(BUFFALO, NEW YORK) - I recently had cause to remember Ed Bastian, who - as I did - attended St. Bonaventure University in Western New York back in the 70s. In fact, and unbelievably, I found a photo that I’d personally taken of the now-CEO of Delta Airlines during a Senior gathering just days before we received our diplomas back in 1979. While it more»

As most of you are probably aware, May is Labor History Month. Our roots, as America’s Workers, are explored from the birth of Mother Jones in 1830 to that first May Day march of 1886, followed by the tragic Haymarket bombing. Miners, Teachers, Machinists and Railway Workers all celebrate significant anniversaries in the month of May, and if you more»

Just as single-income families began to vanish in the last century, many of America’s elderly are now forgoing retirement for the same reason: They don’t have enough money. Rickety social safety nets, inadequate retirement savings plans and sky high health-care costs are all conspiring to make the concept of leaving the workforce something to more»

For many of us, meaningful work is an essential component of a fulfilling life - but what, exactly, gives meaning to one's work? A sense of vocation - an intuition that you were born to do this - can often do the trick, but what if you're not lucky enough to find a "calling"? What else can make you feel fulfilled at your job? New research provides an more»

(BUFFALO, NEW YORK) - Buffalo Teachers Federation (BTF) President Phil Rumore is criticizing Buffalo Councilman Ulysees Wingo, Sr. for his decision to bring a gun into a Public School, calling his excuse for the need for more robust security program in schools “far worse and unacceptable.” “It is a ‘matter of grave concern’ more»

(NIAGARA FALLS, NEW YORK) – After 18 months of bargaining, a new five-year contract has been ratified by a 3-to-1 margin by Niagara Falls Teachers Association (NFTA) Local 801’s Membership, Union Officials tell WNYLaborToday.com. The agreement, which expires in June 2024, was negotiated with the Niagara Falls School Board and the NFTA’s more»

(ERIE & NIAGARA COUNTIES, NEW YORK) – The Western New York AFL-CIO Area Labor Federation and the Buffalo AFL-CIO Labor Council has announced its full list of endorsed candidates for the upcoming June Primary, while the Niagara-Orleans Labor Council has announced its list of endorsements of several candidates who are running for school board seats more»

(NIAGARA FALLS, NEW YORK) – Labor Unions are more than just organizations that represent Workers in their workplaces and act in their best interest when it’s time to negotiate a contract or stand up for them in a grievance situation. Sometimes it means picking up the ball when management won’t and taking action to recognize the hard work more»

(BUFFALO, NEW YORK) – No matter if it’s a Union or a Non-Union company in the construction industry, finding and attracting young people into the profession has been identified as the number one challenge as more older Workers head towards retirement. Here in Western New York, the Construction Exchange of Buffalo and Western New York (CONEX) more»

(NIAGARA FALLS, NEW YORK) – An impressive and stunning three-foot-high, 600-pound bronze eagle was formally unveiled during the Niagara-Orleans AFL-CIO Labor Council’s Annual Workers’ Memorial Commemoration that was held over the weekend in Reservoir State Park in Niagara Falls, during what was an extremely memorable event for a group of more»

(NIAGARA FALLS, ONTARIO/CANADA) - The Rainforest Café is sometimes branded as being “as ethical as it is appealing,” but some workers tell a different story. After Ontario’s minimum wage rose, in January 2018, The Standard reported, the owners of the Clifton Hill restaurant, responded by raising tip-outs from 3.5-to-4.5% of sales more»

(BUFFALO, NEW YORK) – Statewide and Regional Leadership of the New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) Representatives praised the efforts of the Buffalo Teachers Federation (BTF) as its Union-endorsed Buffalo School Board candidates registered a clean sweep in Tuesday’s citywide elections. It was a rare opportunity in the City of Buffalo where more»

(ALBANY, NEW YORK) – New York State Legislation sponsored by Senator Tim Kennedy (Democrat-Buffalo) to protect striking Workers from unfair negotiating tactics has passed the New York State Senate, which is drawing the praise of the Western New York AFL-CIO Area Labor Federation (WNYALF). Senate Bill S4573 relates to decreasing the length of the more»

(BUFFALO, NEW YORK) - The New York Foundation for Fair Contracting (NYFFC) is applauding a decision made by the Erie County Legislature to table a vote last week before its Economic Development Committee on awarding a local reconstruction project contract to Zoladz Construction of Alden, New York. The NYFFC - a Non-Profit Fair Contracting Organization more»

(NIAGARA FALLS, NEW YORK) – Amid the fanfare of an event that was held in Niagara Falls earlier this week by the Bank of Buffalo to celebrate the groundbreaking of a new $2 million branch, several International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 237 Members gathered nearby, holding up a very large sign that read: Bank on Buffalo - Eroding more»

(BUFFALO, NEW YORK) – Those Western New York Labor Leaders who will attend next week’s 2019 BlueCross BlueShield of Western New York’s Annual Health Care Seminar will be brought up to speed on a number of current New York State and Federal Legislative Proposals, as well as being presented with an array of Health Care resources and more»

WNYLaborToday.com Editor’s Note: Pictured above, Western New York AFL-CIO Area Labor Federation President Richard Lipsitz announced his Labor Federation’s endorsement of Mark Poloncarz (in the blue shirt behind Lipsitz at the podium), who is seeking re-election to the office of Erie County Executive. (WNYLaborToday.com Photos) (BUFFALO, NEW more»

WNYLaborToday.com Editor’s Note: In what was believed to be a record number of participants, more than 600 Union Leaders, Representatives, Elected Officials and Friends of Labor packed the Buffalo Convention Center in Downtown Buffalo late last week to take part in the 2019 Western New York AFL-CIO Area Labor Federation’s (WNYALF) Awards Dinner. more»

(BUFFALO, NEW YORK) - While millions around the world watched the World Trade Center Towers fall on 9/11, thousands of Western New Yorkers left their families and their lives to travel to New York City in response to the worst terrorist attack in the Nation’s History. From across the Nation, from 434 out of 435 Congressional Districts, Americans - more»

(WESTERN NEW YORK) – Cancer affects everyone, including those in the Labor Movement. For some it is more than just a physical battle. It can become an economic battle when a person fighting the disease must also contend with coming up with the money to pay for rides to get to treatment, hotel stays and wigs and head coverings. And for some, it can more»

Before César Chávez and Dolores Huerta, there was Maria Moreno, a Union Organizer whose story all but disappeared from history until the discovery of lost photographs taken more than 50 years ago by George Ballis, one of the leading photographers of the Farmworker Movement. It was a discovery that sparked the search for a woman that time had more»

The fastest growing jobs in nearly a quarter of U.S. States are International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW)-represented jobs, according to projections from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The fastest growing job in the most States – eight – is Solar Panel Installer. But that doesn’t mean that there will be more more»

NYSUT Editor’s Note: Jocelyn Goldberg-Schaible (pictured on the right) went out of her way to thank New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) Secretary Treasurer Philippe Abraham for all the Statewide Teachers Union had provided her late mother, a retired New York City Educator. (Photo by Liza Frenette/NYSUT) (ROCHESTER, NEW YORK) - It was a very more»

Organizing Work Editor’s Note: Marianne Garneau spoke to Workers in more than a dozen Grocery Cooperatives across the United States and Canada to produce this report on Co-Ops’ exploitation of Workers and history of Union-Busting. We like to think of Grocery Cooperatives (Co-Ops) as islands of progressivism in an otherwise ruthless more»

Across the U.S., many Doctors, Nurses and other Health Care Workers have remained silent about what is being called an epidemic of violence against them. The violent outbursts come from patients and patients' families - and for years it has been considered part of the job. When you visit the Cleveland Clinic Emergency Department these days - whether as a more»

(BUFFALO, NEW YORK) - Buffalo School Administrators are using false statements, making intimidating calls to parents, holding intimidating meetings with students, and excluding students who have opted out of taking State Testing from such events as socials and drawings, the Buffalo Teachers Federation (BTF) alleges. Last year, in response to alarmed more»

Five years ago, my mother was rushed to the hospital for an aneurysm. For the next two weeks, my family and I sat huddled around her bed in the intensive-care unit, oscillating between panic, fear, uncertainty and exhaustion. But it was the Nurses that got us through that time with our sanity intact. Nurses checked on my mother - and us - multiple times more»

(ONTARIO, CANADA) - Ontario employers' duty to pay workers overtime just got a little lighter, following passage of a law that quietly reduces some protections around excess hours of work in the province. Bill 66 lightens regulations around a practice called "Overtime Averaging" in a way that has significant implications for how much overtime pay Workers more»

(LAKEVIEW, NEW YORK) – International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) Local 17 and Local 463 are merging in Western New York, which will strengthen the Union across the Niagara Frontier with a combined 2,000 Members, IUOE Officials say. Merger of the two Locals was slated to be formally addressed Friday (April 5th) evening at Local 17’s more»

(BUFFALO, NEW YORK) – In Fall of 2016, the Buffalo Teachers Federation (BTF) ended a 12-year fight to gain a new contract with the Buffalo School District. Now, three years later as Union Negotiators start negotiations on a new deal, talks got off to more than a rocky start when BTF Officials walked out of the first session after the School District more»

(ALBANY, NEW YORK) - Despite the valiant efforts of the New York State Building Trades, with help from the New York State AFL-CIO and a major rally of Tradespeople at the State Capitol, State Leaders reached a budget agreement for fiscal year 2019 that failed to include the proper definition of Public Works. Properly defining Public Works had been touted more»

WNYLaborToday.com Editor’s Note: This is the second of two Western New York Labor News Stories this week that focus a spotlight on area Union Members running for Public Office. Today, Your On-Line Labor Newspaper takes a look at United Steelworkers (USW) 2001 Member Amanda Irons-Rindfleisch and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) more»

WNYLaborToday.com Editor’s Note: This is the first of two Western New York Labor News Stories this week that will focus a spotlight on area Union Members running for Public Office. Today, Your On-Line Labor Newspaper takes a look at Buffalo Teachers Federation (BTF) Member Nicole Herkey and New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) Member Joe Cantafio, more»

(WILLIAMSVILLE, NEW YORK) – Reviving and continuing to grow the Labor Movement by focusing on organizing all Workers and laying the groundwork for an eventual change of leadership at the Western New York AFL-CIO Area Labor Federation (WNYALF) were the highlights of the WNYALF’s 2019 Annual Meeting held Saturday (March 23rd) at the United Auto more»

So many Construction Workers wear them, but do they know much about them? When were the first hard hats manufactured? How has the design changed through the years? Who manufactures the six million “skull buckets” sold each year to protect workers’ heads? The hard hat concept comes from Bullard, a 100-year-old, family-owned manufacturer more»

(ALBANY, NEW YORK) – The New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) is reminding New Yorkers just how “sweet” Union Membership is, announcing the launch of the second annual Our Voice, Our Values, Our Brackets challenge taking place during March Madness. The “Sweet Sixteen” event - which coincides with the NCAA Division I more»

The Trump Administration's decision to alter the way it punishes nursing homes has resulted in lower fines against many facilities found to have endangered or injured residents. Federal records show that the average fine dropped to $28,405 under the current administration, down from $41,260 in 2016, President Obama's final year in office. The decrease in more»

(PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA) - Boyd Young, the United Steelworkers (USW) President Emeritus who guided two of the USW’s predecessor Unions - the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical & Energy (PACE) Workers International Union and the United Paperworkers International Union (UPIU) through historic mergers, passed away last week. Young (pictured below) more»

After decades of decline, the past year has seen a dramatic revival in Labor militancy. Public School Teachers have been at the forefront of this resurgence, starting with a dramatic wildcat Strike in West Virginia in February 2018, then a wave of Teacher Strikes that swept the Nation, moving from Red States like Arizona and Oklahoma to Blue California and more»

(BUFFALO, NEW YORK) - A new report, titled: Labor Takes The High Road - How Unions Make Western New York More Prosperous & Equitable, underscores the worth and impact of the region’s Labor Unions, which have proven to raise benefits and wages, improve working conditions, make investments in their communities, increase civic engagement, and promote more»

In response to public pressure and increasing scrutiny over the pay of its Warehouse Workers, Amazon enacted a $15 Minimum Wage for all its Employees in November, including its Workers at its Grocery Chain Whole Foods, which it purchased in 2017. All Whole Foods Employees paid less than $15 an hour saw their wages increase to at least that, while all other more»

(LOCKPORT, NEW YORK) – In was back in May 2014 that the late Christ Sposito, who was presented with the Western New York AFL-CIO Area Labor Federation’s (WNYALF) Niagara-Orleans AFL-CIO Labor Council Award, stole the show with this speech on what ‘being Union’ meant to him and what his Union-provided Health Care Coverage did for him more»

(BUFFALO, NEW YORK) – The 57th Annual Variety Kids Telethon raised more than $1.03 million over the weekend - with Organized Labor from across Western New York accounting for more than $46,000 of that total, Labor Organizers tell WNYLaborToday.com. The dollars raised by the Western New York Labor Movement goes to support the Union-built John R. more»

(BUFFALO, NEW YORK) - A recent battle in Buffalo dramatically shows the impact of Teacher Unions on students and educational excellence. Litigation brought by the Buffalo Teachers Federation (BTF) stopped the city school district from inflicting severe damage to the educational program at City Honors, a magnet school with students in grades five through more»

(CHEEKTOWAGA, NEW YORK) - Despite an aggressive company-funded Anti-Union Campaign, Workers employed at the Suburban Buffalo Wendt Corporation - a Cheektowaga-based auto shredding manufacturer, voted by a 70% margin to form a Union in June 2017 and affiliated with Ironworkers Local 576. However, Workers learned that the company’s unlawful activity more»

(DERBY, NEW YORK) – Even though the New Era Cap Company has negotiated severance packages for its 200 Communications Workers of America (CWA)-represented Workers at its Derby Plant just south of Buffalo in what appears the final nail in their decision to move the plant to a Non-Union Facility in Miami, there’s been a sudden outpouring of support more»

WNYLaborToday.com Editor’s Note: Pictured above, National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians (NABET)-Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 25 President Roy Schrodt (on the right) and WKBW-TV/NewsChannel 7 Steward David Morrales show off a copy of the four-year contract agreement that was recently reached at the ABC-TV Affiliate more»

Newsweek Editor’s Note: Sharon Block serves as Executive Director of the Labor and Worklife Program at Harvard Law School and was a Member of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) under President Obama. Labor Law in our country is profoundly broken. The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) is the Federal Statute that protects the right of more»

Top on the long list of worries for most graduating students is the prospect of finding a job. Each day a hiring manager doesn’t e-mail us back or a website removes a job listing - and the looming anxiety of paying back exorbitant student loans draws closer - our desperation grows. Soon, we abandon pipe dreams of a livable salary with health more»

(BUFFALO, NEW YORK) – The Western New York AFL-CIO Area Labor Federation (WNYALF) is recognizing the closure of the New Era Cap Company’s Derby Plant after a weeks-long fight to keep it open as the Communications Workers of America (CWA) has formally bargained final Worker Severance Packages, but in turn is publicly criticizing the company for more»