Where: Rally will start at Post Oak Village Park (3830 Post Oak Blvd, Euless). We will then march together to the new American Airlines Headquarters (13951 Trinity Blvd)
When: Tuesday, August 13 8am-12pm
Who: UNITE HERE members who prepare and load the food served on American Airlines planes in Dallas will be the larger Texas labor community. Working families, faith leaders and community groups will join these workers in solidarity in their fight that 1Job Should Be Enough!
Why: American Airlines made over $15 Billion in combined profits in just the past 5 years alone. As American Airlines, which also paid no federal income tax for the last 4 years, opens its $350+ million new headquarters campus in Dallas, UNITE HERE members who prepare and load food and beverages onto American Airlines planes at DFW are often left living in poverty and unable to afford healthcare.
As American Airlines continues to expand at DFW, where 30% of its profit comes from—about $1.3 billion, workers are falling further and further behind, as they are around the country. Workers often have to work overtime, or double shifts, or take second jobs, just to try to survive.
At DFW, for example, the lowest wage at that kitchen is $9.85/hour and half the workers earn $11.35 an hour or less, even after 5, 6, 7, or even 8 years. One of the worker leaders, Leticia Gomez, has worked there for 22 years and earns only $12.71/hour.
Please join us on August 13th!
UNITE HERE invites community to join airline food workers in their fight for a living wage and decent health insurance. We’d like to invite you to stand with the catering workers in Dallas-Fort Worth on Tuesday August 13th at the American Airlines headquarters. Email [email protected] with any questions! We are coordinating rides, please sign up!
Texas AFL-CIO on El Paso Shootings, White Supremacy
In the wake of last Saturdays's mass shooting in El Paso, Texas AFL-CIO President Rick Levy and Secretary-Treasurer Montserrat Garibay issued the following statement :
"We are devastated and angry over the deaths of 20 people and injuries of dozens more in the mass shooting in El Paso. We mourn with the City and with the State of Texas, and we commend the amazing work of First Responders, health care workers and the working families of El Paso, including the El Paso Central Labor Council, who are engaged in practical ways to help victims. We stand ready to help in any way we can.
But none of this is enough, and we all know it.
The related scourges of bigotry, hatred and ultra-powerful guns in the wrong hands must be addressed.
Our state and nation need solutions on mass gun violence, and we need them now.
On Labor Day, we carve out time to recognize and honor the wonderful achievements of America’s working people. Many of us will spend the day with close family and dear friends at a barbecue, picnic or other community event. While we enjoy the fellowship of our loved ones, it is important to reflect on what strengthens and nurtures the lives and communities of working people and how we can continue to protect our ability to make a good living that will sustain our families.
This Labor Day, we’re celebrating union solidarity and letting everyone around us know: Want power? Join a union.
The #GreenShirtGuy was all the rage this week on Twitter. It wasn't long before the labor movement made a meme in his honor.
Comedian Hasan Minhaj Gets It Right and Makes It Simple on How Unions Can Help Video Game Workers
The AFL-CIO is rightly singing the praises of remarks by all-purpose comedian/commentator Hasan Minhaj on his show "Patriot Act" in support of unions in the video gaming industry and pretty much anywhere else.
Right-Wing Bill Mill ALEC's Meeting in Austin Next Week, a Subject of Protest
The Austin Chronicle takes note of next week's meeting in Austin of the American Legislative Exchange Council, which prepares "model" right-wing legislation that, among other things, takes direct aim at the ability of working people to speak up together in unions.
A coalition protest has been scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 14 in front of the Marriott Hotel at 2nd St. and Congress Avenue, in downtown Austin. The Texas AFL-CIO will participate.
As the Chronicle reports:
What did ALEC and friends accomplish at this year's 86th session of the Texas Legislature? Among their most noxious successes was the passage of HB 3557, which imposed new state jail felonies for "impairing or interrupting" operations of "critical infrastructure" (i.e., as a means of protest) like oil and gas pipelines. Opposing stronger environmental regulations is reflexive for ALEC; and the organization (with its local allies at the Texas Public Policy Foundation) has worked hard to undermine workers rights across the country, undermining unionizing and steps toward equity like paid sick leave.
'We Condemn These Raids in the Strongest Possible Terms'
Federal workplace raids in Mississippi that removed 680 low-wage workers from their jobs, from their families and from their communities Thursday drew the condemnation of the AFL-CIO.
Some of the food-processing workers are members of the United Food and Commercial Workers. They were handcuffed and placed on buses. MSNBC reports that about 300 of those detained have been released, at least for now. Shocked Mississippi communities are working to account for children whose parents were taken away.
The federal raids took place yesterday -- the same day President Trump visited El Paso following a mass shooting whose targets were Latinos.
The Texas AFL-CIO joins AFL-CIO President Rich Trumka in solidarity with all members of UFCW and all the hard-working families whose lives have been disrupted. Trumka's powerful statement:
Song of the Week: "Amor Eterno" - Juan Gabriel
‘Amor Eterno’ Rings Out at Mass Shooting Vigils - The 1984 ballad by Juan Gabriel, a pop star who was from the U.S.-Mexico border, takes on greater meaning after the tragedy in El Paso, Tex.
It is played or performed at funerals and memorials large and small, and pushes people to tears in nearly any setting, from bars to supermarket aisles. Singalongs, often pressed through sobs, are unavoidable. “Eternal love,” the most well-known part of the lyrics say, in Spanish. “Unforgettable.”
For millions of Mexican Americans, Mexicans, and anyone familiar with Mexico’s golden age of pop music (the 1980s), the song “Amor Eterno” is the de facto theme of farewell. But this week, in the aftermath of the Aug. 3 mass shooting at Walmart in El Paso, the anthem took on a more potent meaning.
Instances of people singing “Amor Eterno” at vigils and impromptu memorials are dotting social media. On Sunday, a day after the shooting, a youthful mariachi group known as Puesta del Sol performed the song at an interfaith vigil held at Ponder Park in El Paso. At the site of the shooting that same evening, a Univision journalist captured the moment when a young woman broke out into the familiar lyrics, shakily and for no listener in particular, before wiping away tears.
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