METRO WASHINGTON LABOR COUNCIL AFL-CIO
  • Home
  • Board & Staff
  • Who We Are
  • Calendar
  • Evening With Labor
    • Archive >
      • 2021 Evening With Labor
      • 2019 Evening With Labor
      • 2017 Evening With Labor
      • 2018 Evening With Labor
      • 2015 Evening With Labor
      • 2016 Evening With Labor
  • Stay Connected
  • Programs
    • Community Services >
      • Espanol
      • Mission
      • Donate Now
      • Programs
      • Funders
      • Archives
    • Political Action >
      • Archive
      • Mission
      • Elected Officials
      • Endorsements
      • DMV Voters Guide
      • Candidate Questionnaires: Archive 2006-2014 >
        • 2018
        • 2016
        • 2015
        • 2014
        • Other
        • 2012
        • 2010
        • 2008
        • 2007
        • 2006
    • DC unemployment appeals
  • Hiring Hall
    • ADMINISTRATIVE
    • COMMUNICATIONS
    • INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
    • INTERNSHIPS
    • LEGAL
    • MISC
    • ORGANIZING
    • POLITICAL
    • RESEARCH
  • Affiliates

AFL-CIO launches ‘Join a union’ ad campaign

6/4/2018

 
The AFL-CIO has launched a national print and digital “Join a union” ad campaign, complete with quarter-page ads in top national and regional newspapers. The point, federation President Richard Trumka says in an open letter to all workers – the centerpiece of the drive – is to tell workers if they want decent raises, better benefits, and a voice on the job, unionizing is the way to go.

“Join us — be a part of the fight to build a brighter future for you, your family and working people everywhere,” his letter reads. “JOIN TOGETHER! — If you are interested in hearing how you and your co-workers can join together to win better wages and working conditions — and respect on the job — contact a union organizer today!” it urges.

The letter and the digital campaign direct viewers to the new FreedomToJoin.org website. It has information both on benefits of unionization and on the continuing drive by rich corporate interests to rob workers of their rights.
The key narrative in that anti-worker drive is a Supreme Court case, Janus vs AFSCME, where unions expect the GOP-nominated court majority to make every state and local government worker a potential “free rider,” able to use union benefits and services without paying for them.
Picture
That ruling will rob unions of at least 726,000 members nationwide and millions of dollars in fees just to cover contract bargaining and enforcement, according to a recent report by the labor studies center at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. And the average public worker – who comprise just under half of all unionists – would lose more than $1,800 in yearly wages as “free riders” defect.

“The court case was funded by the Koch brothers to deprive teachers, firefighters and other public-sector workers of their freedom to join together,” Trumka’s letter adds. Actually, a wide group of corporations and lobbies joined together for decades to fund the so-called National Right to Work Committee and its legal defense fund, which funded the Janus case.

The website “also offers resources for forming a union and information about ongoing organizing campaigns,” the fed said. Those organizing drives the fed cites include recent rank-and-file led teacher mass mobilization – including strikes – in red states West Virginia, Kentucky, Oklahoma and Arizona for more money for schools and textbooks, as well as teacher and staffer pay.

“From the boardroom to the steps of the Supreme Court, a dark web of corporate interests is trying to stop us with everything it has,” Trumka wrote. “But no matter what any CEO or lobbyist does, we’re standing up for the freedom to join together in a union.” The print ad ran in USA Today, the Washington Post and regional newspapers in Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Massachusetts.  
See also In the Face of Janus, CWA Local 1180 is CWA STRONG.
- Press Associates


Comments are closed.
    Picture

      Sign up here for the latest DC-area labor news!

    Subscribe to Newsletter

    COMMUNITY SERVICES

    EN ESPANOL

    DC UNEMPLOYMENT APPEALS

    LEGISLATIVE UPDATES

    Tweets by @DCLabor

    ​Leaders & Staff

    AFFILIATES

    Constitution

    Documents

    AFFILIATE Social Media

    HIRING HALL

    Evening with Labor

    Union City News

    UNION SHOP

    UNION PLUS

Share any story to Facebook, Twitter or via email!
Just click on the story ​and then click on the  social media icon!
COPYRIGHT METRO WASHINGTON LABOR COUNCIL AFL-CIO 2023
202-974-8150; [email protected]
  • Home
  • Board & Staff
  • Who We Are
  • Calendar
  • Evening With Labor
    • Archive >
      • 2021 Evening With Labor
      • 2019 Evening With Labor
      • 2017 Evening With Labor
      • 2018 Evening With Labor
      • 2015 Evening With Labor
      • 2016 Evening With Labor
  • Stay Connected
  • Programs
    • Community Services >
      • Espanol
      • Mission
      • Donate Now
      • Programs
      • Funders
      • Archives
    • Political Action >
      • Archive
      • Mission
      • Elected Officials
      • Endorsements
      • DMV Voters Guide
      • Candidate Questionnaires: Archive 2006-2014 >
        • 2018
        • 2016
        • 2015
        • 2014
        • Other
        • 2012
        • 2010
        • 2008
        • 2007
        • 2006
    • DC unemployment appeals
  • Hiring Hall
    • ADMINISTRATIVE
    • COMMUNICATIONS
    • INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
    • INTERNSHIPS
    • LEGAL
    • MISC
    • ORGANIZING
    • POLITICAL
    • RESEARCH
  • Affiliates