05/06/2024 - 4:00pm
Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month Profile: Steven Moy
For Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month this year, the AFL-CIO is spotlighting various Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders who have worked and continue to work at the intersection of civil and labor rights in the United States. Today's profile is Steven Moy of the Electrical Workers (IBEW).
Steven Moy is a member of IBEW Local 3 in New York. He comes from a family of labor activists, including his young daughter who belongs to SAG-AFTRA. He began his career as a Local 3 apprentice in 1994. Since then, he's been active in the Asian American Cultural Society, where he filled several positions, including president. He was elected to the APALA National Executive Board in 2011. In 2012, Moy was appointed president of the New York City chapter of the Electrical Workers Minority Caucus. In January 2015, he was elected as president of the New York City chapter of APALA.
Kenneth Quinnell
Mon, 05/06/2024 - 09:36
05/06/2024 - 4:00pm
Service & Solidarity Spotlight: Organizers Are Building a Movement to Meet the Moment at AFL-CIO Organizing Institute Trainings
Working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our Service & Solidarity Spotlight series, we’ll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.
More than 80 organizers, including participants and teaching fellows, joined together this week in Las Vegas and St. Paul, Minnesota, at the AFL-CIO Organizing Institute (OI) Three-Day Training.
The OI’s mission is to train union organizers to secure the kinds of huge wins that grow the labor movement and change lives for generations. Tens of thousands of member activists and staff organizers have been trained by the OI, which provides them with the best practices and mobilization principles that are key to helping workers win respect, dignity and a voice at work through forming a union. AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler joined attendees at the St. Paul session, where they were reinforcing the skills necessary to help usher in a new era of labor organizing.
Find more information about the OI and register your teams for training at aflcio.org/oi.
Kenneth Quinnell
Mon, 05/06/2024 - 09:29
05/06/2024 - 4:00pm
The Enduring Legacy of Asian American Pacific Islander Workers and Union Leaders
As a Japanese American, I’m especially moved by the stories of early Asian and Pacific Islander immigrants and Native Hawaiians who are a part of the tapestry of our labor history, though their stories are not well celebrated. From the sugar fields of Hawai’i to the California coast where the Transcontinental Railroad originated to the grape fields in Delano, California, employers exploited these immigrant workers brutally.
The 19th century was the era when bosses perfected the strategy of pitting one race of workers against another, all in a cycle to drive down wages. But this was also the era where workers—especially Asian immigrants—figured out how to organize across races and nationalities. This was a matter of survival for those who defied expectations.
Their success is more remarkable when you think they often had to overcome cultural and language barriers to find commonality with others—and all in a time when the right to organize was not well protected.
There are countless stories of untold heroism in this history.
Native Hawaiian sugar workers staged the first general strike by native laborers in the Hawaiian Islands in 1841 because they rejected the western concept of work and being paid in scrip. Five thousand Chinese workers staged a strike covering 30 miles of rail in 1867. There’s the story of Japanese and Mexican agricultural workers fighting for justice together in sugar beet fields at the very beginning of the 20th century. The lessons of the Japanese-Mexican Labor Association repeated in the 1960s when Filipino workers banded with Chicano and Mexican workers to organize grape fields in California. Standing right alongside César Chávez were Larry Itliong and Philip Vera Cruz.
It’s extraordinary to think that these workers often were organizing at a time when they had little support from communities, press or even organized labor. In fact, it was the labor movement of the late 19th century that promoted the hateful Chinese Exclusion Act, which has the ugly distinction of being the first and only major federal legislation to explicitly suspend immigration for a specific nationality. These workers often were not welcomed into the unions of the day, but it didn’t stop them from acting collectively and demanding justice at work.
Today, the landscape of organized labor is vastly different from what existed in the 19th century. Almost 800,000 Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) call themselves union members (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2024).
In 1992, we founded the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, AFL-CIO (APALA) to recognize the role of AAPI union members in the movement and to make a commitment to organizing AAPI workers. APALA has since served as a vital entry point for AAPI union members to their union activism and as an important resource for unions as we continue to train AAPI organizers through our Organizing Institutes. We are also the bridge to AAPI communities which, not surprisingly, have become increasingly pivotal in elections as we continue to grow our voter turnout.
Despite a dark history of labor’s hostility toward AAPI workers, we are now a vital part of today’s labor movement and will remain vigilant to ensure we do not regress in the name of trade or nationalism. We will fight for worker rights, job protections and safe communities while uplifting all workers.
As immigration trends have changed, a new wave of AAPI workers is organizing in their sectors and winning. The New York Taxi Workers Alliance is organized by mostly south Asians from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Members staged a strike in 1998 where 98% of New York City’s 24,000 yellow cab drivers parked their cars on a single day to protest unfair and arbitrary fines. 98%! Young AAPI academic workers are leading in their unions and AAPI teachers who are members of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and National Education Association (NEA) are leading the fight to include AAPI history in our curricula.
There is still a long way to go and more organizing to be done. The rise in anti-Asian hate during the pandemic underscores that the ugliness of racism that fueled the nativist rhetoric of the 19th century isn’t that far away. False narratives about AAPI folks being meek and passive continue to undercut the truth that we will always fight for justice at both work and in our communities. Yet I’m optimistic as I look ahead to a new generation of AAPI union activists leading their unions. We are sharing the collective responsibility of uplifting our history and our members as rightful and powerful parts of the labor movement.
May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, a time to cast a spotlight on AAPI contributions to our culture and heritage. I welcome this as it focuses on a national conversation on our history. But I do look forward to the day when our AAPI labor history is seamlessly woven into the fabric of all labor history. A day when we think of our labor heroes and conjure up not only the images of Mother Jones, A. Philip Randolph and César Chávez, but also Larry Itliong or May Chen, who led the 1982 International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union (ILGWU) strike in New York City’s Chinatown. I think that is a fitting responsibility for us today to honor our heroes of yesterday.
Resources
Sandra Engle is a retired UAW member and executive director of the Asian
Kenneth Quinnell
Fri, 05/03/2024 - 10:52
05/06/2024 - 9:30am
Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month Profile: Jan Tokumaru
For Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month this year, the AFL-CIO is spotlighting various Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders who have worked and continue to work at the intersection of civil and labor rights in the United States. Today's profile is Jan Tokumaru of the Communications Workers of America (CWA).
Jan Tokumaru is a retired, Japanese American member of CWA Local 39521. She worked as a project coordinator for the California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO, the UCLA Labor Center and the Los Angeles Federation of Labor. She has served on the advisory committee of Los Angeles Trade-Technical College and California State University Dominguez Hills' labor studies program. As a member of Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance's Los Angeles chapter and Nikkei Progressives, Tokumaru continues her activism by building solidarity with labor and community partners in Southern California.
Kenneth Quinnell
Sun, 05/05/2024 - 10:12
05/04/2024 - 9:00am
Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month Profile: Emily Reyes
For Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month this year, the AFL-CIO is spotlighting various Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders who have worked and continue to work at the intersection of civil and labor rights in the United States. Today's profile is Emily Reyes of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT).
Emily Reyes is an elementary school teacher and leader with the United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA), AFT Local 1021. She serves as UTLA's vice chair at her school. She is also an active member on the UTLA West Area steering committee and served on the Political Action Council for Educators (PACE). Reyes began serving a two-year term on the California Teachers Association (CTA) state council. In addition, she represents Local 1021 on the APALA National Executive Board and as her local chapter’s executive vice president.
Kenneth Quinnell
Sat, 05/04/2024 - 10:12
05/03/2024 - 9:00pm
Service & Solidarity Spotlight: More Than 2,000 Oregon Health and Science University Research Workers Join AFSCME
Working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our Service & Solidarity Spotlight series, we’ll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.
Oregon AFSCME submitted union authorization cards signed by more than half of the over 2,000 research workers at Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) on April 26. Under the state law, once Oregon Employment Relations Board verifies the cards, OHSU will be required to recognize Oregon AFSCME as the workers’ bargaining representative. The unit includes workers who conduct lab experiments, order equipment, file paperwork and care for animals used in studies. It will not cover faculty members who apply for grants and lead research.
Kenneth Quinnell
Fri, 05/03/2024 - 10:04
Tags:
Organizing
05/03/2024 - 2:30pm
Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month Profile: Mary Akimo-Lu’uwai
For Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month this year, the AFL-CIO is spotlighting various Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders who have worked and continue to work at the intersection of civil and labor rights in the United States. Today's profile is Mary Akimo-Lu’uwai of AFSCME.
For 17 years, Mary Akimo-Lu’uwai—a proud member of the Hawaii Government Employees Association (AFSCME Local 152)—has been a lifeline for patients at the Maui Community Mental Health Center. Even when wildfires were raging across her island last summer, Akimo-Lu’uwai was on the front lines, working extra hours to ensure the community’s most vulnerable continued to receive much-needed mental health care. To Akimo-Lu’uwai, her work is more than just a job, it’s part of a lifelong calling to help others.
Kenneth Quinnell
Fri, 05/03/2024 - 10:12
05/03/2024 - 2:30pm
Celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month: What Working People Are Doing This Week
Welcome to our regular feature, a look at what the various AFL-CIO unions and other working family organizations are doing across the country and beyond. The labor movement is big and active—here's a look at the broad range of activities we're engaged in this week.
Actors' Equity:
AFGE:
AFSCME:
Alliance for Retired Americans:
Amalgamated Transit Union:
American Federation of Musicians:
American Federation of Teachers:
Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance:
Association of Flight Attendants-CWA:
Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers:
Boilermakers:
Bricklayers:
Communications Workers of America:
Department for Professional Employees:
Electrical Workers:
Heat and Frost Insulators:
05/03/2024 - 2:30pm
Economy Gains 175,000 Jobs in April; Unemployment Up Slightly to 3.9%
The U.S. economy gained 175,000 jobs in April, and the unemployment rate was up slightly to 3.9%, according to figures released Friday morning by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
April's biggest job gains were in health care (+56,000), social assistance (+31,000), transportation and warehousing (+22,000), retail trade (+20,000), construction (+9,000), and government (+8,000). Employment was little changed over the month in other major industries, including mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction; manufacturing; wholesale trade; information; financial activities; professional and business services; leisure and hospitality; and other services.
Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rate for adult men (3.6%) increased in April. The rate for Black Americans (5.6%) decreased. The jobless rates for teenagers (11.7%), Hispanics (4.8%), adult women (3.5%), white Americans (3.5%) and Asian Americans (2.8%) showed little change over the month.
The number of long-term unemployed workers (those jobless for 27 weeks or longer) was little changed in April and accounted for 19.6% of the total number of people unemployed.
Kenneth Quinnell
Fri, 05/03/2024 - 10:36
05/02/2024 - 2:30pm
Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month Profile: Abe Lagrimas Jr.
For Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month this year, the AFL-CIO is spotlighting various Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders who have worked and continue to work at the intersection of civil and labor rights in the United States. Today's profile is Abe Lagrimas Jr. of the American Federation of Musicians (AFM).
“When I played at the local as a kid, it was just a gig,” Abe Lagrimas Jr. said. “Much later in my career, I see the importance of being affiliated with the AFM union, and the community that it creates and brings together. Regulars at these performances tell their friends, and word of mouth brings more people in. It’s unlike anything I’ve felt anywhere else I’ve lived. Hawaii has a tight-knit community in general, and we need to keep this special relationship between patrons and musicians going because we need each other.”
Kenneth Quinnell
Thu, 05/02/2024 - 10:36
