This is a synopsis of information on the AFL-CIO site and quick links to their information.

How and Why People Join Unions  Most Americans believe that working people should have the freedom to make their own decision about whether to join a union. But employers routinely harass and intimidate workers who try to form unions. Across the country, working people are mobilizing to protect their freedom to choose a union. Find out what's going on in your area and how you can get involved.
The Union Difference Union members earn more money, have better benefits, are more productive and have greater job security than nonunion workers. Get the details about this "union advantage," plus a look at who belongs to unions.
Stories of Struggle and Success Workers tell what their unions mean to them.
Voice@Work: Freedom to choose a  Elections, NLRB-Style
Need a Voice@Work? How to form a union where you work.
Union Summer  Interns are tackling social and economic injustice—and sampling life as union organizers.
Organizing Institute  If you're energetic, passionate and committed, check out this paid training and placement program for union organizers.
InstituteWork in Progress   Who is joining unions? News about who is joining unions, from the AFL-CIO's weekly e-letter.

About the AFL-CIO
AFL-CIO FAQs
Start here to find out who we are and learn about our efforts on behalf of America's working families.
This is the AFL-CIO
Meet the AFL-CIO, the federation of America's labor unions, representing more than 13 million working women and men.
What We Stand for
The  AFL-CIO's mission is to bring social and economic justice to our nation by enabling working people to have a voice on the job, in government, in a changing global economy and in their communities.
Culture and History
Learn about union movement culture and history in art, song and story.
AFL-CIO Leadership
President John J. Sweeney
Secretary-Treasurer
Richard Trumka
Executive Vice President
Linda Chavez-Thompson
Executive Council Members
Executive Council Actions
Statements and resolutions by the AFL-CIO Executive Council.
AFL-CIO Convention
Delegates to the AFL-CIO 2001 Convention honored the everyday heroism of America's workers and charted plans to build communities that respect work and strengthen families. Also learn more about the 1999 Convention
Constitution of the AFL-CIO
Full text of the AFL-CIO Constitution, as amended at the Twenty-Fourth Constitutional Convention, December 2001.
Today's Unions
Find out more about what unions do and what they mean to working
Union Cities
Through the AFL-CIO's Union Cities initiative, local unions and central labor councils are taking the eight steps toward rebuilding the union movement from the bottom up.

Working Families Agenda Across America, working families are urging state legislators to improve life for working families. They are advocating a state Working Families Agenda that calls for affordable prescription drugs, a stronger and fairer unemployment insurance system, long overdue election reform, corporate accountability and more.
At the federal level, the president won a $1.6 trillion tax cut that gave the vast majority of the money to the wealthiest Americans while nearly wiping out the expected federal budget surplus. The recession and war erased the rest of the surplus. Now the government needs to pay its bills by borrowing from Social Security, the president has proposed cuts in working family programs and new initiatives for working families are unlikely to fit into his budget picture.
America’s working families can’t afford to wait and see if the federal government will ever act on their needs and concerns. If the president and Congress can’t deliver, our state leaders will have to.
This website has the fact sheets, background information, model legislation and best practices that will help you make a difference for working families in your state.

Common Sense Economics
The booming economy that's making the rich even richer isn't treating regular working folks nearly as well. America's full-time workers increased their productivity by 20 percent since 1978 but are getting 8.6 percent less compensation. Profits at America's largest companies jumped 30.7 percent from 1994 to 1996, in large part because of downsizing, part-timing, temping and contracting out work. The result? Almost a third of U.S. workers are stuck with "nonstandard" part-time or contract jobs.

Visit this site regularly to keep tabs on what today's economy is doing to working families

Executive PayWatch
Catch up with runaway CEO pay, see how much you would be making if your pay grew as the average CEO's has, take a look at the cozy director
relationships that promote CEO overpay—and find out what you can do
about it.

 Common Sense Economics
The economic facts of life for working people—who the economy does and
doesn't work for, why and how unions help.

 The Face of the New Economy
While the booming economy has raised incomes for some, many remain left
behind.

Income Equality Nosedives
The pay gap between the rich and the rest of us is growing wider.

Young Workers and the Economy
High Hopes, Little Trust, a new AFL-CIO study, documents young
workers and their ups and downs in the new economy.

 Curbing Corporate Greed
This special section from the AFL-CIO's monthly magazine America@work covers:
 

  • Employers  part-timing American jobs and working families fighting
  • back.
  • Workers at the  bargaining bargaining table holding corporations accountable for maintaining good jobs.
  • The campaign by Microsoft "perma-temps" to gain rights and benefits through union membership.
  • "Living wage" campaigns" that are making work pay in communities across the country.
  • Author Barbara Ehrenreich's under-cover trek in low-wage America.  An innovative temp agency launched by unions and community groups working to raise pay and improve benefits for those forced into temporary jobs.
  • Union members' pension fund investments that create work and reinforce good employement standards.
  • Unequal Pay

    • The pay gap between women and men costs America's working families $200 billion a year—an average loss of more than $4,000 for every working woman's family. Find out how much your working family could lose and learn what you can do.
     

    Safety and Health on the Job: Ergonomics
    When you go to work, you shouldn’t have to worry about whether you will return home at the end of the day; and you shouldn’t have to return home sick, injured or maimed because your job is unsafe or unhealthy. But that is what happened to more than 6 million American workers in 2000:

    5.7 million were injured or became sick on the job.  50,000 died because of occupational illnesses.  5,915 died from fatal work injuries.

    The union movement continues to lead the fight for and win job safety protections that improve the lives of all workers. That fight continues every day in our workplaces, in the legislatures where laws are enacted and in the offices of government regulators whose duty it is to protect our work environment and keep us safe.

    On this page you will find information to help you learn about workplace hazards and tools to take action and exercise your rights, including:

  • Information on the fight for an ergonomics standard to protect workers from the nation’s biggest job safety problem—ergonomic hazards. Each year more than 1.8 million workers are injured and crippled by these hazards. But instead of protecting workers, the Bush administration joined ranks with the most extreme elements of the business community, killing the OSHA ergonomics standard. Since that time the administration has done nothing to protect workers from ergonomic hazards. One worker suffers an ergonomic injury every 18 seconds.
  • A  safety and health toolbox, which provides facts about your safety and health rights, information on how to file an OSHA complaint, links to safety and health fact sheets and hazard information and more.
  • Information on  workers' compensation issues. This site is a valuable source of information about the benefits available through workers' compensation programs in each state.
  • Tools to help you observe  Workers Memorial Day on April 28, a day the unions of the AFL-CIO remember workers killed, injured and diseased on the job and recommit to the fight for safe workplaces. This Workers Memorial Day has special significance. On April 28 we will honor those who lost their lives on Sept. 11, and all workers killed, injured and diseased on the job. We will organize, mobilize and fight for safe jobs.


    • PayWatch
    Two big trends distinguished CEO pay in 2001: first, a dangerous and ongoing disconnect between performance and pay, and second, stark double standards on retirement security and job security for CEOs compared with workers.

    The flagging economy and poor  corporate performance—including falling stock prices, declining profits and big layoffs—have barely made a dent in executive pay. Median pay actually grew by 7 percent—meaning half of all executives made more and half made less. This rate is twice the growth of workers' paychecks. Elite corporate chiefs at the top of the CEO pay range took some cuts—lowering average CEO pay by 8 percent—but the majority of CEOs got raises. In contrast, a typical company's corporate profits declined by 35 percent in 2001.

    At the same time, the weak economy exposed one of the best-kept secrets in executive compensation. CEOs have risk-proofed their own retirement and job security, while workers are more vulnerable than ever. The double standards are painfully evident in the Enron collapse, in which thousands of employees lost their jobs and 401(k) retirement savings while executives collected millions from stock sales and retention bonuses.

    Use this website to learn more about executive pay trends and learn how to become your own CEO pay-and-perks investigator.

  • CEO Pay Doesn't Match Performance
  • The Double Standard in Retirement Security
  • The Double Standard in Job Security
  • The CEO and You
  • Start a Campaign to Curb Runaway CEO Pay
  • Is Your Company the Next Enron?


    • Workers' Rights
    Workers' Rights in America
    The most exhaustive study ever on U.S. workers' rights reveals what working people think about their jobs, rights and employers.

    Your Rights@Work
    Working people in America have certain basic legal rights to safe, healthy and fair conditions at work. Find out how well you  know your rights know your rights and learn what to do if they are violated.

    Civil Rights
    The American union movement and civil rights movement share a long, proud history of common goals and  achievements.  Learn about that history Learn about that history and the future both movements are working for.

    Post Workers' Rights
    Use the  ILO poster on basic rights at ILO poster on basic rights at work to get involved in the global movement for workers' rights.

    Immigrant Workers
    Immigrants built America—and our unions. Today's unions stand for the equality of all workers, and are calling for reform of immigration laws and policies that allow immigrant workers to be exploited.

    AFL-CIO Speeches, News Releases & Testimony
     

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