The mission of the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO is to improve the lives of working families—to bring economic justice to the workplace and social justice to our state and the nation.   Click here to read more. 

Recieve updates via e-mail.  Click here to sign up for the e-Activist Network of the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO.

For the latest local labor news, click here to visit the BLOG of the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO.

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Fear-mongering on the deficit as part of the Republican political strategy could end up doing as much harm as the fear-mongering on weapons of mass destruction.  (New York Times article)

Rescuing the U.S. economy will require a commitment, and undoubtedly sacrifices, that need to start now.  (New York Times article)

In 2009, health care spending grew by 5.7 percent, now reaching $2.5 trillion. It is the largest increase since the federal government began tracking these figures in 1960, according to a report from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
Health care costs also made up 17.3 percent of the US's gross domestic product (GDP), which was 1.1 percent higher than in 2008. CMS's 2009-2019 projections indicate that health expenditures will continue to grow "increasingly faster,"  (read more)

The president is trying to please everyone, but he needs to take tough action to prevent the US economy's second freefall.  (read full article)

COWS and the Apollo Alliance today released a joint report that identifies components of Wisconsin’s workforce development infrastructure that can be better integrated and scaled up to support the state’s emerging green economy.  According to the report, while many of these elements thrive in Wisconsin, gaps between them must be minimized if the state is to build green career pathways that effectively serve Wisconsin workers and employers.

Through the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO and the Rock County Central Labor Council, Janesville educators are standing in solidarity with other working people on the issues that impact our community.  The JEA is the fourth National Education Association (NEA) local in Wisconsin to affiliate with the AFL-CIO. The others represent educators in Beloit, Kenosha and Madison.

Earlier this week, we noted a new study that predicts health insurance premiums will jump between 10 percent and 11 percent this year. Now a new government report says health care costs last year took the biggest bite ever out of the nation’s economy. Read More>>

Republican Senate leaders are so frightened that a member of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) might actually have an open mind about workers’ rights, that in two purely partisan maneuvers, they’ve blocked a majority vote on one of President Obama’s nominees for an NLRB seat. Read More>>

Labor Secretary Hilda Solis says workers face increasing obstacles when they try to form unions and “we need to restore their freedom to do so.” In testimony before the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee today, Solis looked back at the department’s actions in 2009 and forward to its 2010 agenda. Read More>>

AFT and the National Education Association (NEA) have compiled a variety of resources to help educators celebrate Black History Month, which begins Feb. 1.

(The death of Howard Zinn) this week at the age of 87 was a loss that should have drawn much more attention from a press corps that spends an inordinate amount of its time obsessing idiotically over the likes of Tiger Woods and John Edwards.

The Wisconsin State AFL-CIO Community Services Conference will be held March 25, 26, and 27, 2010 at the Madison Concourse Hotel and Governor’s Club.

 

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 The President's Choices:  News and Commentary

See News Stories, Photos, and Videos on the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO BLOG (direct link)

Click here for the e-Activist Network of the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO 

 

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