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Here is your weekly news from the Texas Labor Movement.

DACA Supreme Court Hearing Sparks Austin Rally

Donning neon orange T-shirts and cardboard butterfly wings on their backs representing migration, about 100 Austin area students opted out of school and marched to downtown rallies outside our Texas AFL-CIO headquarters on Lavaca Street and then onto Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office a few blocks away. About 400 local, state and national immigration advocates, according to organizers, joined the students. - Read More

AFL-CIO Launches Website Highlighting Union Member Candidates and Elected Officials

The AFL-CIO has posted an interactive website that highlights labor's program to elect union members to public office. Have a look at a growing strategy.

Check it out: https://unioncandidates.org

Houston Rally Led by Painters Union Highlights Union Drive for Dignity and Respect

The Gulf Coast Area Labor Federation reported on Wednesday's "Exploitation Free Zones" rally led by the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades:

Today the IUPAT (Painters Union) held an Exploitation Free Zone press conference at 1400 Clay to demand that builders and owner developers do better and treat their workers with dignity and respect. The noon event drew over 75 worker supporters including CRECEN community group, Workers Defense Project, UNITE HERE, SEIU, HFT, AFA/CWA, United Food and Commercial Workers, Fe Y Justicia, GC ALF and City Council District C candidate Shelly Kennedy.

The owner of Milam Painting showed up at the end of the event and addressed the leadership of IUPAT and agreed to meet to listen to concerns expressed by workers.

ABC News: Income Inequality Stokes Union Organizing

ABC News takes note that rising income inequality has stoked organizing among labor unions:

"Union organizers I've talked to have said that there is a dramatic pick-up in the number of people interested in organizing and trying to gain collective bargaining,"- Larry Mishel, a labor expert and distinguished fellow at the Economic Policy Institute, told ABC News.

"Working people have taken it on the chin for many decades. They've been not able to get the help of government to be on their sides, the employers are suppressing their wages," he added. "And now they are being shown that some collective action can actually work."

"If people see that they can solve their problems through collective bargaining -- and even striking if they have to -- then they will do that," Mishel said. "And I think that's what we're seeing." - Read More

Meet the Immigrants Who Took On Amazon

Wired magazine features an amazing story how a group of Somalis became leaders in the fight to change a tech behemoth.

This relatively small group—bound together by shared neighborhoods, mosques, cafés, and Somali shopping malls—has managed to pull off feats of organizing unmatched by workers at any other Amazon warehouse in America. The group has staged walkouts, brought management to the negotiating table twice, demanded concessions to accommodate Muslim religious practice, and commanded national attention.

- Read More

Song of the Week: "Looking for a Job" - Todd Snider

This song is sung from the perspective of a guy who realizes that his employer needs him more than he really needs the job and, “you might be the one running the show, but that don’t mean you’re in charge.”

Click Here to Listen

Have A Great Weekend...After All, We Fought For It!

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