ref·u·geeMore than half the refugees UNHCR serves now live in urban areas
An A-Z of refugee achievers around the world.
| synonyms: | émigré, fugitive, exile, displaced person, asylum seeker;
“collecting blankets for the refugees”
|
We’ll be taking a welcome day off next Monday, and we hope all of you can do the same. But celebrating Labor Day is about more than just a three-day weekend. It’s a chance to reflect on the importance of unions and remember that we need them now more than ever.
Unions have been at the center of some of America’s most important fights for fair labor standards. Unions helped end child labor: the very first American Federation of Labor (AFL) national convention passed a resolution calling on states to “ban children under 14 from all gainful employment.” Labor unions negotiated for and won employer-provided health insurance coverage, one of the first great expansions of health care to all Americans. And unions didn’t just give us this Labor Day long weekend – they fought for labor standards that gave us ALL weekends.
Unions are central in providing good jobs and middle-class security to America workers. As unions go, so goes the middle class. The chart below spells that out pretty clearly: as union membership has declined, the middle-class share of income has also dropped:
Nowadays, union membership is under attack from many who are either ignoring history and economic data, or only have the wealthiest Americans’ interests in mind. Anti-union policy groups and lawmakers in states across the country are attacking an already weakened labor movement by advancing so-called “right-to-work” laws, which inhibit workers from collectively bargaining for better wages, benefits and protections, under the guise of ‘choice.’ These laws allow some workers to get the advantages of a union contract—such as higher wages, benefits, and protection against arbitrary discipline—without paying any fee associated with negotiating on these matters. This doesn’t result in more freedom, it results in lower incomes.
Wisconsin became the latest state to adopt a “right-to-work” law and take its working families in the wrong direction. Estimates by Marquette University economist Abdur Chowdhury suggest that Wisconsin workers and families will lose between $3.89 and $4.82 billion in direct income annually due to effects of the law. Recently, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon (D) vetoed a bill passed by the Missouri legislature to enact a similar policy there.
The numbers are clear. The typical worker in a “right-to-work” state makes about $1,560 less per year than she would in a state without such a law. According to new research, women in union jobs earn $212 per week, or 30.9%, more than women in non-union jobs; men in union jobs earn $173 more per week than their non-union counterparts. Union women also face a smaller gender wage gap: They earn 88.7 cents for every dollar a man makes, compared to 78 cents across all workers.
BOTTOM LINE: If you care about a strong middle class in America, you should care about unions. The organizers that have been at the heart of many important labor reforms in the past have a vital role to play for America’s economy now and in the future, too. It’s on us to take every opportunity we can to remind people that unions work. So have a great long weekend, and make sure you remind your friends and loved ones: Enjoying your labor day weekend? Thank a union.
 |
Still looking for a Father’s Day gift? Consider getting a food thermometer, perfect for safe grilling during the warm months.
When using a food thermometer, remember these three easy steps to cook like a PRO:
1. Place the thermometer
2. Read the temperature
3. Off the Grill!
Read more about how to cook like a PRO.
=======================================================================================
So, months have gone by …
I have been listening, reading and hearing comments about how Obama took a great first step toward change but didn’t go far enough to sedate or fulfill the promises he made to special interest groups during his campaign. Yes, the negative comments are became bold, louder and more frequent …but in this new era of trump folks are starting to feel like we are into trumps 4th yr but sadly it is only the beginning of his 2nd year …The change we wanted to believe in has been trashed pulled and stomped on … however, not forgotten and as each day goes by with news of a bill that hurts those in the middle to lower class, obstruction of justice, possible collusion and money laundering it becomes more obvious that it will take just as long to clean up the mess this administration leaves for Americans while they have more financial contacts contracts and some say possible criminal behavior . I once said change takes time … it also takes a cooperating Congress, but this group of so called public servants are showing America that the 1% wants theirs now finally having that opportunity in the palm of their hand with an albeit inept trifecta willing to stay quiet while implementing extreme right policies judges and laws before being run out of office …
**Environmentalist… long ago the likes of a Phil Radford, exec director/Greenpeace USA stated among other things,” Obama is missing in action” as it relates to global warming,in an article written by Bryan Walsh from Time Magazine… but consider what we now have is a government opening up every aspect of our environment to toxic waste in whatever shape or form you want to insert
**Gay/Lesbian leaders… remember the days when folks said Obama was not going far enough on don’t ask/don’t tell then he announced he will enact federal benefits for same sex couples …but said he was moving too slow? too little too late? come on… People of colour know what being impatient means …Now, in this era of trump the idea of saying one thing on camera and voting another has gone a new direction…trump said no transgender military personnel the courts said uh yes, then republicans decided they side with trump …um do they even know about the discrimination laws …yes, they do exist but this government seems to believe it can be side stepped in the cases of those under “protected status”
** Immigration Yes, Obama deported a whole lot of people and folks did not like it yet, in this era of trump we have to ask if he is moving toward that ugly operation Eisenhower tried to implement? We have far and few center judges now, some are willing to recognize and call out what looks like discrimination behind the moves in our current government
**Health-care liberals… are impatient talked a whole lot of trash yet we are not any closer to what ACA or Obamacare would have looked like if a bipartisan group had really existed …Those whose lives have been touched know the good things it has done besides save lives …and btw having healthcare should not is not a partisan issue or football
**Wall Street … flexed their muscles to show Americans who really is in charge of the market … bad behavior needs to be Regulated – over spending, income inequality in tax cuts, putting the donors first instead of doing the job of a public servant while getting $$ when you vote against your constituents
change will happen, a good President can’t do it all himself, we need to call, write and march to let Congress know what they are doing is NOT working
A change we can believe in
” O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath ~
America will be! “
From: Let America Be America Again
by Langston Hughes
![[banner]](https://i0.wp.com/americanhistory.si.edu/brown/images/history/banners/main.jpg)
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education marked a turning point in the history of race relations in the United States. On May 17, 1954, the Court stripped away constitutional sanctions for segregation by race, and made equal opportunity in education the law of the land.
Brown v. Board of Education reached the Supreme Court through the fearless efforts of lawyers, community activists, parents, and students. Their struggle to fulfill the American dream set in motion sweeping changes in American society, and redefined the nation’s ideals.
The end of the Civil War had promised racial equality, but by 1900 new laws and old customs created a segregated society that condemned Americans of color to second-class citizenship.
As African Americans and other minority groups began the struggle for civil rights, they strengthened their own schools and fought against segregated education.
Beginning in the 1930s, African American lawyers from Howard University law school and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People campaigned to dismantle constitutionally-sanctioned segregation.
In the early 1950s, African Americans from five different communities across the country bravely turned to the courts to demand better educational opportunities for their children.
In 1954, under the leadership of Chief Justice Earl Warren, the Supreme Court produced a unanimous decision to overturn Plessy vs. Ferguson and changed the course of American history.
Today, thanks in part to the victorious struggle in the Brown case, most Americans believe that a racially integrated, ethnically diverse society and educational system is a worthy goal, though they may disagree deeply about how to achieve it.
| — | |
Be a Seed for Change 
You must be logged in to post a comment.