AFL-CIO Blog

  • Pride Month Profiles: Maggie Hernandez
    Pride Month Profiles: Maggie Hernandez For Pride Month this year, the AFL-CIO is spotlighting various LGBTQ+ union members who have worked and continue to work at the intersection of civil and labor rights in the United States. Today's profile is Maggie Hernandez of the United Steelworkers (USW). Maggie Hernandez is incredibly active in USW Local 7600's Next Gen, Women of Steel and the Civil and Human Rights committees. Outside of her union activism, she also does custom beading for drag performers' costumes, and her work was featured in the last season of "RuPaul's Drag Race." Kenneth Quinnell Fri, 06/09/2023 - 10:14 — Jun 9
  • Pride Month Profiles
    Pride Month Profiles For Pride Month this year, the AFL-CIO is spotlighting various LGBTQ+ members who have worked and continue to work at the intersection of civil and labor rights in the United States.  Below are the profiles we've featured so far. Check back throughout June for more: Kenneth Quinnell Thu, 06/08/2023 - 10:58 — Jun 8
  • Service & Solidarity Spotlight: UAW's Windstorm
    Service & Solidarity Spotlight: UAW's Windstorm Working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our Service & Solidarity Spotlight series, we'll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story. In a new video, International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW) President Shawn Fain and Vice President Mike Booth visited UAW Local 292 members at the General Motors Component Holding Plant in Kokomo, Indiana. For 50 years, the plant produced semiconductors, until the work was outsourced in 2017 to devastating effect. “This place changed my family’s life,” said Fain, whose grandparents hired in at the facility in the 1940s. “It’s a shame to see where it is today. There’s over two and a half million square feet of floor space here. Over two million of that square footage is empty, and a workforce that used to have roughly 15,000 people, now there’s just 100 people left.” “This is just another example in a long line of failings of GM and the Big Three companies and how little they care for the workers and the communities we live in.” Fain said. “These workers want to be here. They’re proud of these jobs. Some of these people have been here 25 years, and they’re standing here hanging in the balance now waiting to see what’s left for them in the future.” Kenneth Quinnell Thu, 06/08/2023 - 10:09 — Jun 8
  • Pride Month Profiles: David Sytsma-Sherman
    Pride Month Profiles: David Sytsma-Sherman For Pride Month this year, the AFL-CIO is spotlighting various LGBTQ+ union members who have worked and continue to work at the intersection of civil and labor rights in the United States. Today's profile is David Sytsma-Sherman of AFSCME. David Sytsma-Sherman serves as an executive board member of AFSCME Local 2187 as well as a delegate from the local to the District Council 47 delegate assembly. He is the chief shop steward for the Philadelphia Parking Authority and serves as the vice chair of the District Council 47 PEOPLE Committee. Kenneth Quinnell Wed, 06/07/2023 - 10:14 — Jun 7
  • Service & Solidarity Spotlight: 'Drunk Shakespeare' Workers Successfully Organize with Equity
    Service & Solidarity Spotlight: 'Drunk Shakespeare' Workers Successfully Organize with Equity Working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our Service & Solidarity Spotlight series, we'll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story. Actors, stage managers, bartenders and servers of Chicago’s "Drunk Shakespeare" have achieved their goal of organizing with Actors’ Equity Association. Within days of these workers filing their petition with the National Labor Relations Board, their employer Meme Juice Productions voluntarily recognized the new bargaining unit, known as Drunk Shakespeare United. Equity is currently in the process of filing the paperwork to certify this status.  "Good now, some excellent fortune! We appreciate that the employer moved so swiftly to recognize the union, and we look forward to productive bargaining once the ink is dry,” said Kate Shindle, president of Actors’ Equity Association. “These arts workers in Chicago took a bold step, knowing that bringing their voices to the table with management would make their workplace better. I also want to applaud Equity staff, especially the organizing department, for their collaboration and expertise. This is an awesome and inspiring victory.”  The Chicago production of "Drunk Shakespeare" is one of five productions of the show currently running around the country, but the only one unionized at present.  Kenneth Quinnell Wed, 06/07/2023 - 08:18 — Jun 7