Outdated labor laws have hampered our fundamental right to join together and negotiate for better wages, benefits and working conditions. The Protecting the Right to Organize Act will empower America’s workers and make our economy work for working people.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka discusses why America needs a strong labor movement and how the Biden administration is committed to strengthening unions.
North Dakota AFL-CIO Supports Universal School Meals
WHEREAS, proper nutrition is a necessary component of quality education; and
WHEREAS, many North Dakota students are served alternate meals or skip meals due to their families economic conditions, even with over thirty percent of North Dakota students participating in the Federal Free and Reduced Lunch Program; and
WHEREAS, many North Dakota families do not qualify for Free and Reduced Lunch but are still struggling to make ends meet, and are going into debt for basic school hot lunch; and
WHEREAS, Paid Family Leave is a common sense proposal that would allow an employee to request paid leave to care for themselves or a family member when medical emergencies arise; and
WHEREAS, Paid Family Leave is beneficial for employers and employees alike – by reducing turnover, lowering training costs, improving morale, and attracting workers; and
WHEREAS, Too many North Dakota workers must make a choice between taking care of loved
ND AFL-CIO Supports Public Employee Collective Bargaining
WHEREAS, a union fundamentally is an association of individual workers seeking to address common workplace issues, the statutory right to engage in collective bargaining is necessary to ensure that workers can exercise their civil right to associate with other workers on issues of mutual concern and restore the balance of economic power in our country; and
WHEREAS, collective bargaining is the process in which working people negotiate contracts
ND AFL-CIO Commits to Civil Rights and Economic Justice
WHEREAS, working people are diverse, we are different colors, gender identities, religions, sexual orientations and ages; and
WHEREAS, the labor movement has been at the forefront of the struggle for every major civil rights law and stands strong in the fight for dignity, life and liberty for every worker at the intersection of economic justice and civil rights; and
WHEREAS, America’s legacy of racism, exclusion and injustice continues to obstruct working
North Dakota AFL-CIO Condemns Police Brutality and Racism
WHEREAS, George Floyd, a black resident of St. Louis Park, Minn. Floyd was handcuffed and pinned to the ground by a local police officer’s knee for over eight minutes as three other officers stood by, watching as he was killed; and
WHEREAS, This tragedy is all too familiar, highlighting the double standard experienced by black and brown people in America, including North Dakota, when interacting with law enforcement; and
WHEREAS, Racism causes pain to people of color every day in America; and
NPR's David Greene talks to NPR's Scott Horsley and William Spriggs, chief economist for the AFL-CIO, about the pandemic's effect on joblessness — especially on minority employees. SPRIGGS: Well, in this case, it's, for the Hispanic community, the industries in which they dominate. So they're very important to the restaurant industry. That industry lost the most amount of jobs. Before this downturn, we had 12.6 million Americans who worked in restaurants.
Declaring that working people are saying, “We’ve had enough,” AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said unions will continue the fight to root out systemic racism in the U.S. In a 77-minute Zoom telecast on June 3, Trumka and other labor leaders—AFSCME President Lee Saunders, Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingarten, IBEW President Lonnie Stephenson, Painters President Ken Rigmaiden, Unite Here President D. Taylor, and two Unite Here regional leaders—laid blame for that racism at the feet of U.S. history and U.S. politicians.
