Press Release Archives
- Join a Labor Day Celebration!
- Public Employee Representatives to Discuss Sweeping PEIA Legislation
- Workers Will Rally for Fair Treatment at Italian Opera-Themed Tecnocap Celebration
- Ceremony Thursday to honor WV workers who died on the job
- WV AFL-CIO Holds 30th Constitutional Convention
- Teamsters at Bluefield WV Coca Cola Distribution Center Reach Agreement for a New Contract Avoiding a Strike
- Union members will rally Thursday to urge Sen. Capito to support PRO Act
- Public Employees Launch Legal Challenge of Paycheck Bill
- Workers Memorial Event | Wednesday, April 28th
- Statement from West Virginia AFL-CIO President Josh Sword on Sen. Joe Manchin’s Co-Sponsorship of the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act
- WV AFL-CIO: Gayle Manchin knows Appalachia
- WV AFL-CIO: Legislative leaders using COVID restrictions to shut out public
- Teamsters at AHF Products Ratify Agreement
- The WV AFL-CIO celebrates Labor Day
- Union representatives commemorate National Correctional Officers & Employees Week
- WV AFL-CIO's Annual Workers Memorial Service Tuesday
- WV AFL-CIO rescinds endorsement of Justice Hutchison
- West Virginia AFL-CIO Endorses Isaac Sponaugle for Attorney General
- West Virginia AFL-CIO Endorses Bob Beach for State Agriculture Commissioner
- WV AFL-CIO invites all West Virginians to celebrate working people this weekend
- WV AFL-CIO, UMWA President Cecil Roberts, local labor leaders to honor those who died on the job
- Teamsters Local 175 joins West Virginia AFL-CIO
- West Virginia unions celebrate legal victory for working families
- Education Group Coalition to Hold Press Conference
- 38th Annual Food Drive
- Details
CHARLESTON -- Public employee and union representatives will hold a press conference 10:00 a.m. Friday, March 11, in the Governor’s Conference Room, located in the Secretary of State’s Office, to discuss critical changes to the state budget needed to provide a long-term fix for the West Virginia Public Employee Insurance Agency debt and to help struggling working families.
“Prior to the legislative session, those of us who serve on the PEIA Finance Board and who represent public employees urged the Legislature to quickly come to a consensus on how to properly fund this insurance program, which affects over 200,000 state and local public employees and their families,” West Virginia AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Josh Sword said. “With a little more than 48 hours left in the regular session, we are extremely concerned because there is no agreement among members of the House and Senate Republican leadership on PEIA and on other issues critical to the well being of West Virginia working families, such as roads and infrastructure.”
Representatives of a number of organizations that represent hard-working West Virginians will attend and speak about the budgetary needs.
What: Press conference to discuss PEIA & other critical budget needs
When: 10:00 am, Friday, March 11, 2016
Where: Governor’s Conference Room, West Virginia Secretary of State’s Office, main building, Capitol Complex
- Details
West Virginia workers will demonstrate today outside the building where members of the West Virginia Senate are holding their annual dinner honoring Senate President Bill Cole, a key leader in ushering through the legislative process two bills that will lower wages, make workplaces less safe and do nothing to create jobs – “Right to Work” and repeal of the state Prevailing Wage.
Demonstrators will gather at 5:30 p.m. today, Feb. 16, along the 900 block of Virginia Street, at the intersection with Dickinson Street, outside the Triana Management Services Building, also known as the Equities House. The dinner is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m.
What: Demonstration Against Senate President Cole and His Leadership Team
When: 5:30 p.m. today
Where: 900 Virginia St. E., Charleston, the Equities House
- Details
CHARLESTON – With the legislative session already half over, concerned public employees and their representatives today called on lawmakers to work toward finding a way to properly fund the state Public Employee Insurance Agency.
“We’ve got to fix this,” said Danette Clark, a West Virginia Corrections Counselor who has worked for the state for the past 22 years. “We’ve got to help our own.”
PEIA’s budget has remained unchanged for the past five years, despite the fact that more than 3,600 more new employees have been added to the program while medical and drug costs are increasing by an average of 6 percent per year. Without action by the Legislature, the PEIA Finance Board will be forced to cut $120 million of earned benefits from active and retired public employees.
- Details
Public employees and employee representatives will hold a press conference 10:30 a.m. Monday, Feb. 15, in Room 252 of the state Capitol to talk about the potentially devastating impact of cuts to the West Virginia Public Employee Insurance Agency program, which affects over 200,000 state and local public employees and their families.
“As a member of the Public Employee Insurance Agency Finance Board, I can’t begin to express how concerned I am about what could happen to our lowest paid public employees if the Legislature cannot find a way to properly fund PEIA,” said Elaine Harris, the state's international representative for the Communications Workers of America and a vice president with the West Virginia AFL-CIO.
What: Press conference to discuss effects of PEIA funding crisis
When: 10:30 a.m., Monday, Feb. 15, 2016
Where: Room 252, McManus Room, state Capitol Main Building (located along the House of Delegates North hallway)
- Details
The following is a statement from West Virginia AFL-CIO President Kenny Perdue regarding the passage today of Senate Bill 1, “Right to Work,” and House Bill 4005, repeal of Prevailing Wage:
“The legislative leadership relentlessly pursued “Right to Work” and repeal of Prevailing Wage despite appeals from thousands of hard-working West Virginians and hundreds of employers and contractors to stop and consider the damage caused to workers in other states through lower wages and less safe workplaces, and despite proof that these measures do nothing to create jobs.
“On behalf of 140,000 hard-working men and women represented by the West Virginia AFL-CIO, I would again like to thank Governor Tomblin for seeing through the false promises offered by supporters of both bills and standing up for West Virginia’s middle class. In the coming months, we will direct our energy and resources toward reminding West Virginia working families which legislators failed them, and urging them to vote accordingly – to remember in November.”
- Details
West Virginia AFL-CIO President Kenny Perdue said he is extremely grateful to Governor Earl Ray Tomblin for vetoing both Senate Bill 1, commonly known as “Right to Work,” and House Bill 4005, repeal of state Prevailing Wage.
“On behalf of 140,000 hard-working men and women represented by the West Virginia AFL-CIO, I would like to thank Governor Tomblin for seeing through the false promises offered by supporters of both these bills,” Perdue said. “Rather than endorsing legislation that only serves out-of-state corporate interests, the Governor stood up for West Virginia working families.”