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Unite-Here rejoins AFL-CIO
September 19, 2009PITTSBURGH — The last day of the AFL-CIO Convention opened on a high note as newly elected federation President Richard Trumka announced that Unite-Here is re-affiliating with the federation. The 250,000 member Unite-Here was one of the unions that left the AFL-CIO in 2005 to join the Change-to-Win federation.
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A building trades union re-invents itself
September 19, 2009It was lunchtime at the 26th Convention of the AFL-CIO here yesterday and the painters, like everyone else were hungry. They had a makeshift “lunch room” off the convention floor near where labor journalists had their workspace and they invited two hungry Peoples World reporters to join them for a break and some food.
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Obama raises the roof at labor convention in Pittsburgh
September 18, 2009PITTSBURGH– As President Obama walked to the podium to address the AFL-CIO convention it felt like a prolonged earth tremor had begun. Three thousand people jumped to their feet and began almost five solid minutes of applause that only became louder every time the president begged them to be seated.
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Labor movement 'fired up' in Pittsburgh
September 18, 2009PITTSBURGH – Fourteen hour days, five hours of sleep maximum, grabbing a bite of fast food only now and then – it's no problem, so far, for 3,000 delegates, guests and supporters well into their second day here at the 26th Convention of the AFL-CIO.
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A labor convention like no others opens in Pittsburgh
September 18, 2009PITTSBURGH - A labor convention different in more ways than one from any prior gathering of the labor movement in U.S. history opened here yesterday.
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AFL-CIO forsees victory on public option, EFCA
September 15, 2009PITTSBURGH – Leaders of the U.S. labor movement, during interviews an hour before the 26th Convention of the AFL-CIO began its first full day of business here, expressed certainty that, before the year is out, the nation will have a new system of health insurance that includes a public option and that the Employee Free Choice Act will become the law of the land.
Read moreFuture for the Mon Valley? ‘Hell doesn’t have to last forever!’
September 15, 2009On Friday, I and three other labor journalists paid a visit to the mayor of a town some folks in the Monongahela Valley call “Hell.”Braddock is the poorest town in Allegheny County and John Fetterman, 39, its chief executive, presents himself quite differently than do most mayors. Among the first things that strike you about this young white mayor of a largely African American town are his 380 lbs., six...
Read moreAn EFCA majority sign-up “trigger”?
September 13, 2009Some Blue Dog Democrats, fearful of a public option in a health care bill, have signaled that they might be willing to support a compromise measure that allows for creation of such an option once insurance companies show, under the president’s new plan, that they are continuing to charge customers too much. They are saying the “threat” of a public option might, by itself, force insurance companies to charge less.
Read moreSteeler Nation fights its way back
September 13, 2009It was crazy here Thursday night. The sportscaster on the huge flat screen at one of the bars on Smithfield Street was talking about how the Steelers continue to amaze him, what with the huge following they have all over the country.
Read moreObama speech boosts labor activist's fighting spirit
September 13, 2009President Barack Obama’s dramatic re-framing of the national debate on health care this week has electrified labor leaders, progressive activists, union journalists and others pouring into the Steel City this week in advance of the AFL-CIO convention that opens here Sept. 10 and a meeting of leaders of the G-20 nations that will convene a week later.
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