Massachusetts AFL-CIO

The role of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO is to serve as the unified voice of all organized workers in the Commonwealth and to be a voice for all working people, those in unions and those not yet organized. Our mission is to improve the lives of working families—by working for economic, social and racial justice in the workplace, in our communities, our state and in our nation. Our vision is of a fair and just society that benefits all working people, not a system that’s rigged in favor of the wealthy few.

Statement from Massachusetts AFL-CIO President Steven A. Tolman on Passage of “Janus” Legislation in the Massachusetts Senate

The Massachusetts AFL-CIO would like to thank Senate President Karen Spilka and her leadership team, and lead sponsor Senator Joseph Boncore, for their ha

Mortgages for Union Families

Union Plus Mortgage Company is owned by the AFL-CIO Union Privilege and a group of unions.

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Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect, 2019

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A resource for union members and organizers.

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A toolkit for organizers and advocates on workplace raids and audits.

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The Soul of a Union Man

I was raised in a company house, in a company town, where the miners had to buy their own oilers – that is, rubber coveralls – drill bits, and other tools at the company store.

That company, Inco Limited, the world’s leading producer of nickel for most of the 20th century, controlled the town of Sudbury, Ontario, but never succeeded in owning the souls of the men and women who lived and worked there.

That’s because these were union men and women: self-possessed, a little rowdy, and well aware that puny pleas from individual workers fall on deaf corporate ears.

One Year Later, Janus Decision Still Hasn’t Hurt Unions

A year after a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling that threatened to cripple public sector unions, they seem to be holding their own.

Government employees, it turns out, see value in belonging to unions. Membership in Illinois government unions actually has increased a year after the June 27, 2018, ruling in Janus vs. AFSCME, as Sun-Times Washington Bureau Chief Lynn Sweet reported in a recent column.

Two Cheers for a Lackluster Economy

Raise a glass to the longest economic expansion in modern American history.

A full decade has passed since the end of the last recession, in June 2009, and the economy continues to grow. As of Monday, the current expansion surpassed the previous record for uninterrupted growth, set between 1991 and 2001.

But this time around, no one is accusing Americans of irrational exuberance: These good times don’t feel particularly good. Economic growth over the past decade has been slow and fragile, and most of the benefits have been claimed by a small minority of  the population.

The Strike that Brought Teachers Unions Back from the Dead

On the morning of September 10, 2012, the bells rang to open Chicago’s public schools, but there were no teachers in the classrooms.

The night before, negotiations with Chicago’s reform-minded mayor, Rahm Emanuel, had gone south, and the new activist leaders of the city’s 25,000-member teachers union, clad all in red, walked out. Surrounded by a throng of cameras, they declared that their members would go on strike for the first time in 25 years.

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We Need a Better NAFTA

The new NAFTA is another corporate handout. It won't stem the outsourcing of good jobs or protect the rights of working people. Tell Congress the new NAFTA isn't good enough.

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Prevent Workplace Violence

Recently introduced legislation would provide needed protections for health care and social services workers from violence on the job. Tell Congress to support an OSHA workplace violence standard.

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