Labor Update, Fair Shot Principles

I thought I would use my column this time to update you on things going on in the labor
movement in Texas, and in our area specifically. At the beginning of the year, the brand new
North Texas Area Labor Federation took over from the separate county labor councils in Dallas
and Tarrant counties. It’s jurisdiction also covers Collin, Denton, Wise, Parker, Hood, Johnson,
Ellis, Kaufman and Rockwall counties. There is still a vestige of the old county labor councils in
the form of the Dallas and Tarrant Assemblies, which also still meet monthly, but are
subsidiaries of the new Federation, and work to support it. President Williams, Vice-President
Schnackenberg, and myself are all delegates to this new ALF. as they call it, by virtue of our
offices in our local. We could have two more delegates as well. President Williams, who was on
the executive board of the old Tarrant County Central Labor Council, served on the interim
executive board of the ALF, and was part of the formation of its bylaws. The board was guided
in this by both the state and national AFL-CIO. This past month, President Williams was elected
to the first official Executive Board of the AFL, with a unanimous vote from all of the various
unions involved! The basic idea behind the formation of the ALF is that the combination of all of
the county labor councils will be more effective than the separate bodies were to promote the
interests of labor in the North Texas area.

Speaking of the Texas AFL-CIO, their officers recently did eleven town halls all over the state,
hearing from over 600 union members in the process. The message they got was quite clear –
people are tired of the corrupt politicians and billionaires rigging the system against us, and are
ready to make their voices heard this election season. The feedback received helped them to
officially launch a set of Fair Shot Principles – a bold, ten-point commitment to the fundamental
rights that every Texas worker deserves.

You have the right to organize.
You have the right to a living wage.
You have the right to a quality education.
You have the right to retire with dignity.
You have the right to fairness and safety on the job.
You have the right to high quality training.
You have the right to unemployment benefits and workers’ compensation.
You have the right to a clean energy future.
You have the right to work-life balance.
You have the right to equal protection, regardless of status.

These principles will guide them when endorsing pro-labor candidates and creating their
legislative goals for the upcoming season.