A labor-to-labor, door-to-door campaign fell short on Election Day in Texas House District 118 but marked a return to full-scale, in-person union campaigning that sets the stage for a high-stakes 2
As the Texas Legislature considers how to allocate funds provided through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (“ARPA”) of 2021, Texas labor unions believe workers must take priority.
Texas AFL-CIO President Rick Levy issued this statement in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.:
“If you were a sentient human being on this day in 1968, the first thing you likely felt on hearing of Martin Luther King’s death was anger. Fifty years later, much remains to be angry about: attacks on immigrants, on voting rights, on the LGBTQ community and, sadly still, on people of color. The ‘Poor Peoples’ Campaign,’ from which ‘I AM 2018’ derives, is as relevant now as it was in 1968.”
Richard Trumka & Rick Bloomingdale
on Tuesday, April 3 2018 - 4:59pm
Rep.-elect Conor Lamb made national waves with his improbable win in Pennsylvania’s 18th Congressional District. He faced down $10 million in outside money funneled to his opponent by corporate and right-wing interests. He fought through a barrage of incessant, hyperpartisan attacks blanketing the airwaves. He was abandoned by his own party’s national infrastructure in a district that hadn’t elected a Democrat in nearly 15 years. And he still came out on top.
In their quest for even bigger profit margins, the rich and powerful have always tried to divide and suppress working people. Whether they’re seeking to quash worker protections, lower wages, cut benefits or weasel out of pension obligations, they know their biggest roadblock to unchecked power has always been a strong union.
Paul Ryan and Donald Trump are running scared. After the Republican candidate who ran with the ardent backing of the Republican Speaker of the House and the Republican president lost a special election for a Pennsylvania congressional seat in a district that was so Republican-friendly that Donald Trump won it by 20 points and the former GOP congressman regularly ran without opposition, the men who define the Republican Party as it now exists had to explain their loss.
Rep.-elect Conor Lamb made national waves with an improbable win last week in Pennsylvania’s 18th Congressional District. He faced down $10 million in outside money funneled to his opponent by corporate and right-wing interests. He fought through a barrage of incessant, hyperpartisan attacks blanketing the airwaves. He was abandoned by his own party’s national infrastructure in a district that hadn’t elected a Democrat in nearly 15 years. And he still came out on top.
Nearly two centuries ago, a group of women and girls—some as young as 12—decided they'd had enough. Laboring in the textile mills of Lowell, Massachusetts, they faced exhausting 14-hour days, abusive supervisors and dangerous working conditions. When threatened with a pay cut, they finally put their foot down.
The mill workers organized, went on strike and formed America's first union of working women. They shocked their bosses, captured the attention of a young nation and blazed a trail for the nascent labor movement that would follow.
