The AFL-CIO Web-Site Has Very Important Information 

The Phoenix Metro Area Local APWU is a part of the AFL-CIO. As such, it’s easy to access the website for the AFL-CIO, which is

http://www.aflcio.org.  

This article is intended to give you some insight about what is contained on their web-site.

1. Jobs, Wages and the Global Economy

2. Workers’ Rights

3. AFL-CIO Health Care Campaign

4. Retirement Security

5. Safety and Health At Work

6. Work and Family

7. Education
    

Jobs, Wages and the Global Economy

• Good Jobs. Too many new jobs pay low wages and few, if any, benefits.  Find out why.

• Minimum Wage. It took 10 years for the U.S. House and Senate to raise the minimum wage.  Learn about the fight to raise both the federal minimum wage and individual state wages.

• Global Economy.  Today’s global economy has greatly increased the income gap worldwide, making the rich even wealthier and eroding working families' standard of living.  Find out how issues in the global economy affect you and see how you can take action.

• Exporting America’s jobs. Corporations are shipping more middle-class white collar jobs overseas and leaving low-wage jobs at home.

• Manufacturing. The AFL-CIO Industrial Union Council is working for national policies to address the urgent crisis in manufacturing and create good jobs in an industry that helped build the middle class.

• Working Women. Whether you top concern is equal pay or child care, one thing is certain:  Working women agree that it's more effective working together to make changes on the job than trying to go it alone.

• Unemployment Help. Find information and resources here on unemployment insurance, surviving joblessness, a layoff survival kit for union leaders and more.

• Worker’s Rights. Many employers violate American workers’ basic legal rights to safe, healthy and fair conditions at work because they value their profits more than their workers.  If that happens to you, this site provides links to government agencies that investigate complaints as well as advocacy organizations that assist people with related problems.

Workers’ Rights

Working people in America have certain basic legal rights to safe, healthy workplaces, but many employers –perhaps yours – violate these basic rights because they don’t value their workers. This site will help if that happens to you, with links to: investigate complaints as well as advocacy organizations that assist people. 

Find out what to do if you are discriminated against because of

• Age

• Disability

• Gender

• Pregnancy

• Race or Ethnicity

• Religion

• Sex 

Turn to these sources of aid if you are:

• A U.S. Reservist

• Hurt on the job

• Exposed to unsafe or unhealthy conditions at work

• Denied paid overtime

• Sexually harassed

• Punished for supporting a union

• Denied unpaid leave to care for a newborn or family member.

AFL-CIO Health Care Campaign

The AFL-CIO union movement is fighting for a unique American plan for secure, high-quality health care for all that:

• Controls rising and irrational costs. *Provides comprehensive, high-quality health care to all.

• Gives every family the opportunity and the responsibility for preventive care.

• Preserves the right to choose and use your own doctor.

• Asks our government to play a strong role to curb corporate greed and incompetence and ensure more fairness and efficiency.

• Lowers employer costs, and , in return, asks them to pay their fair share.

• Builds on what’s best about American health care while drawing from what works in other countries.

Retirement Security

• Social Security. Privatizing Social Security will force drastic cuts in retirement benefits.

• Defined-Benefit Pensions: Learn more about the different risks for work-based pensions.

• Cash-Balance Pensions. More cash-balance plans mean more employees’ retirement is at risk.

• Saving for Retirement: You’ll need 60 to 80 percent of your income to retire.

• Are You Ready?

Safety and Health At Work

• NIOSH Worker Notification Page. Check out the NIOSH Worker Notification Program.

• Current news and commentary on workplace health and safety, labor and politics.

• Links to Safety  and Health Internet Sites. Looking for more information on safety and health?

Work and Family

• Bargaining for work and family benefits.

• Child care and early childhood education.

• Elder care.

• Family and Medical Leave

• Family-friendly work schedules.

Education

• Charter Schools and School Vouchers.

• Charter Schools routinely trail behind public schools in academic achievement even as passage of school voucher legislation would leave behind millions of students.

• No Child Left Behind.

• While the union movement long has championed the principles underlying the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), there are serious flaws in the law and its implementation that must be fixed.

• Upholding High Standards for Students.

• When educators set high academic standards for students- and get the resources they need- student achievement improves.

• Hiring More Skilled Teachers.

• Activists are pursuing lots of strategies to boosting teacher quality and recruit new teachers to deal with the influx of students into public schools.

• Early Childhood Education and Child Care Workers.

• Even as the lack of affordable, quality child care is a serious problem, child care, child care workers struggle to stay in an industry with low wages.

• Building, Improving and Modernizing.

• Of the existing 80, 000 schools at least one-third are in need of extensive repair or replacement. Join the campaign to build more schools and fix up existing campuses.

• Making Higher Education Affordable.

• Working families want access to education and training beyond high school and want higher-education workers treated fairly. Find out what unions are doing.

• Homework Helpers.

Click Here to Visit your AFL-CIO