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Pride Month Profiles: Ginger Hemingway Pride Month Profiles: Ginger Hemingway For Pride Month, the AFL-CIO is spotlighting various LGBTQ+ Americans who have worked and continue to work at the intersection of civil and labor rights. Today's Pride Month profile is Ginger Hemingway. Ginger Hemingway has been a worker and LGBTQ+ advocate for decades. She has countered hatred and bigotry throughout her life and continues to give her time as a retiree to AFGE to advance AFGE Pride and local chapters. She has been a member of AFGE Local 2433 for more than 35 years. She has been married to her wife, Linda Savard, since 2014. Hemingway said:
My Union Membership has provided me a platform to speak out for all my LGBTQIA siblings. It taught me I was not alone. In the early years Pride At Work was a voice for those who were afraid to speak out. When I came out at work, I was able to be a safe place for others. My Union membership gave me courage. Courage to step out because I knew I was not alone. I was part of a family that cared and had my back.
Kenneth Quinnell Fri, 06/18/2021 - 08:56 — Jun 18 -
Pride Month Profiles: Brittany Anderson Pride Month Profiles: Brittany Anderson For Pride Month, the AFL-CIO is spotlighting various LGBTQ+ Americans who have worked and continue to work at the intersection of civil and labor rights. Today's Pride Month profile is Brittany Anderson. Andrews, an organizer with the Machinists (IAM), spoke to the union difference for LGBTQ+ workers:
Even with the June 2020 Supreme Court victory finally making workplace discrimination against LGBTQ workers illegal across the entire country, the strongest workplace protection for queer workers is still a union. Being union gives us a voice in the collective bargaining process, meaning we can spell out exactly what we need to be safe and respected at our shop. Nothing beats the power and solidarity of union siblings standing together.
Kenneth Quinnell Thu, 06/17/2021 - 13:55 — Jun 17 -
ILO and Its Role in Building an Inclusive and Just Future for All Workers ILO and Its Role in Building an Inclusive and Just Future for All Workers Today, President Biden became the third sitting U.S. president to address the International Labor Conference in Geneva, the yearly global meeting that brings together unions, employers and governments to develop and adopt international labor standards. The mission of the International Labor Organization (ILO) is to promote social justice and internationally recognized labor and human rights, based on the founding principle that social justice is essential to universal and lasting peace. Biden’s speech underscores this administration’s commitment to a multilateral approach to building a global economic agenda shaped by workers and rooted in the protection of workers’ rights. Biden’s speech comes at a time of deep global economic, social and environmental crises. The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed how the system exploits workers, whether we are front-line workers in grocery stores or health care centers or supply chain workers sewing clothing in factories. Before the pandemic, millions of workers worked for low pay, worked informally or were hired through nonstandard forms of employment. Economic, racial and gender inequality continue to grow and global unemployment is expected to grow to 205 million people in 2022, greatly surpassing the level of 187 million in 2019. Child labor increased for the first time in two decades to 161 million. Cases of reported gender-based violence and harassment increased during the pandemic. More than half of the world’s workers do not have a single social protection and millions of working families face growing insecurity as their communities face the impacts of climate change. The president’s participation at the conference reflects the administration’s commitment to addressing the many challenges facing the global community by building collective responses through multilateralism and policies that deliver decent work and protect rights for all workers. In the current global economic model, government and corporations continue to profit off of forced labor, egregious worker rights violations, weak health and safety protections, and environmental degradation. The ILO plays a critical role in the international community through challenging corporate-driven globalization and shaping the frameworks needed to rebuild a resilient global economy with high standards for all workers. The speeches and policy commitments made at international fora like the International Labor Conference must be translated into real commitments by government and employers to build a new social contract for all workers that will guarantee decent work, worker rights and social protection. This new contract is critical to rebuilding workers' trust in democracy. The pandemic underscores the need to recognize occupational health and safety as a fundamental right, along with freedom of association, collective bargaining, nondiscrimination, and protections against forced and child labor. The right to strike must be protected as a cornerstone of workers’ freedom of association. From delivery drivers to warehouse workers to garment workers, the right to strike is a powerful tool used before and during the pandemic that allows workers to protect ourselves from the virus and improve our working conditions. Throughout its history, unions have worked with employers and governments to shape the agenda of the International Labor Conference to reflect the changing needs of the global workforce. In 2011, unions, domestic worker and allied organizations worked with employers and governments to pass the first global standards protecting domestic workers, and in 2019 the International Labor Conference approved the first international treaty to eliminate gender-based violence and harassment in the workplace. Since the adoption of these conventions, dozens of countries have taken action to strengthen protections for domestic workers and eliminate gender-based violence and harassment in the workplace. These global ILO standards, when translated into national and local legislation, concretely improve the lives of workers around the world. The yearly conference reminds the world that we must be ambitious and create and implement global standards that transform the lives of workers and empower us. Biden’s speech at this year’s International Labor Conference reminds the global community that to build a more just, democratic, global economy, the rights and needs of workers and our families must be central to policymaking. The ILO’s original vision to ensure shared prosperity for the global community is once again central to the challenge of guaranteeing dignity, rights and protections for all workers and our families. President Biden's Remarks to the International Labour Organization Kenneth Quinnell Thu, 06/17/2021 - 10:16 — Jun 17
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Union Members: Do Your Part and Get Vaccinated Union Members: Do Your Part and Get Vaccinated In late May, America hit a milestone: More than half of the country’s population had received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. But we still have a ways to go. Getting vaccinated is an important tool to help slow the spread of COVID-19 and put an end to the pandemic. We have lost too many co-workers, friends and family members from COVID-19. We must do everything we can to get as many vaccines into the arms of Americans as possible. Before we rush back into enjoying all of the things we used to before the pandemic—the sporting events, the nights out, the dinners at our favorite restaurants—let’s keep building vaccine confidence to make sure we never have to endure a year like 2020 again. Here are the reasons why it's important we all get the vaccine:
- Getting vaccinated helps keep you from getting sick or seriously ill even if you get COVID-19.
- Getting vaccinated protects your family, friends and co-workers, particularly the most vulnerable people who are at increased risk for severe illness from COVID-19.
- Getting vaccinated is the safest way to build protection for you, your loved ones and your entire community.
- Getting vaccinated produces immunity in your body against the virus.
- COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective. The results from clinical trials have shown this to be true. Vaccine use would not be authorized if they weren’t deemed safe.
- Getting vaccinated does not cause you to get sick with COVID-19. After getting vaccinated, you might have some side effects, which are normal signs that your body is building protection.
- Getting vaccinated is an important tool to help slow the spread of COVID-19 and put an end to the pandemic. Continue to wear a mask when you’re inside public places, stay 6 feet apart from people who don’t live with you and who may not be vaccinated, avoid crowds and wash your hands frequently.
- Vaccines are effective and important, and are another layer of protection that also includes strong health and safety protections in the workplace that prevent you from being exposed to COVID-19. Workplaces are high-risk settings for COVID-19 exposures because many people breathe in the same air, for long periods of time, and do not know if others are infected with COVID-19.
- Getting the COVID-19 vaccine is how we make sure we put an end to the pandemic.
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Pride Month Profiles: Taylor Aguilera Pride Month Profiles: Taylor Aguilera For Pride Month, the AFL-CIO is spotlighting various LGBTQ+ Americans who have worked and continue to work at the intersection of civil and labor rights. Today's Pride Month profile is Taylor Aguilera. Taylor Aguilera is a field representative for the West Central Florida Labor Council and a member of The NewsGuild-CWA (TNG-CWA). She formed Equality Polk, an organization dedicated to ending LGBTQ+ discrimination in the workplace, housing and public accommodations, in her home county, Polk County, Florida. Aguilera dedicates her work to the advancement of LGBTQ+ workers all across west central Florida. Kenneth Quinnell Wed, 06/16/2021 - 08:55 Tags: pride — Jun 16