After a long journey toward justice, Washington DC’s domestic workers scored a major victory yesterday when the DC City Council voted unanimously to enact a Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights. Until now, domestic workers – maids, nannies, au pairs, and many home health aides – were excluded from employment law protections that most workers take […]
A guest contribution from CLN Member John Murphy Clean Up Kingspan, a worker-led effort to make changes at Kingspan, the $11 billion dollar Irish-based global building manufacturer, has made progress in 2022 by working together and expanding their outreach to leaders in the green building community. The campaign kicked off in 2021, when workers at […]
A guest contribution from Don Villar at the Chicago Federation of Labor I had only gotten a few hours of sleep when I was suddenly wide awake. My watch said it was 4:00 a.m. Friday, December 9. I was physically exhausted, but apparently not enough to fall back to sleep. Since arriving in Israel as […]
In late October, the Catholic Labor Network and interfaith labor solidarity organization Arise Chicago teamed up to lead a “labor pilgrimage” in Chicago for a group of seminarians from Mundelein Seminary and the Catholic Theological Union. After a review of the roots of Catholic Social Teaching on labor and work, participants visited the Haymarket Memorial […]
DC Council votes unanimously for new law; second vote pending The Washington DC Office of Human Rights is charged with preventing discrimination and sexual harassment in the workplace. But did you know that it has no power to protect domestic workers – nannies, housekeepers and others who work in the home? That may be about […]
Connecting Catholic Social Teaching and Labor Relations on Campus On November 17, UNITE HERE Local 23, the Catholic Labor Network, and student activists at Loyola New Orleans hosted a “Catholic Social Teach-In” attended by more than 100 students, faculty and dining hall workers. It was an opportunity for students and workers to connect and reflect […]
The airlines are one of the most unionized economic sectors in the United States. Whether you are boarding a United, American or Southwest flight, you can expect that the workers you encounter have the protection of a union contract – whether they are pilots, mechanics, flight attendants or ramp workers. Then there’s Delta. The airline […]
Catholic religious orders are known for their works of mercy, often running hospitals, nursing homes and schools. But in the course of their activity, many of these orders accumulated substantial assets, including stock holdings in major US corporations. That gives them power, and, increasingly, they are using this power to advance worker justice. This work […]
The cooks, cashiers, dishwashers and others working in the Senate Cafeteria have finally secured their first union contract – complete with living wages (starting at $20/hour) and affordable family health care. Banquet Server Paulo Pizarro said: I just went from paying $120 per week on health insurance to $7 per week—and there’s no deductible. It […]
A guest contribution from Catholic Labor Network member Tony Miller When the Richmond Times Dispatch asked Marty Barnett about why she supports the effort to unionize, she said, “We are not peons. We are human beings” and “We need to be respected — and that doesn’t just go for me or [the people who work […]