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Fred Yamashita

Secretary-Treasurer

Executive Director
Arizona AFL-CIO

Celebrate Labor Day with the Pima Area Labor Federation (PALF)

Join PALF for a fun-filled Labor Day Picnic at the Georges DeMeester Performance Center in Reid Park! Come connect, celebrate, and join the movement for freedom, fairness, and security that comes with a union contract! 

Free Admission, Live Music & Folklorico Dancers, Kids Corner, and Community Partners!

Do you want to table at the event? Contact PALF Chair Cecilia Valdez at [email protected]. 

Labor Day Resistance: Sidewalk Protest

Join Prescott Indivisible, Yavapai County Democratic Party, and Democratic Women of the Prescott Area for Labor Day Resistance: Sidewalk Protest. Thousands of communities across the country are taking a stand on Labor Day, Monday, Sept 1st. The way to stop the takeover is with collective action, not just through the ballot box or the courts, but through building a bigger and stronger movement. Together, they will demand a country that puts workers over billionaires.

Join a CWA District 7 Lumen & AT&T Partner Briefing

On May 21, Lumen announced plans to sell parts of its Quantum Fiber Network to AT&T, a deal that could harm service quality, cut off rural communities, and threaten union jobs. While AT&T would take over urban fiber, Lumen plans to keep outdated copper lines in rural areas—and shut them down within 7–10 years—without deploying fiber replacements. AT&T also intends to spin off these assets into a new company, likely with private equity partners, raising further concerns.

This coalition effort is pushing back to ensure communities and workers aren’t left behind. Join our partner briefing to learn more.

📅 August 26 at 2 PM

Union Events and Action

We want to uplift what you are doing for our members and our community!

Please fill out all the required information to have your Local's event uploaded to our Arizona AFL-CIO website or featured in our next Labor Dispatch. If you have any questions please reach out to Alina Cordoba, Communications & Operations Director at [email protected].

AZ AFL-CIO's Book Club: A New Chapter Begins!

We're back—and better than ever! The Arizona AFL-CIO Labor Book Club is now formatted as an end-of-the-month book review, offering fresh perspectives on thought-provoking reads that resonate with our movement. 

📖 August's Book of the Month: The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson

Check out this book's review, written by Esau Gutierrez, for a deeper dive: 

"Erik Larson’s Devil in the White City tells two parallel stories: the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893 and the crimes of a serial killer who stalked its shadow. For union members, the real power of the book is in what it reveals about labor. The Fair dazzled the world with its architecture and innovation, but none of it would have existed without the dangerous and exhausting work of thousands of tradespeople such as ironworkers, carpenters, electricians, and laborers who built it under harsh conditions. Their sacrifice is a reminder of how working people’s contributions are often celebrated in monuments but ignored in daily life. Larson’s story reinforces why unions fight so that labor is respected, protected, and remembered in history and in the present."

Read Along the Month of September: The House on Via Gemito by Domenico Starnone⤵️

If Not for the Union, There Go I

"I keep coming back to this truth: if not for the union, there go I. Without unions, I don’t know where my family would be. The union difference has meant dignity on the job, food on the table, and stability in moments when the system wasn’t built for us to survive."

What Unions Have Taught Me About Organizing Movements

"Unions have taught me to be creative and have fun. So many ‘progressive’ spaces are catty and suffer from a toxic policing culture where folks are canceled for not performing correctly. This is the virtue signaling sludge that zaps energy and feels like we’re extras on the set of Mean Girls. Union organizing has taught me that expanding the base, not cornering folks into an acronym-laden, holier-than-thou zone, is the goal."

AFL-CIO Blasts New Trump Administration Union-Busting Executive Order Issued Ahead of Labor Day

"Issuing these executive orders just days before the holiday that honors everything working people have fought and died for—including our right to come together with our co-workers in a union and bargain for what we deserve—shows us that this administration’s callous disregard for workers’ rights knows no bounds."

Majorities of Adults See Decline of Union Membership as Bad for the U.S. and Working People

"The share of U.S. workers who belong to a union has fallen since 1983, when 20.1% were union members. In 2024, 9.9% of U.S. workers were in a union."

UAW Members at GE Aerospace Vote 84% to Authorize Strike at Two Facilities

"GE’s impacted facilities include the Evendale, OH plant where workers build marine and industrial engines for the U.S. Navy, and the Erlanger, KY distribution facility that feeds GE plants all over the world. Core issues include job security, health care costs, and time off."

Connecticut Teachers and Union Leaders Urge Governor and Lawmakers to Fund Education

"The AFL-CIO is sending a letter to Governor Lamont on behalf of all unionized teachers, urging him to fund the futures of our students. They say federal cuts and insufficient state funding could put some children even further behind."

Unite Here Demands a 'New Deal' for the 2028 LA Olympics

"The Olympics are still three years away, but Los Angeles is already bracing for its first major showdown over the 2028 Games."

Arizona Unions Ask Lawmakers to Fight Trump Policies That Feel 'like an all-out assault' on Workers

"Representatives from Arizona’s largest labor unions are calling on lawmakers to stand up for working people. This comes as the Trump administration ends its collective bargaining agreements with federal employee unions."

Teachers at Tucson's BASIS Charter School Secure Union Contract

"Teachers at BASIS Tucson North ratified a collective bargaining agreement this week, making the Northeast side charter the first in Arizona to have unionized staff and teachers."

'Workers Over Billionaires' Events Planned for Labor Day Across AZ

"From the Arizona state Capitol in Phoenix to Tempe, Chandler and Queen Creek, more than a dozen "Workers over Billionaires" events are planned statewide, organizers say. There are even events planned in Sierra Vista, Patagonia, Payson, Kingman and Flagstaff."

Thank you for reading the Arizona Labor Dispatch! Can you help us grow our readership by sharing our sign-up form? 

If you'd like to promote an event for your union in our weekly newsletter, fill out our submission form or email AZ AFL-CIO  Communications & Operations Director Alina Cordoba at [email protected]