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  • AFL-CIO President: Facebook Acted As An Illegal Employer Advocate

    AFL-CIO President: Facebook Acted As An Illegal Employer Advocate

    “They acted here as an illegal employer advocate to stop free speech and to stop unionization,” says AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. “Facebook holds itself out as this champion of free speech. Yet here it is developing a platform that allows employers to totally deny their employee’s free speech. We demand an apology and they should abandon further work on these types of platforms.”

    Richard Trumka, President of the AFL-CIO, blasts Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg for building a platform feature that allows employers to ban certain words related to unionization in employee communications:

    We Demand An Apology From Mark Zuckerberg

    Facebook holds itself out as this champion of free speech. Yet here it is developing a platform that allows employers to totally deny their employee’s free speech. It also allows employers to blacklist (certain speech) which is illegal and to sort of truncate or eliminate their ability to talk about unionization which is also illegal.

    Mark Zuckerberg is doing two things here which are terrible. One he’s doing illegal stuff like blacklisting and making eavesdropping on the employee’s talk of unionization, which is illegal. The second thing is he’s undermining the notion of free speech. It’s only his free speech that he’s been a champion of, not workers free speech. We should have an apology. We demand an apology and they should abandon further work on these types of platforms.

    Facebook Acted As An Illegal Employer Advocate

    We think there needs to be a change to (Section 230 of the Telecommunications Act which was put in place to protect platforms from lawsuits resulting from the content posted by their users). Things like this shouldn’t be allowed to happen. They acted here as more than a platform. They acted here as an illegal employer advocate to stop free speech and to stop unionization. They shouldn’t be shielded from that type of conduct or other conduct similar to that.

    AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka: Facebook Acted As An Illegal Employer Advocate
  • North Dakota Death Rate Highest For Workers, Shows Report

    North Dakota Death Rate Highest For Workers, Shows Report

    The AFL-CIO, the largest union federation in the U.S., this week released its annual report on worker deaths. The report found that 4,693 U.S. workers died while on the job in 2011, and that an estimated 50,000 die each year from “occupational diseases.”

    The report breaks down the demographics of the latest worker death data available. Latino workers were found to have the highest workplace fatality rates, with a rate 14% higher than other workers. North Dakota was also found to be the most dangerous state, with a fatality rate of 12.4 per 100,000 workers.

    “In 2013, it is unacceptable that so many hardworking men and women continue to die on the job,” said Richard Trumka, AFL-CIO President. “No one should have to sacrifice his or her life or health and safety in order to earn a decent living. Yet, elected leaders, business groups and employers have failed to provide adequate health and safety protections for working families. At the same time, too many politicians and business leaders are actively working to dismantle working people’s right to collectively bargain on the job and speak out against unsafe, unjust working conditions. This is a disgrace to all those who have died. America’s workers deserve better.”

    The AFL-CIO’s statement on the report mentioned the recent West Texas fertilizer plant explosion as an example of how, it says, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is underfunded and understaffed. The organization also stated that it believes OSHA penalties are “too low to be taken seriously.”

  • AFL-CIO Unions Vote To Endorse Obama Again

    In a very unsurprising story, the AFL-CIO union has voted to endorse President Obama again.

    Citing their shared values as a reason AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka had this to say: “With our endorsement today, we affirm our faith in him—and pledge to work with him through the election and his second term to restore fairness, security and shared prosperity.” He also went on to say “President Obama honors the values of hard work, of mutual respect and of solving problems together—not every person for himself or herself. He believes that together we will get through the most challenging economic crisis in memory and restore opportunity for all. Each of the Republican presidential candidates, on the other hand, has pledged to uphold the special privileges of Wall Street and the 1%—privileges that have produced historic economic inequality and drowned out the voices of working people in America.

    While the union movement “has sometimes differed with the president and often pushed his administration to do more and do it faster,” says Trumka, “we have never doubted his commitment to working families. He has worked hard to create good jobs; he has made the revival of the manufacturing sector a hallmark of his jobs agenda; he has moved aggressively to protect workers’ rights, pay and health and safety on the job; he has worked for a fair resolution of the housing crisis; and he put his confidence and administration unequivocally behind the workers and companies in the American auto industry—a move that saved hundreds of thousands of jobs and is helping to revive the economy now and for the future.”

    The CFL-CIO in the bag with it’s billions in forcibly collected dues for the President? Check!

    (image)@rolandsmartin
    rolandsmartin    The AFL-CIO has endorsed Pres Obama. If anyone gave that a breaking news alert, they need to be evaluated. That was a no-brainer!(image) 20 minutes ago via Facebook ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@SooperMexican
    el SOOPer    Parasites voting to stay on host MT @RichardTrumka AFL-CIO has just voted proudly & enthusiastically to endorse @BarackObama for 2nd term(image) 1 hour ago via TweetDeck ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@I_Am_Francisco
    Francisco J Lopez    That seals a 2nd term—RT@HuffingtonPost: Obama wins endorsement from AFL-CIO, nation’s largest labor organization http://t.co/wdQQPAmU(image) 15 minutes ago via Twitter for iPhone ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto