Good Jobs • Labor

Local Building & Construction Trade Unions Reach Out to Community with Career Opportunities

by Kyle Gawroriski, West Central Florida Labor Council
The Florida West Coast Apprenticeship Council will reach out to the community about the opportunities and career paths their trainings provide. On Thursday, May 10th, they will be working with faith and community leaders in the African American community to host an apprenticeship career fair at the NFL YET Center (3310 E Lake Ave, Tampa) from 10AM – 1PM. Members of the community will be able to talk to apprenticeship coordinators from local unions about apprenticeship programs that offer paid training, skills and industry certifications, and a path to a successful career with high pay and unrivaled benefits.
Labor

Communication Workers Rally in Daytona Beach

by Josh Leclair, Volusia-Flagler AFL-CIO
“AT&T has also announced roughly 1,600 layoffs of its technicians nationwide, around 290 from the Southeast,” stated President Farruggio, “even after the big corporate tax cuts were announced which was supposed to help create jobs. We will continue these mobilization efforts throughout the bargaining process for as long as it takes to let the company know that we will not go quietly into the night"
Community • Elections • Labor

In 2018, Worker Solidarity Will Win

by Kyle Gawroriski, West Central Florida Labor Council
The fight for issues that affect all of us like fair wages, affordable healthcare, and retiring with dignity, will be lost if we fail to stand together. We cannot afford to let ourselves be divided, or to only be engaged when a certain party or candidate is taking our side. In the months and years to come, we will have huge victories for working people if we continue to educate our friends and family, agitate those that seek to tear away what we have, and organize in solidarity, for the future of us all.
Labor

Florida Unions Answer the Call for Hurricane Relief

by Mike Williams, Florida AFL-CIO
What does it mean to be union? It means standing together with family, co-workers and community, especially when they need it the most. Union members across the state exemplified that definition with relief efforts for victims of Hurricane Irma over the past two weeks. In the wake of Irma, Florida AFL-CIO created the Florida Workers Relief Fund, a program to help provide relief for union members, their families and community partners. Funds raised statewide have been going directly to union members who are still struggling to get back on their feet in areas that were hardest hit.
Labor

A Short History of Labor Day and the Freedom to Join Together

by Ted Parsons, Palm Beach - Treasure Coast AFL-CIO
Today, the rich and powerful continue to rig the rules to take away our freedom to join together in union for a fair return on our work. On this Labor Day, we must remember why we celebrate the first Monday in September. We honor all of the accomplishments we have made for workers rights, we pay tribute to those who sacrificed so much blood, sweat, and tears, and we reaffirm our determination to continue the fight to do better, for all workers.
Community • Labor
Community • Labor

Local Voices: A Student, A Carrier Pilot, and My Friend Bunny

by Mike Stovall, North Florida AFL-CIO
As Ellen finished her remarks, her eyes glowed with pride as she looked at her son who now strives to continue in her footsteps as a union pilot and shared gratitude that Bunny and her union family could help provide that opportunity. Generation after generation, struggle after struggle, that moment defined unionism in a nutshell for me. Union is community. It’s working hard to lift one another up in any way that we can so that we can all thrive and so that we can all be heroes. 

Who is union strong? Students, hero women pilots, my friend Bunny, you and I, that’s who.
Legislative • Taxes and Economy

Trump’s Budget: A Wish List for the Wealthy, A Nightmare for Florida

by Danielle Thomas, Northwest Florida Central Labor Council
The White House official 2018 budget titled, “A New Foundation for American Greatness” reads more like a new plan to kill the American dream for working families. It includes some of the steepest budget cuts the country has ever seen. The victims of these cuts? Florida's poor, the environment, and our children.