Afl Cio Videos

WBZ's Amy Cherry speaks with Thea Lee, Deputy Chief of Staff at the AFL-CIO and former Boston Editor of Dollars and Sense Magazine.

During the Great Depression, the labor movement was a major player pushing a progressive agenda and helping to put people back to work. While we've heard plenty of comparisons between the current recession and the Depression, we haven't seen a return of the kind of militancy that came from labor in the 20s and 30s. With all the anger swirling around right now, where's the organizing?Paula Finn, Editor of the New Labor Forum, Thomas Frank, author of What's the Matter with Kansas? and The Wrecking Crew and Wall Street Journal columnist, Tom Geoghegan, labor lawyer, recent Congressional candidate, and author of Which Side Are You On?: Trying to Be for Labor When It's Flat on Its Back joined Laura to talk about labor's problems and suggest some solutions to help all of us, whether we're union members or not.While labor issues are lately ignored by both parties--Democrats paying lip service and Republicans using populist anger to push through tax cuts for big business--most people can agree that we don't want to be ingesting dangerous chemicals. Yet many plastics used to package food contain Bisphenol A, a synthetic estrogen with harmful effects on the endocrine system.

Unemployment is up, Wall Street is reporting record profits, the health care debate is dragging on, and Americans are angry. There's no doubt about the anger, anyway. But it hasn't translated thus far into any increased agitation for labor. Workers are getting squeezed from all sides--more work, less pay, the constant fear of job loss, and employers using the specter of that job loss as a bulwark against complaints. "You're lucky to have a job," indeed. What happened to organized labor in the US? With the decline of manufacturing jobs and rise of female-dominated service fields, does the old labor union model still hold up, or do we need new ways of organizing and supporting workers? And what happened to solidarity? Paula Finn, Editor of the New Labor Forum, Thomas Frank, author of What's the Matter with Kansas? and The Wrecking Crew and Wall Street Journal columnist, Tom Geoghegan, labor lawyer, recent Congressional candidate, and author of Which Side Are You On?: Trying to Be for Labor When It's Flat on Its Back joined Laura to talk about labor's problems and suggest some solutions to help all of us, whether we're union members or not.

Michael Moore after the 9/15/2009 premier US screening of "Capitalism, A Love Story" answered questions from trade unionists in Pittsburgh. The screening was held during the AFL-CIO 2009 convention and the viewers had marched from the convention to the theater for the show.Produced By Labor Video ProjectP.O. Box 720027, San Francisco, CA 94172(415)282-1908laborvideo.blip.tv www.laborvideo.org

Labor Troubadour Ann Feeney www.annefeeney.com spoke out at the recent AFL-CIO 2009 Pittsburgh convention about the crisis in labor and the need for labor cultural artists to play an important role in rebuilding the labor movement. She also performs a song about the healthcare crisis at a Unitarian Church in Pittsburgh church during the convention.Production ofLabor Video ProjectP.O. Box 720027, San Francisco, CA 94172 www.laborvideo.org (415)282-1908

Iraqi Trade Unionists Speak Out At USWA Reception During 2009 AFL-CIO Convention. Iraqi trade unionists participated in a panel of Middle Eastern unionists at a reception held at the USWA during the 2009 Pittsburgh AFL-CIO convention. The panel was held on 9/16/2009 at the headquarters of the USWA. The trade unionists from Iraq who spoke were Falah Alwan, President of Federation Of Workers Councils and Unions in Iraq http://www.fwcui.org/ and Rasim Hussain Abdullah Al-Awady ( Rasim Awadi ). President General Federation of Iraqi Workers (GFIW) http://www.iraqitradeunions.org/en/ Labor Video Project P.O. Box 720027, San Francisco, CA 94172 (415)282-1908 www.laborvideo.org