As the Machinists’ strike against IKEA’s distribution plant in South Jersey presses onward, New Jersey State AFL-CIO officers and staff are on site to help their sisters and brothers. International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Lodge I061 went on strike Jan. 20, 2020, against Swedish furniture company IKEA after union members overwhelmingly rejected IKEA’s…Read More

Charles “Chuddy” Whelan, the assistant business manager of UA Local 9, was appointed to an unexpired term on the Hamilton Township Council. Brother Whelan’s selection on Jan. 21, 2020, brings to 1,085 the number of union member election victories, and the New Jersey State AFL-CIO congratulates him and thanks him for his civic-mindedness. Under state…Read More

Our brothers and sisters of International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Lodge I061 are on strike against Swedish furniture company IKEA after IKEA’s so-called “last-best” offer was overwhelmingly rejected. IKEA removed longstanding job security provisions from their proposed deal with the Machinists and did not make pay-grade steps more equitable and timely. So someone…Read More

A video from the picket line.  Read More

TRENTON – Acting on his commitment to support and uplift New Jersey workers, Governor Phil Murphy on Jan. 20, 2020, signed a legislative package combatting worker misclassification and exploitation.  The bills will crack down on employee misclassification in businesses by allowing stop-work orders against employers violating state wage, benefit, and tax law; providing assessment of penalties…Read More

The New Jersey State AFL-CIO congratulates and thanks Gov. Phil Murphy for signing into law the New Jersey Call Center Jobs Act, which aims to end the corporate outsourcing of call center jobs and instead keep those jobs in New Jersey. The legislation comes at the end of a long campaign by organized labor, and…Read More

TRENTON – Gov. Phil Murphy on Jan. 21, 2020, signed the following bills into law: S-62/A-2478 (Singleton, Oroho/DeAngelo, Houghtaling, Space) – Requires certain contractors to register under “The Public Works Contractor Registration Act” S-358/A-4587 (Rice/Sumter, Reynolds-Jackson) – Establishes database with certain information about individuals elected to public office in this State S-376/A-3839 (Madden, Gopal/Moriarty, Lagana,…Read More

This letter appeared in The Star-Ledger Jan. 17, 2020Read More

Labor leader Laurel Brennan, secretary-treasurer of the New Jersey State AFL-CIO, has been named to the state ad hoc committee on the “toxic climate in Trenton” by its chair, state Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg. “I’m honored to be selected by Senator Weinberg,” Brennan said, “and I look forward to working on this much-needed committee….Read More

ON THIS SOLEMN HOLIDAY, WE HONOR ONE OF AMERICA’S MOST INSPIRING LEADERS: THE REV. DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. JANUARY 15, 1929 – APRIL 4, 1968     When he was cut down by an assassin’s bullet, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was doing what he did best: seeking equality and human rights…Read More