs last year took the biggest bite ever out of the nation’s economy. Read More>>

Labor Secretary Hilda Solis says workers face increasing obstacles when they try to form unions and “we need to restore their freedom to do so.” In testimony before the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee today, Solis looked back at the department’s actions in 2009 and forward to its 2010 agenda. Read More>>

Anyone who thinks U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison would be more "moderate" than Gov. Rick Perry if she defeats him in the GOP primary and goes on to win the general election need look no further than the news release below, in which Hutchison revives George W. Bush’s canard that unions are harmful to national security.

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A Texas House Committee will take testimony on a so-called "voter ID" bill that seeks to solve a nonexistent problem while whiffing on real problems of voter fraud.  As Texas AFL-CIO Legislative/Political Director René Lara stated in his testimony before the Texas Senate, the proposal would actually help promote a national photo ID system, rather than prevent actual voter fraud.

  The most recent assessment of charter school performance in Texas shows, yet again, performance that is inferior to public schools, the Texas AFT reports.

Ed Sills, director of communications for the Texas AFL-CIO, recently went back to school—high school. He spent a day observing a veteran union organizer get students involved in a hands-on educational experience on the crucial role of unions in their working lives.  “We’ll just let these two ladies clean the bathroom because that’s a woman’s job,” declared Lee Medley, president of the Galveston County AFL-CIO, with a sly glance toward the men.  Read more...