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Union Labor News, the Voice of Labor in South Central Wisconsin, is the official monthly publication of the South Central Federation of Labor for union households in the greater Madison area. To inquire about subscription or advertising information, or to report an address change, click here.

Below is a listing of articles from the most recent issue, August 2010, of Union Labor News. Use tools to the right to select specific issues from the archives, browse by tables of contents, or search by key words.

• Pols’ ‘Open Season’ On the Public Sector
  By Jim Cavanaugh, SCFL President You know it’s an election year because it has been open season on public employees for the past several months. There’s always at least a few people running for public office who try to gain some cheap political points by trashing teachers or snow plow drivers, but this year, probably because of declining public re... [More]
• Privatization Threatens Overture Union Workers
  For 30 years both AFSCME Local 60 and IATSE Local 251 have represented the various employees responsible for ensuring that “the show must go on” at the Madison Civic Center, and its successor, Overture Center for the Arts. Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz and Overture Center management have recently proposed a privatization plan that would effectively bring the curtain down on that... [More]
• P-9 Members Still Proud 25 Years After Strike
  On the night of August 9, 1985, workers at the giant Hormel meatpacking plant in Austin, Minnesota, voted overwhelmingly to reject the company’s “final offer” and go on strike. The strike by the P-9 local would challenge the very definition of the word “solidarity.” It would mobilize and divide the national labor movement, raise questions that still have not be... [More]
• AFL-CIO President Trumka on Immigration Reform
  Union Labor News has printed several stories in recent years dealing with the plight of immigrant workers in the U.S. economy.  Some of our readers have questioned our coverage of this issue.  Here are excerpts from a speech by AFL-CIO Richard Trumka in Cleveland on June 18, on why organized labor opposes immigrant-bashing and supports immigration reform that provides most immigra... [More]
• Wisconsin Fails to Collect $1.2 Billion in Un-paid Taxes
  Wisconsin’s $2.5 billion a year state budget deficit is expected to grow by another 8 percent this year. This despite already deep cuts in government services, a freeze on state employee wages and hiring and furloughs. Candidates for Governor are talking about still deeper cuts in the state workforce and aids to local governments in order to help close the gap. But, according... [More]
• A Think Tank of Our Own
  The very term “Think Tank” makes many working people feel a little queasy. In the 1970s, wealthy individuals began setting up institutes across the country to promote their own neo-conservative agenda. That agenda included cutting taxes on wealth, doing away with regulations on corporations and cutting public services. These kept Think Tanks specialized in producing researc... [More]
• New OSHA Liaison Hears Union Safety Concerns
  Over 30 representatives of area unions attended a listening session in Madison on July 17 with Lisa Sciolaro, Region 5 Labor Liaison for the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Union reps gave her an earfull.The overall concern was with a general weak penalties, lack of enforcement and inadequate resources devoted to protecting workers on the job. Some specific concern... [More]
• Labor Beat
  Round-up of news you won’t see in the corporate-owned media Letter Carriers Provide 241,000 MealsFigures are in and this year’s Letter Carrier food drive collected 301,000 pounds of food for area food pantries. The Community Action Coalition estimates this will provide 241,000 meals. Nationally, the union collected 77.1 million pounds of food. In our a... [More]
• How European Unions Confront ‘Austerity Measures’
  By Ron Blascoe, AFT Retiree In June, Greek unions held their fourth general strike in opposition to government austerity measures, and in May French unions shut down much of that country to stop an increase in the retirement age. In June, 2 million Spanish public sector workers went on strike to protest proposed wage cuts and threats to their pensions. Italy&rs... [More]