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Here is your weekly news from the Texas Labor Movement. 

Texas AFL-CIO: We Must Do More to Fight Racism, and We Will

Texas AFL-CIO President Rick Levy & Secretary-Treasurer Montserrat Garibay issued this statement in the aftermath of nationwide protests following the death of George Floyd and others at the hands of police:

Our hearts break over the death of George Floyd. The Texas AFL-CIO joins in condemning Floyd's outrageous death in Minneapolis and demanding justice. But we must do more.

Floyd, for many years a respected resident of Houston's Third Ward, died tragically, preventably and as a direct result of atrocious police behavior. The protests also encompass the likes of Michael Ramos, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Philando Castile, Botham Jean, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery. These cases from recent years are the ugly tip of an iceberg of broader experiences faced by people of color on job sites, in neighborhoods, at traffic stops, in daily transactions, and even in homes. Our nation can never achieve economic justice if all Texans do not live together with racial justice.

The stain of racism we must address dates more than 400 years and includes slavery, lynchings and suppression of rights that haunt us to this day. Black lives matter. The death of George Floyd reminds us again, painfully, that racism in our nation is not an aberration. It is a central feature of our history.

Yet our history also shows improvement and redemption are possible. We are appalled over the events of a few days ago but we hold out hope. We mourn, but we believe in a better future. We "pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living."

To reach our true potential as a movement, the Texas AFL-CIO must get better, too. We always aspire to battle for justice for working families, advocating for civil rights, immigrant rights, gay rights and other drives for progress. But we must do more.

Toward that end, we commit ourselves to engage in dialogue focused on how the state labor federation and the Texas labor movement can become a more effective force in fighting racism. We intend to be guided by the experiences of our members and allies who have experienced racism in the many facets of their lives.

As always, we call for civil engagement. We categorically reject those on the fringes who are engaging in violence, destroying property and seeking to subvert the message of protestors. We will move heaven and earth to replace a President whose response is to promote more violence. We stand in solidarity with black-led peaceful protestors, all persons of color and all persons of good will who, seeking justice, will lead the way toward a different, better Texas.

We must do more. And we will.

USCIS furloughs are imminent. Take Action!

Nearly 11,000 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) employees are facing furloughs. We only have a few days to help them.

AFGE received notice that the Department of Homeland Security plans to furlough nearly two-thirds of workers at USCIS due to a budget shortfall partly related to the coronavirus pandemic.

We need Congress to ACT NOW and approve $1.2 billion for the agency in order to keep AFGE bargaining unit members on the job. Being furloughed during a global health crisis would be detrimental to workers and their ability to care for their families.

We must support our AFGE members at USCIS and call our U.S. representatives and senators to stop the furlough!

First, call your representative at 1-877-573-7093 and tell them to approve funding to stop the furlough of USCIS employees.
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Next, call your senators at 1-877-814-7890 and tell them to approve funding to stop the furlough of USCIS employees.

The dedicated public servants at USCIS are working every day to assist asylum seekers, refugees and American citizens. Their work also supports business and agriculture as they work to process visas. They need our help now more than ever.

Make your calls TODAY to stop the furlough!

Workers First Caravan Sets New Date! Wed. June 17th

Excited to announce the Workers First Caravan is ready to go for Wed. June 17th in Austin, Dallas, and Houston. Please mark your calendar and stay tuned for more details as we get closer to the AFL-CIO National Day of Action.

Amarillo CLC President Leads Battle to Stop Offensive Restaurant Name

Do Something! The President of the Amarillo Central Labor Council is doing battle against a new restaurant for choosing a blatantly offensive name. Let's have his back.

The restaurant's owner says he won't apologize or change the name of "Big Beaners," reports ABC News 7 in Amarillo. The restaurant is scheduled to open to the public days from now.

CLC President Abel Bosquez, an International Association of Machinists member who is also a respected member of the Texas AFL-CIO Executive Board and an activist in community organizations, told the TV station the restaurant's name is a slur that the owner, Jesse Quackenbush, needs to change.

Quackenbush, for his part, didn't merely shovel himself deeper into a hole when Bosquez complained to him. He brought in an excavator, posting offensive items on social media that were captured before he took them down.

The result? An online petition -- with more than 7,000 signatures already.

  If you know Brother Bosquez, you know how devoted he is to our movement. And whether you know him or not, the name of that restaurant cannot stand - not now, not ever

Sign Up for Online Training to Become a Volunteer Deputy Voter Registrar

The state Democratic party informs us of the availability of virtual training to become a Volunteer Deputy Registrar.

Such registrars sign up new voters on a nonpartisan basis, and you can do it, too, provided you attend a training session. During the pandemic, a major training session is going to take place online next week, the Democratic Party reports.

Though this event being held in association with their convention, they are hosting it in partnership with Travis County and it will therefore be non-partisan.
 

As many of you will know, many counties have stopped doing VDR trainings during COVID-19, so this training is a great opportunity to get folks who are interested trained as VDRs! The training will deputize someone in Travis County. They will then be able to use their certificate from Travis County to get deputized in their own county through reciprocity.
 

Given it's one of the first virtual VDR trainings in the state and is open to folks anywhere, we thought you might want to put out the word about this event to your networks!

Song of the Week - "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)" - Marvin Gaye

Labor Is With You. Black LIVES Matter.