"Tim Duffy, executive director of the Rhode Island Association of School Committees, tells The Providence Journal he expects to see a lot of prolonged negotiations and mediation."

"J. Michael Downey, president of Council 94, which represents about 4,000 state workers, said the union would fight any attempt to shut down state offices. A government shutdown would violate a contract that Carcieri reached with the union last year, Downey said."

"The Maine State Employees Association says its members have voted to ratify collective bargaining agreements for four of its units in state government. The agreements cover nearly 10,000 employees."
 

"The stage for organized labor's resurgence would be set by reforms of healthcare and labor laws, Trumka said. . ."

"Jesse Hunt, the president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555, which represents about 900 train operators, station agents and power workers, said just over 80 percent of members voted in favor of the contract."

"The stalemate between Mercury Marine Inc. and its labor union remained Tuesday when no progress was made toward securing a deal that would keep hundreds of jobs in Fond du Lac."

"BART’s second largest labor union, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555, will vote today on a tentative four-year contract. Few details of the latest agreement have been made public, but Local 1555 President Jesse Hunt has touted it as 'equitable'."

"The firefighters are the largest group of city employees who will lose their jobs Oct. 1 unless a compromise can be reached by the labor union and Mayor Buddy Dyer's administration. The city has already shed 179 employees by offering severance and health insurance packages."

Click above to read a statement by AFL-CIO President John Sweeney on the importance of keeping a robust public option as a part of pending health care reform legislation.

Click to read a statement from AFL-CIO President John Sweeney on the unjust imprisonment of Burmese peace activist and political leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Click to read AFL-CIO President John Sweeney's remarks on the Department of Labor's jobs report from July.