Texas AFL-CIO

Across the state, the Texas AFL-CIO is hard at work strengthening our movement and growing our membership 💪

- In the Rio Grande Valley, Organizer Patricia Estrada met with Tammy Casas & Business Manager Sergio Salinas of IBEW Local 1015 and Indeera Mohammad, Kathy Johnson, and President Sylvia Tanguma of McAllen AFT to talk about the importance of organizing South Texas workers.

- At the Mexican Consulate, Immigrant Worker Project Coordinator Fabiola Barreto presented to a packed hall of attendees from all over the world for Labor Rights Week, hosted by the Department of Labor and the Mexican Embassy.

She spoke about unionizing as a key way to protect migrant workers from exploitation.

- In Arlington, Secretary-Treasurer Leonard Aguilar spoke to Workers’ United Southwest Joint Regional Board and celebrated the newly incorporated Local 2846, who just made history by unionizing the first HomeGoods in the state of Texas.

From North Texas to South, whether you’re a teacher or a retail worker, the Texas AFL-CIO will fight for you!

The best weekend of the year kicks off TOMORROW!

We have events lined up all over the state that you don't want to miss. Find an event near you at https://texasaflcio.org/events/labor-day-2024 and get ready to celebrate Texas workers!

The Texas labor movement is growing – and that means our team is, too 💪

Please join us in giving a Texas-sized welcome to three outstanding additions to the Texas AFL-CIO!

Read the full announcement: https://texasaflcio.org/news/texas-afl-cio-announces-recent-hires

The numbers don’t lie: **70%** of Americans know it's – better wages, better benefits, better quality of life.

Here in Texas and across the country, we're fighting to ensure every worker has the freedom to join a union and see the benefits for themselves ✊

VICTORY: 125 warehouse workers at Spec’s, the state’s largest wine and liquor retailer here in Texas, have unionized with Teamsters Local 745 in Dallas!

Texas labor welcomes y’all to the movement and stands ready to support you through your first contract negotiations.

Every year, the Texas AFL-CIO administers a scholarship program for students from affiliated union families beginning or continuing their higher educations.

We are proud to announce that this year we have awarded grants of $1,500 each to 25 outstanding applicants, including 21 high school seniors, three continuing recipients, and one recipient of the Career Builder scholarship who is returning to school.

Thank you to the locals and members who made this possible through their generous donations.

Read more on this year's scholarship class:

Texas AFL-CIO Scholarship Program Awards 25 Grants The Texas AFL-CIO Scholarship Program has awarded 25 grants of $1,500 to students from affiliated union families beginning or continuing their higher educations.

Sleep deprived? Maybe. Fired up? Hell yeah!

One thing is clear after the DNC: unions are the heart and soul of this campaign. Working people are at the center of the Harris-Walz policy agenda, and working people will deliver a resounding victory to the most pro-union ticket in history.

After a week of meeting with union leaders and members from all across the country, we are ready to ride this momentum and elect candidates up and down the ballot who will fight for working Texans at every turn.

Who's ready to join us?

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Photo descriptions:
1) President Rick Levy repping Texas labor.
2) Secretary-Treasurer Leonard Aguilar and Training & Leadership Development Coordinator Lorraine Montemayor with UAW President Shawn Fain.
3) Texas AFL-CIO delegates with Washington State Labor Council President April Sims and Secretary-Treasurer Cherika Carter.
4) Union Yes! signs for Night 1.
5) Texas AFL-CIO delegates with CWA President Claude Cummings and AFGE President Cheryl Eliano.
6) Director of Policy & Politics Emily Amps, Director of Special Projects Lee Forbes, and Lorraine Montemayor with AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler.
7) Texas AFL-CIO delegates with USW International Vice President At Large Roxanne Brown.
8) Lee Forbes introducing a speaker at a Texas Delegation breakfast.
9) Leonard Aguilar greeting the Grandmother of Juneteenth, Opal Lee.
10) Lee Forbes with Congressman Greg Casar.

Kicked off our Friday by swinging by one of Austin's unionized Starbucks stores to show our support for Starbucks Workers United weekend ✊ ☕

Get out to a unionized store this weekend and show your support!

The choice couldn't be clearer.

Feeling inspired by all the union siblings at the DNC this week?

Get involved today! Applications for our Ruth Ellinger Labor Leadership Academy are OPEN until 9/6.

Apply here: https://texasaflcio.org/news/applications-ruth-ellinger-leadership-academy-now-open

Good morning from Day 3 of the DNC 🤠

We kicked off today's festivities alongside some Texas legends, including workers' champ Greg Casar, Communications Workers of America President Claude Cummings, AFGE President Cheryl Eliano, and the Grandmother of Juneteenth herself - Opal Lee!

We also heard from Reps. Marc Veasey and Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher, who got us fired up and ready to hit the ground running.

Can you imagine working in 108 degree heat without the right to take water & rest breaks?

That's what Texas workers are doing today.

As our Director of Organizing Ana Gonzalez told CNN, “Not being able to take a break and drink water causes people to die.”

A lack of worker heat protections despite rising temperatures leave patchwork of guidelines and put workers in danger | CNN Business Esteban Wood still remembers the time a 74-year-old Mexican farmer in Homestead, Florida, collapsed on the job from extreme heat.

Union women leading the way!

Shoutout to Liz Shuler, President of AFL-CIO, for uplifting the incredible work our delegates do here in Texas 💪

Thank you to the most pro-union president in history.

Texas is leading the way in clean energy construction — but the workers driving the boom are getting left behind.

Read the groundbreaking report from Organized Power in Numbers, Cornell School of Industrial and Labor Relations, and the Texas Climate Jobs Project on how we can protect Texas clean energy workers: https://bit.ly/PowerAndPeople

Hello from the Windy City 👋

We are so proud to represent Texas workers here at the DNC and hear from an incredible lineup of labor leaders tonight!

Harris-Walz have workers' backs, and we have theirs. Let's get them to the White House!

The historic Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) has spawned a boom in clean energy projects and, much to our delight, good family-supporting jobs, Texas AFL-CIO President Rick Levy reports in a Rio Grande Guardian column. The state labor federation joins our partners at the Texas Climate Jobs Project in working to spread the benefits of the IRA, a "game-changer" in American infrastructure, across Texas.

Levy: Texas Unions Lead the Charge in the New Energy Economy – Rio Grande Guardian In a guest column, Texas AFL-CIO President Rick Levy says the Inflation Reduction Act is driving Texas' clean energy boom, creating jobs, improving the power grid, and positioning the state as a leader in solar energy. He says the legislation ensures Texas workers are central to the clean energy tra...

We stand in complete solidarity with these incredibly talented performers who spoke up together through the American Guild of Musical Artists for better livelihoods. Nothing short of reinstatement and a fair contract is acceptable.

🚨 𝐍𝐄𝗪 𝐌𝐄𝐄𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐋𝐎𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐓 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐑𝐓 🚨On August 17 we will stand with the terminated dancers of Dallas Black Dance Theatre and demand that DBDT cancel the auditions, reinstate their artists, and inform the public about this injustice! ⁣
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𝐍𝐄𝗪 𝐌𝐄𝐄𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐋𝐎𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐓 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄: We will now meet in the shade at One Arts Plaza - 1722 Routh St, Dallas, TX 75201 - at 1:00 p.m. CT. This meeting location will be used to organize and prepare for the day.⁣
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𝐃𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐬: After meeting at 1:00 p.m., picketing will begin at 1:30 p.m. CT along Arts Plaza, alternating between shady and sunny sides, in front of Dallas Black Dance Theatre. As they conduct their auditions, we’ll make our voices heard through marching, picketing, and chanting, sending a clear message to the DBDT leadership that their actions will not be tolerated. Several speakers, including labor leaders, artists, and others, will address the crowd.⁣
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Registration is encouraged. Stand up for justice—be there on August 17! Full details, including parking information, are on AGMA's website: https://www.musicalartists.org/new-meeting-location-and-start-time-for-august-17-rally-in-support-of-dancers-of-dbdt/

While 91% of Texas public school students attend underfunded schools, Gov. Abbott and his lackeys in the legislature are busy bringing out-of-state “experts” to push his voucher scam.

It's no coincidence that Texas House Republicans scheduled this hearing on the first day of the school year, making it impossible for teachers, parents, and students to testify against their deeply unpopular scheme.

It’s all part of their plan to destroy public education as we know it — but we won't let them get away with it.

Watch the hearing here: https://house.texas.gov/videos/11189

The only cure for runaway corporate power is true worker power.

TAKE ACTION: Next Monday, 8/12 and Tuesday, 8/13, the Texas House Public Education Committee will hold interim hearings on vouchers.

Join Texas AFT to submit public comment opposing Gov. Abbott’s voucher scam here:

Educators Take Action Together: Submit Your Public Comments to the Lege! · Texas AFT Interim committee hearings are an essential part of the Texas legislative process that occurs between regular legislative sessions. The Texas House Public Education Committee is holding critical hearings on Monday, August 12 and Tuesday, August 13 on issues that are having or will have a profound im...

The labor movement in Texas is on the rise - and YOU can lead the charge!

Applications for our seventh class of the Ruth Ellinger Leadership Academy are now open. Come spend a year building your organizing, political, legislative, and leadership skills while simultaneously building solidarity with your union siblings across Texas.

Hear from previous alumni on the impact this program had on them and apply by September 6th!
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeekePS_fp7J2UfGhk3cdeBEgEKsbo-QRvClqOX2yaywtxITw/viewform