Merrimack Valley Central Labor Council

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Massachusetts AFL-CIO President Steven Tolman Denounces The Death Of George Floyd

June 4, 2020

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Recent News

Trumka: The AFL-CIO Must Fight for Trans Lives Inside and Outside the Labor Movement

Richard Trumka on Tuesday, June 30 - 4:58pm

This month’s historic Supreme Court ruling that LGBTQ employees are protected in the workplace by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was another step forward in the march for equality. While there is much to celebrate, this ruling comes as our nation is suffering from centuries-old systemic racism and grieving its latest victims. George Floyd and Breonna Taylor were killed by police officers. Twenty-five-year-old Ahmaud Arbery was gunned down on a run by two white men. We need to say their names, know their stories, and recognize why they were deprived of a full life.

What Is Owed: Without Economic Justice, There Can Be No True Equality

The New York Times Magazine on Wednesday, June 24 - 9:04pm

Race-neutral policies simply will not address the depth of disadvantage faced by people this country once believed were chattel. Financial restitution cannot end racism, of course, but it can certainly mitigate racism’s most devastating effects. If we do nothing, black Americans may never recover from this pandemic, and they will certainly never know the equality the nation has promised.

Read the full article in The New York Times Magazine.

Trumka: Our crises demand bold action now

Richard Trumka on Wednesday, June 17 - 9:14pm

America is suffering under the crushing weight of three crises, which are a public health pandemic, an economic free fall, and structural racism. They are knotted together in that untangling one depends on how we untangle the others. For instance, structural racism is deeply ingrained in the share of black workers unemployed and dying from the coronavirus. Today, thousands of working people across the country will join together in a national day of action called the Workers First Caravan for Racial and Economic Justice.

Trumka Calls Out Facebook Over Suggestion Employers Block the Word 'Unionize' on Workplace Platform

Newsweek on Friday, June 12 - 9:04pm

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka has demanded an investigation from Facebook and a public apology from founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg after an online presentation touted the ability of employers to block the word "unionize" on the company's Workplace platform. "Blacklisting is illegal. Employers censoring their employees' speech about unionizing is illegal," Trumka, the leader of the largest federation of labor unions in the U.S., tweeted on Friday.

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Take Action

Support Hazard Pay for Essential Public Sector Workers

Essential public-sector workers we all depend on are on the front lines of exposure to this virus. Please ask your State Representative and State Senator to support H4745.

Support Hazard Pay for Private Sector Essential Workers during the COVID-19 Emergency

This pandemic has laid bare how intertwined public health and the economy are – and how absolutely vital working people are to keeping every family safe, secure, healthy, and fed. Please ask your State Representative and State Senator to support HD5031 - An Act providing hazard pay for essential workers in the COVID-19 emergency , filed by Rep. Maria Robinson.

Ask Your Legislators to Protect Essential Workers by Passing Occupational Presumption Legislation!

Essential workers are on the frontlines of this pandemic. Occupational presumption legislation would ensure that any essential worker reporting to work outside their home who contracts coronavirus is presumed to have gotten it from exposure at work.

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