Biden, Solis to meet with AFL-CIO leaders this week

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.workdayminnesota.org/index.php?news_6_3952

By Mark Gruenberg
1 March 2009

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - Closed-door discussions with Vice President Joe Biden and new Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, plus brainstorming on how to pass the Employee Free Choice Act, head the agenda at the AFL-CIO Executive Council meeting this week in Fort Lauderdale.

The meeting starts Monday night when Solis, daughter of two union members and a former congresswoman from Latino areas of East Los Angeles, joins AFL-CIO President John Sweeney and other leaders in a visit to a Miami church where workers will discuss how the current Bush crash has hurt their lives. The Senate confirmed Solis as labor secretary on an 80-17 vote last week.

On Tuesday, the council will move to IBEW Local 349’s union hall for another meeting with Solis and more talks with workers, the federation said. That meeting will focus on the “troubled construction market,” the federation said. The Bureau of Labor Statistics -- one of the Labor Department’s agencies -- reported that in January, the latest month for which figures are available, construction unemployment was 18.2%, compared to a national 7.6% jobless rate.

After that session and when Solis leaves, the union leaders “will set priorities for” the AFL-CIO’s 56 member unions “in addressing the economic crisis sweeping America’s working families through a variety of angles including bargaining, legislative, organizing and political work,” their statement added.

Biden will speak on Thursday. Meanwhile, the unionists will discuss next moves in labor’s campaign to pass the Employee Free Choice Act, the No. 1 legislative priority. Biden, Solis and Democratic President Barack Obama all strongly support the measure, to help level the playing field between workers and bosses in organizing and bargaining.


FULL story at link.

[Earth Bound Misfit]

1. K & R

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