Voices At Work

Apple CEO Tim Cook is appearing before the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations today to answer charges that his company has avoided paying billions of dollars in taxes through the use of overseas tax shelters and loopholes in the corporate tax code. An investigation by the subcommittee found that Apple has shifted tens of billions of dollars of two subsidiaries in Ireland, while claiming that neither subsidiary is a tax resident of any country.

After 45 years of driving a cab in New York City, Beresford Simmons says the emergence of the National Taxi Workers Alliance in the past few years is helping his family and those of other drivers reach the middle class.

Simmons’ story is one of three illustrating that unions make the middle class strong, giving workers a voice in our economy, portrayed in a trio of new videos by the Center for American Progress Action Fund.

Organizers from the Home Defenders League, Occupy Our Homes and allied organizations estimate that more than 500 people attended a rally at the U.S. Department of Justice on Monday, calling for Attorney General Eric Holder to begin arresting bankers accused of fraud and unscrupulous lending practices. As of Tuesday morning, at least 27 demonstrators had been arrested after an attempt to enter the Justice Department building was prevented by law enforcement.

Oklahoma City-area union members who were impacted by tornadoes and who participate in Union Plus programs may be eligible for financial assistance. 

Union Plus Disaster Relief Grants of $500 are available to help participants in the Union Plus Credit Card, Insurance or Mortgage programs who are facing financial hardship due to this devastating natural disaster. The money does not have to be repaid.

At today’s Mondelēz International's shareholder meeting, the IUF, the international union body representing food workers worldwide, and unions representing the company’s North American employees raised concerns about human rights abuses in the company’s overseas operations. Many Mondelēz-branded cookies and crackers are produced by union members, including Oreo, Chips Ahoy, Ritz and Triscuit.

Thanks to what Texas AFL-CIO President Becky Moeller calls a “historic, robust” bipartisan effort, the Texas Legislature approved on Monday a "Buy American" provision for water projects that establishes a preference for iron, steel and manufactured goods produced in the United States. Says Moeller:

UPDATE: The death toll from the Moore tornado has been revised downward and stands at 24 as of noon today. But officials say they expect it to increase as rescue workers search the wreckage. 

While rescue operations continue in Moore, Okla., after one of the worst and deadliest tornadoes on record that has claimed more than 50 lives, with the toll expected to climb, relief efforts are being organized. The Oklahoma State AFL-CIO and central labor council community service liaisons are working through the United Way. 

While, according to official government statistics, union density declined last year, there were a handful of states that actually saw an increase in membership. California placed at the top of this list.

AFSCME Council 5 sends us this exciting update from Minnesota:

After a debate that took nearly 10 hours over three legislative days, the Minnesota House of Representatives approved historic legislation Monday that extends collective bargaining rights to family child care providers and personal care attendants. The bill passed 68-66 after surviving 20 Republican amendments trying to undermine it. Gov. Mark Dayton promises to sign the bill.

Apple (like many giant, multinational corporations) has been avoiding paying the taxes they owe to the country by setting up foreign “subsidiaries” in tax-haven countries and moving jobs and profit centers out of the country. They have accumulated billions upon billions of dollars in these tax havens. Now they want a special tax break to reward them for doing that.

Berry Craig writes in this piece about how unions are often the scapegoats when companies close their factories and move production outside the U.S. 

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Many unions, especially smaller ones, do not set up official union email addresses with their domain name for their staff or leadership (e.g. your_name@ ABCLocal123.com). Instead, they use a personal email addresses or an address given to them by their Internet provider for official union business. Unfortunately, that's not a very good idea. Here's six reasons why your union should set up official union email addresses:

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Berry Craig writes in this piece about how the United Mineworkers of America is being supported in their efforts to fight to ensure that Patriot Coal Company honor the more than $1.3 billion in promised health care and pension obligations to coal workers who put their lives and health at risk every single day.

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Quick! Name a unionized email hosting service.

Stumped, right?

Well, we have good news for you. Now your union can have its email delivered with servers owned and operated by a union shop. It’s called <a data-mce-href="http://community.labormail.org/" href="http://community.labormail.org/" rel="nofollow" rel="nofollow">LaborMail. It’s a service of <a data-mce-href="http://community.labormail.org/about_prometheus" href="http://community.labormail.org/about_prometheus" rel="nofollow" rel="nofollow">Prometheus Labor Communications, whose workers are members of UE Local 274. Even company owner, Steve Dondley, is a dues paying member of OPEIU Local 6.

Now, don’t feel obligated to use LaborMail just because we’re union. We want you to choose us because we can offer you personalized, top-shelf service that’s both affordable and reliable—the kind of service we’ve been delivering to our clients for seven years.

On top of all that, LaborMail is the only service out there that gives back to the labor movement. A whopping <a data-mce-href="http://community.labormail.org/how_we_support_labor_journalism" href="http://community.labormail.org/how_we_support_labor_journalism" rel="nofollow" rel="nofollow">25% of all the revenue (that’s right, not profit, but total revenue!) we take in through our service goes directly into the pocket of labor journalists to underwrite their work.

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Today is the 102nd commemoration of the 1911 fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City that killed 146 young immigrant workers. One of the worst workplace disasters in American history, it galvanized the city and the nation to fight for workplace protections, spurred union organizing, and inspired far-reaching reforms for workplace safety, workers’ rights, and more.  

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