02/10/2026 - 5:00pm
Black History Month Profiles: Chris Puckett
For Black History Month, we're taking a look at a group of leaders who are currently actively making Black history across the labor movement. Check back daily for a new profile and meet some of the people working to improve not only their community, but also to improve conditions for working people across the country. Today's profile is Chris Puckett of the United Steelworkers (USW).
Chris Puckett has been an X11 fitter and a USW member for 23 years. He has served on the Local 8888 grievance and bargaining committees, and helped to organize the first Hampton Roads chapter of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, where he is sergeant-at-arms and sits on the Region 2 board. He’s also the labor and industry chair of the NAACP of Newport News, Virginia.
Kenneth Quinnell
Tue, 02/10/2026 - 10:25
Tags:
Black History Month
02/10/2026 - 5:00pm
We'll Get Through This Together: In the States Roundup
It's time once again to take a look at the ways working people are making progress in the states. Click on any of the links to follow the state federations on X.
Alaska AFL-CIO:
California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO:
Illinois AFL-CIO:
Maine AFL-CIO:
Massachusetts AFL-CIO:
Michigan State AFL-CIO:
Minnesota AFL-CIO:
Missouri AFL-CIO:
Nevada State AFL-CIO:
New York State AFL-CIO:
Oregon AFL-CIO:
Pennsylvania AFL-CIO:
Texas AFL-CIO:
Vermont State Labor Council, AFL-CIO:
Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO:
02/09/2026 - 10:30pm
Service & Solidarity Spotlight: The Columbus Dispatch Newsroom Workers Vote Overwhelmingly to Organize
Working people across the United States regularly step 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.
Newsroom workers at The Columbus Dispatch and Newark Advocate overwhelmingly voted to organize with The NewsGuild-CWA (TNG-CWA), with a vote of 33-5 in favor.
The journalists are fighting for equitable pay, protections from layoffs and for the future of journalism in central Ohio.
“For too long, Ohio’s greatest home newspaper has hemorrhaged great journalists due to short-sighted cuts by our corporate owner,” said Jordan Laird, a Dispatch news reporter. “Now, we’re taking some power back.”
“The employees of The Dispatch are seizing this moment to fight for a work culture and the job benefits that we deserve,” said Adam Cairns, a Dispatch photojournalist. “We can no longer afford to sit back and wait for these changes to happen on their own.”
Kenneth Quinnell
Mon, 02/09/2026 - 09:49
Tags:
Organizing
02/09/2026 - 10:30pm
We Will Have a Voice: The Working People Weekly List
Every week, we bring you a roundup of the top news and commentary about issues and events important to working families. Here’s the latest edition of the Working People Weekly List.
AI-Powered Robots Are Coming for Trade Jobs: “Unions are worried these current shifts could amount to a warning for jobs outside the office. ‘White collar work will probably be the first tranche, but every job across sectors will be impacted,’ AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler told my colleague Brock Hrehor on Wednesday. The union is pushing for a slate of AI bills in California, which partly include advanced notices for AI-related job cuts that should offer protections across different labor sectors.”
Volkswagen Workers' Victory Represents Rare Union Breakthrough for South: “Workers at Volkswagen's Chattanooga, Tenn., factory won 20% raises and lower-health care costs in their first UAW contract after nearly two years of bargaining. Why it matters: The agreement is being billed as a historic breakthrough in the UAW's decades-long effort to unionize foreign-owned auto plants in the South. Catch up quick: The UAW has been trying to organize the so-called transplant factories—a group now including Nissan, Mercedes-Benz and others—for 40 years.”
Salt Lake City Finalizes 'Historic' Collective Bargaining Agreement with Librarians: “Library employees in Utah's capital city are officially the first municipal library staff to unionize after city leaders approved a resolution to support their first collective bargaining agreement. ‘This is a historic day for the city,’ said Salt Lake City Council Chairman Alejandro Puy, moments before the body unanimously approved a memorandum of understanding that the Salt Lake City Library Board and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 1004 reached on behalf of eligible library employees.”
The Unusual Working-Class Message That Turned a Deep-Red District Blue: “The issues that have worked for Democrats around the country this election season—affordability and working-class stability chief among them—also worked for Taylor Rehmet, a union president and machinist who beat his Trump-backed opponent for a deep-red state Senate seat in the Fort Worth area of Texas last weekend. But his platform included something more unusual and a little retro: a promise to return vocational education to public high schools.”
Actors' Equity, IATSE, Other Entertainment Unions Condemn Kennedy Center Closure: “Following President Trump's announcement that the Kennedy Center would be the closed for two years beginning July 4 for renovations, a number of entities have roundly condemned the move from Congressional Senators to, now, a host of entertainment unions and workers. Actors’ Equity Association, American Federation of Musicians, American Guild of Musical Artists, International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, and Stage Directors and Choreographers Society—unions whose members are routinely hired by the Kennedy Center—have released a joint statement decrying the move, calling it ‘harmful for the arts and creative workers in America,’ and saying they have been given ‘no formal notice or briefing.’”
MedStar Nurses Ratify New Labor Deal: “Registered nurses at MedStar Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C., have ratified a new three‑year labor agreement covering more than 2,200 nurses, according to a Feb. 2 National Nurses United news release shared with Becker’s. The contract, which will run from March 2026 through February 2029, includes wage increases of up to nearly 24% over the life of the agreement, the union said. Union leaders also highlighted several provisions intended to enhance safety and working conditions, including additional security resources and the addition of a registered nurse to the hospitalwide workplace violence committee. The agreement also includes new language allowing bargaining over new technology, bereavement leave for grandparents and staffing language intended to ensure nurses are immediately available for patient care.”
Yet Another Judge Rejects Trump Effort to Block Offshore Wind, Saying New York Project Can Resume: “A federal judge on Monday ruled that an offshore wind project aimed at powering 600,000 New York homes can resume construction, the fifth such project put back on track after the Trump administration halted them in December. In clearing the way for Sunrise Wind to proceed, Judge Royce Lamberth found that the government had not shown that offshore wind is such an imminent national security risk that it must halt in the United States.”
Quality Assurance Workers at Blizzard Ratify Union Contract with Microsoft: “A majority of quality assurance workers at Blizzard studios in Albany and Austin have ratified a union contract at Microsoft after just under three years of negotiations. In a statement to press, the Communications Workers of America (CWA) said employees in Albany and Austin—represented by CWA Locals 1118 and 6215, respectively—‘overwhelming voted’ to ratify a contract that guarantees wage increases, enhanced regulations around the usage of generative AI in the workplace, and crediting protections.”
Nearly 500 of CHOMP's 800 Nurses Vote in Favor of Joining a Union in Historic Vote: “Registered nurses at Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula have overwhelmingly voted in favor of joining the California Nurses Association in an election that ended Friday, Jan. 30. The vote has yet to be certified by the National Labor Relations Board, but according to CNA, nearly 500 of CHOMP's 800 nurses voted yes. It will be the first union in the hospital's 91-year history. CNA will now represent all 800 registered nurses at CHOMP. ‘This means everything to me and my fellow colleagues at CHOMP. It means we've got a seat at the table. It means with regard to patient care, patient safety we will have a voice in the policies,’ says Kristine Olalia, an orthopedic surgery nurse with the hospital for nine years.”
Florida Lawmakers Unanimously Advance Bill to Expand Protections for Temp Workers: “A bill that would help temp workers and day laborers secure stable, permanent employment advanced through a Senate committee of lawmakers Wednesday in a unanimous and bipartisan vote of approval. The bill, sponsored by Republican Sen. Ileana Garcia of Miami, would effectively amend and strengthen the Florida Labor Pool Act—a 1995 law that established certain protections for temp workers that aren’t guaranteed under federal law. This includes preventing a business or temp agency (also known as a labor pool) from charging temp workers for safety equipment, or charging exorbitant fees for lunch or transportation to a job site. Nearly three dozen people spoke or waived in support of Garcia’s proposal Wednesday, including representatives of the Florida AFL-CIO—a statewide federation of over 500 labor unions—and the pro-labor Florida Center for Fiscal and Economic Policy.”
Kenneth Quinnell
Mon, 02/09/2026 - 14:09
02/09/2026 - 4:00pm
Black History Month Profiles: Charlotte James
For Black History Month, we're taking a look at a group of leaders who are currently actively making Black history across the labor movement. Check back daily for a new profile and meet some of the people working to improve not only their community, but also to improve conditions for working people across the country. Today's profile is Charlotte James of AFSCME.
Charlotte James, a member of AFSCME District 1199C, is a mental health technician in the Temple University Health System at Episcopal Campus Inpatient Behavioral Health and Psychiatric Medicine. For a decade, she has stabilized patients in acute psychiatric crisis at one of the region’s few emergency mental health units. When she’s not caring for patients, James advocates for their access to care, traveling to Washington, D.C., trying to protect funding for mental health services.
Kenneth Quinnell
Mon, 02/09/2026 - 10:10
Tags:
Black History Month
02/09/2026 - 4:00pm
Get to Know AFL-CIO's Affiliates: Professional Hockey Players’ Association
This is the next post in our series that will take a deeper look at each of our affiliates. The series will run weekly until we've covered all 64 of our affiliates. Next up is the Professional Hockey Players’ Association (PHPA).
Mission: The PHPA operates under a mission focused on enhancing and protecting players’ rights as members pursue careers in professional hockey. Its primary functions include the following: Collective bargaining: Negotiating terms of employment, including salaries, health and welfare benefits, and playing conditions. Player advocacy: Protecting members’ interests and providing legal and professional guidance. Quality of life: Enhancing the off-ice well-being of players and their families through dedicated support programs.
Current Union Leadership: Elected players serving as the AHL Executive are Chris Terry, Chase Wouters, Joe Hicketts, Jimmy Schuldt, and Jarred Tinordi. Elected players serving as the ECHL Executive are Todd Skirving, Logan Lambdin, Justin Vaive and Justin Taylor. The executive director is Brian Ramsay.
Current Number of Members: 1,800+
Members Work As: Professional hockey players
Industries Represented: The American Hockey League (AHL) and the ECHL
History: The Professional Hockey Players’ Association was founded in 1967 in Portland, Oregon, when members of the Portland Buckaroos (of the now-defunct Western Hockey League) recognized that Canadians who played hockey in the United States and started families needed to send their wives back to Canada for babies’ births because the United States did not have a health plan that would cover the medical expenses. Several Buckaroos players, including Doug Messier and Arlo Goodwin, retained attorney Curt Leichner as their legal counsel so they could form a Western Hockey League (WHL) Players Association and secure group pension and health care plans, improving benefits through collective bargaining. Over the course of the 1967–68 season, players from the AHL saw the benefit of forming a benevolent society of their own and approached their WHL counterparts with the vision of creating a single players’ association that would represent all professional hockey players outside of the National Hockey League (NHL). On May 20, 1968, WHL and AHL players voted to form the Professional Hockey Players’ Association.
Since then, the PHPA has expanded to include representation of players in the former Central Hockey League (CHL) from 1974–84 and 2008–14, the former International Hockey League (IHL) from 1985–2001, and the ECHL since the 1995–96 season. The PHPA is now recognized as one of the oldest and largest players’ associations in professional sports, representing more than 1,800 members across 60 teams throughout the AHL and ECHL. The PHPA also boasts an alumni network of more than 10,000 former PHPA members.
Current Campaigns/Community Efforts: The Grow with the Pros! Mentor Program provides players for minor hockey teams with a one-of-a-kind hockey experience to develop on and off the ice. The Professional Hockey Players’ Guild is a comprehensive new resource initiative designed to support players throughout every stage of their career and prepare them for a career after hockey. It includes four core pillars of support: education, career, health and wellness, and perks. The PHPA Alumni Network is available to all PHPA alumni to assist former players in their post-hockey careers while offering unique access to PHPA resources, contacts and exclusive offers extended through PHPA corporate partner programs. Through the Group Licensing Authorization Program, the PHPA licenses the use of all authorized members’ names and likenesses to approved licensees to produce products such as trading cards, video games and photographs, as well as other collectibles and novelties. The PHPA Panel of Workers’ Compensation Attorneys is dedicated to providing professional legal services to injured players to ensure they can recover the maximum medical and disability benefits available. The PHPA Curt Leichner Distinguished Member Award is presented each year to a deserving recipient who has made significant contributions to the advancement of professional minor league hockey.
The PHPA Annual Meeting of Player Representatives is a weeklong series of meetings in which one player representative from each AHL and ECHL team and executive committee members, PHPA staff and advisers review the association’s operations during past year, plan for the upcoming season, and provide input and direction with respect to long-term strategic objectives.
Learn More: Website, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, X
Current Campaigns/Community Efforts: The Grow with the Pros! Mentor Program provides players for minor hockey teams a one-of-a-kind hockey experience to develop on and off the ice. The PHPA GUILD is a comprehensive new resource initiative designed to support players throughout every stage of their career, and prepare you for a career after hockey. It includes four core pillars of support including education, career, health and wellness, and perks. The PHPA Alumni Network is available to all PHPA Alumni, designed to assist former players in their post-hockey career, while offering unique access to PHPA resources, contacts, and exclusive offers extended through the PHPA’s corporate partner programs. Through the Group Licensing Authorization Program, the PHPA licenses the use of all authorized members' names and likenesses to approved licensees, in order to produce products such as trading cards, video games, photographs, as well as other collectibles and novelties. The PHPA Panel of Workers’ Compensation Attorneys is dedicated to providing professional legal services to injured players in order to assure the recovery of maximum medical and disability benefits. The PHPA Curt Leichner Distinguished Member Award is presented each year to a deserving recipient who has made significant contributions toward the advancement of professional minor league hockey.
The PHPA Annual Meeting of Player Representatives is a week-long series of meetings where one player representative from each AHL and ECHL team, along with executive committee members, PHPA staff, and advisors review the Association’s operations during past year, plan for the upcoming season, and provide input and direction with respect to long-term strategic objectives.
Learn More: Website, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, X
Kenneth Quinnell
Mon, 02/09/2026 - 13:55
02/06/2026 - 9:30pm
Super Bowl 2026, Brought to You by Unions
IBEW
In addition to being the most-watched televised event of the year, the Super Bowl represents the hard work of thousands of union members. We want to recognize the working people that bring Super Bowl Sunday to millions of people around the world every year.
In addition to being the most-watched televised event of the year, the Super Bowl represents the hard work of thousands of union members. This includes not only the union members who everyone sees, like the players (NFLPA) and the referees (NFLRA), but also the announcers, musicians, and food, transportation and hotel workers, and many more. We want to recognize the many unions that bring Super Bowl Sunday to millions of people around the world every year.
On the Field of Play
- NFL Players Association (NFLPA)
- NFL Referees Association (NFLRA)
Performers, Announcers, Camera Operators, Technicians, Field Workers and Other Hardworking Folks
- SAG-AFTRA broadcast announcers from NBC Sports will provide live coverage
- SAG-AFTRA member Bad Bunny will headline the halftime show, joined by Celimar Rivera Cosme for Puerto Rican Sign Language (PRSL)
- SAG-AFTRA and American Federation of Musicians (AFM) member Charlie Puth will perform the national anthem, joined by Fred Beam for American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation
- SAG-AFTRA members of Green Day will perform at the opening ceremony
- SAG-AFTRA member Brandi Carlile will perform "America the Beautiful," joined by deaf performer Julian Ortiz for ASL and PRSL interpretation
- SAG-AFTRA member Coco Jones will perform "Lift Every Voice and Sing," the Black national anthem
- Skilled IATSE craftspeople will work on the the sets, lighting, equipment and more to create the Super Bowl Half Time show.
Stadium Construction
- Levi’s Stadium was completed in summer of 2014 with 100% union labor, from construction to concessions.
- That includes United Association of Union Plumbers and Pipefitters (UA) Local 393 in San Jose, who completed the plumbing, pipe fitting, sprinkler system and HVAC.
Official Football
- The leather for every single NFL football, including the ones that will be used in Sunday’s Super Bowl, was crafted by members of United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 1546 who work at Horween Leather Co. in Chicago.
- After UFCW members finish processing the leather, members of Workers United Local 1385, an SEIU affiliate, hand make all NFL footballs, including the Super Bowl footballs used at the game, in Ada, Ohio.
Food
- Nearly 500 UNITE HERE Local 2 members working in food and beverage concessions at Levi’s Stadium will keep fans fed and hydrated.
Journalists
- Thousands of reporters and members of The NewsGuild-CWA (TNG-CWA) will attend the Super Bowl this year and cover the event. There will be countless photographers, videographers and other professionals who will work behind the scenes to provide news coverage.
Local Transportation
- Transport Workers Union (TWU)
- Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) members across the Bay Area will transport people to Levi’s Stadium via BART and VTA light rail.
- International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE)
- International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART)
Hotels
Travel
- Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA-CWA) members work at Omni Air (New England Patriots’ official charter) and Delta Air Lines flight attendants organizing with AFA-CWA fly the Seattle Seahawks and get attendees safely to game day.
- iAM Union (IAM) members work at most of the major airlines and help fans and others get to and from the game on several carriers.
- Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) members are proud to safely fly the players and fans of both teams for the big game.
- As soon as the Super Bowl city was announced, Professional Aviation Safety Specialists (PASS) and National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) members at the Federal Aviation Administration started working with the NFL on flight plans and restricted airspace around the stadium. Technicians and air traffic controllers are pulling extra shifts all week at the San Francisco International Airport, San José Mineta International Airport, Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport and surrounding airports, and the air traffic control facilities in Northern California. There are more controllers and aviation safety professionals on hand in San Jose and San Francisco, as well as at smaller airports, to ensure all private jets are legally registered and additional flights can be accommodated.
- Transportation security officers, who are members of AFGE, ensure the safety of America’s flying public, including the increased traffic of folks who fly in for the Super Bowl.
- Transport Workers Union (TWU) members help maintain the planes. In addition, TWU has members who work at the airport and represent aircraft mechanics, flight attendants, fleet service workers, flight technicians, customer service workers, air dispatchers and others at airlines that will transport fans to the game.
Audrey Edmonds
Fri, 02/06/2026 - 15:13
02/06/2026 - 3:00pm
A Timeline of Victories: 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:
Equity mourns Woodie King Jr., who received both the LeNoire & Robeson Awards, which honored his commitment to theatre as an avenue for justice. He was a tireless advocate for our industry who left our community better than he found it. https://deadline.com/2026/01/woodie-king-jr-dies-88-1236704669/
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— Actors' Equity Association (@actorsequity.bsky.social) February 2, 2026 at 12:50 PM
AFGE:
AFSCME:
Alliance for Retired Americans:
Amalgamated Transit Union:
American Federation of Teachers:
February is Career and Technical Education Month! Check out the work AFT and our members are doing to equip students with the skills they need to earn good wages, help support their families and contribute to our economy. Find out more and sign up for our CTE newsletter ⤵️ www.aft.org/education/ca...
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— AFT (@aft.org) February 4, 2026 at 11:24 AM
American Postal Workers Union:
02/06/2026 - 3:00pm
Black History Month Profiles: Kwami Barnes
For Black History Month, we're taking a look at a group of leaders who are currently actively making Black history across the labor movement. Check back daily for a new profile and meet some of the people working to improve not only their community, but also to improve conditions for working people across the country. Today's profile is Kwami Barnes of the Communications Workers (CWA).
Kwami Barnes is a 25-year member of CWA and serves as secretary-treasurer of Local 4603 in Milwaukee. He is active nationally on the CWA human rights/civil rights and equity committee and regionally with the CWA District 4 human rights committee. A committed advocate for digital equity, Barnes serves on CWA’s Broadband Brigade and the Wisconsin Governor’s Task Force on Broadband Access. He also contributes locally through the Milwaukee Area Labor Council civil rights committee.
Kenneth Quinnell
Thu, 02/05/2026 - 10:01
Tags:
Black History Month
02/06/2026 - 3:00pm
Black History Month Profiles: Scott Brannon
For Black History Month, we're taking a look at a group of leaders who are currently actively making Black history across the labor movement. Check back daily for a new profile and meet some of the people working to improve not only their community, but also to improve conditions for working people across the country. Today's profile is Scott Brannon of the United Steelworkers (USW).
Scott Brannon is a 24-year member of USW Local 310L in Des Moines, Iowa, and serves as chair of the local’s civil and human rights committee. He has planned field trips to local civil rights monuments, driven by a passion for educating his fellow members about how past civil rights struggles continue to inform the present. Brannon and his wife are also active in the newly founded Coalition of Black Trade Unionists Iowa chapter.
Kenneth Quinnell
Fri, 02/06/2026 - 10:22
Tags:
Black History Month
