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This week’s Battleground Bulletin reports on AFSCME members’ fight for working families at the Women’s Conference in Milwaukee and on the steps of City Hall in New York.
AFSCME Women Show They are Ready for 2012 Battles
U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis with AFSCME Women's Conference Attendees
More than 900 AFSCME women assembled in Milwaukee, WI this past weekend to listen, learn and demonstrate in preparation for state battles through the remainder of 2011 and into the 2012 election season. These strong AFSCME women were joined by sisters who are leaders in the workers’ rights movement including U.S. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Labor Secretary Hilda Solis. Both praised the activists for their fight on behalf of American workers.
Pelosi applauded AFSCME members who “inspired the nation by fighting back” against state attacks on public workers from Madison to Columbus and beyond. And AFSCME women showed that they are ready to continue to fight these state battles in 2012 and beyond when they rallied downtown in support of Milwaukee city workers who will lose the right to collectively bargain over wages, hours and working conditions at the end of the year.
Jobs March; MLK Memorial Dedication Rescheduled for October 15
AFSCME and AFT are among the co-sponsors of the National Action Network’s rescheduled March for Jobs and Justice to be held on October 15 to commemorate the work and life of Martin Luther King Jr. and apply the wisdom of his teachings to the economic challenges we face today. Click here to get more information about the “March and Rally for Jobs & Justice” on October 15.
Breaking News
News from the front lines of our fight for workers rights:
WI: Investigation threatens to become big problem for Walker
Dee J. Hall, Mary Spicuzza and Clay Barbour, Wisconsin State Journal, 10/1/11
OH: On the road, on the attack
Joe Vardon, Columbus Dispatch, 10/5/11
MI: Judge delays welfare cuts, says state didn’t follow the rules
Kathleen Gray and Dawson Bell, Detroit Free Press, 09/14/11
OH: Ohio is the New Wisconsin
David Weigel, Slate, 10/4/11
WV: Democrat Wins West Virginia Governor’s Race
Sabrina Tavernise, New York Times: The Caucus, 10/4/11
Why Union Support for Occupy Wall Street Matters
Noreen Malone, New York Magazine: Daily Intel, 10/5/11
Koch Brothers Flout Law Getting Richer With Secret Iran Sales
Asjylyn Loder and David Evans, Bloomberg Markets, 10/3/11
Action of the Week
Three AFSCME members – Casey Karns (Local 1050, Council 13), Dave Levine (Local 2577, Council 13) and Paul Spink (Local 2748, Council 24) – participated in the AFL-CIO Next Up Young Workers Summit from September 29 through October 2. Karns is a member of AFL-CIO’s Young Workers Advisory Council, Levine sits on Council 13′s Next Wave Steering Committee, and Spink—who spoke on a State Battleground panel at the summit—is the Next Wave Committee Chair for his local.
More than 800 young workers from across the labor movement came together at the second AFL-CIO Next Up Young Workers Summit, in Minneapolis, MN from Sept. 29 through Oct. 2.
