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Here is your weekly news from the Texas Labor Movement.
Texas AFL-CIO Welcomes Tentative Agreement Between United Auto Workers, GM
This week's announcement of a tentative agreement in contract talks between the United Auto Workers and General Motors sets the stage for a vote by the union after members have had a chance to study the proposal.
The Texas AFL-CIO posted a statement praising the union for its stand:
Call your member of Congress in support of the PRO Act
Right now, Congress has the opportunity to protect and strengthen our freedoms at work. The PRO Act is historic legislation that will put more power in working people’s hands and create a fair process for forming and joining unions. The bill would protect the right to strike, prevent misclassification of workers as independent contractors, increase penalties for retaliation and more.
Call Now!
Chicago Teachers on Strike! Strike Wave Continues Across The Country
Altogether, more than 30,000 workers are on the picket lines in Chicago. This includes 7,500 teacher aides, custodians and security guards who are members of SEIU Local 73.
The union sees this as a moment to win battles it has been fighting for years.
Since the current leadership took over the CTU in 2009, it has been pushing a focus on social justice issues, moving far beyond the traditional union bread and butter concerns. The idea of using teacher contracts to push for so-called "common good" issues has taken hold around the country.
In 2012, the union published a manifesto called the Schools Students Deserve that detailed the need for lower class sizes and more staff, such as librarians, social workers and counselors. - Read More
Steelworkers, Other Unions Strike at ASARCO in Arizona, Amarillo
Unions representing working people at ASARCO (American Smelting and Refining Company), including Steelworkers at the company's copper refinery in Amarillo, have gone out on strike.
The Tucson, Arizona-based company has not given employees a raise in nearly a decade. The strike began early Monday morning (late Sunday in Arizona) at several company locations.
The strike, which also includes members of the Teamsters, United Auto Workers and several building trades unions, came after nearly a year of contract negotiations.
The Texas AFL-CIO stands in solidarity with our Brothers and Sisters in the striking unions and calls on ASARCO to negotiate in good faith toward a fair contract.
- Read More
AFL-CIO to Lead Solidarity Without Borders Delegation in El Paso and Juarez
The AFL-CIO will lead a Solidarity Without Borders Labor Delegation to El Paso, Texas and Juarez, Mexico on Oct. 29 and 30 to demand an end to the politics of division and hate that have fueled inequality and violence, Texas AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Montserrat Garibay reports.
The delegation will include AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler and Executive Vice President Tefere Gebre, along with representatives of several international unions. Texas AFL-CIO officers and staff will participate.
"Union leaders from all sectors of the economy will hear directly from affected workers and families in El Paso and Juarez," Garibay said, "and recommit to winning justice the only way we ever have -- through working-class solidarity that knows no boundaries."
Jason Isbell's 2015 "Something More Than Free," the title track on his fifth studio album, deals in the raw images of manual labor, painting an appreciative, sympathetic, and unromanticized portrait drawn from the life of his own father. Rolling Stone called the song a "rough-around-the-edges tribute to blue collar workers," and Isbell isn't shorthanded in naming causes of workday fatigue: "No more holes to fill and no more rocks to break, And no more loading boxes on the trucks for someone else's sake;" "My back is numb, my hands are freezing; "I don't think on why I'm here or where it hurts."
Have a Great Weekend! After All...We Fought For It!
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