Work and Family
Although the “traditional” family—a father who works outside the home and financially supports the children and a mother whose work is keeping the house and raising the children—has been disappearing for more than a generation, our workplaces and government policies have not kept pace with America’s new reality.
Most children are growing up in homes with both parents working or with single parents. One-third of workers don’t have access to paid sick leave, and only 42 percent have paid personal leave. What’s the impact on public health when working people can’t afford to take sick days during a flu epidemic? Who takes care of a sick child? Who’s home to fix dinner and help with homework? Who can dedicate time to a sick elderly parent?
The recession and jobless recovery have complicated life further for working families, when having to leave work for a family emergency could lead to long-term unemployment.
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Each Labor Day, Ruth Milkman and Stephanie Luce of the Joseph S. Murphy Institute for Worker Education and Labor Studies release their annual State of the Unions. The report includes a comprehensive profile of organized labor at the city, state, and national level.
This week, in the wake of President Trump’s offensive remarks about white supremacist violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, AFL-CIO representatives President Richard Trumka and Deputy Chief of Staff Thea Lee announced their resignation from Trump’s American Manufacturing Council.
On this and every Labor Day, we honor the men and women who keep New York City up and running. We represent workers from all three sectors of the labor movement, all backgrounds, and all walks of life, and we all play an important role in helping to keep NYC a world class, union-made city.
It’s the “Summer of Hell” in New York City, and it seems like everyone has an opinion on how to fix the failing NYC subway system. Thankfully, the people most qualified to provide solutions have spoken: the workers who operate and maintain the subway system every single day.
Last week, workers at neighborhood news sites DNAinfo and Gothamist marked 100 days since they informed their employer they had joined the Writers Guild of America, East.