Executive Paywatch: The Working People Weekly List

Every week, we bring you a roundup of the top news and commentary about issues and events important to working families. Here’s this week’s Working People Weekly List.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka Unveils Paywatch: “Workers ought to get a bigger share of the wealth that they produce. They haven’t gotten a raise—our wages have been stagnant for nearly 50 years while CEO pay climbs every single year without exception.”

Manufacturing Talks with Trump ‘Not Very Satisfying,’ AFL-CIO Leader Says: “The head of the country’s largest organization of labor unions Saturday described recent talks with President Trump about manufacturing in the United States as ‘not very satisfying.’ ‘He only talked about eliminating regulations,’ AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka told the Tribune-Review during a stop in Southwestern Pennsylvania.”

I Was Arrested for Protesting Against Sexual Harassment at Yale. I Won’t Stop: “In February, we voted to unionize in elections held in eight departments. Since then, Yale has ignored its obligation to bargain with us in a bid to buy time until President Trump can seat new appointees to the National Labor Relations Board to void our votes.”

The Higher-Education Crisis Is a Labor Crisis: “A unionization drive at Vanderbilt University shows how austerity in higher education is hurting educators and students.”

Haitian Workers Call for Renewal of Temporary Protected Status: “This May Day, members of UNITE HERE rallied around the country for justice for all races, all religions and all immigrants. In Florida, their actions brought special attention to the plight of Haitian workers and urged the Trump administration to prevent the expiration of Temporary Protected Status for more than 50,000 Haitian nationals living and working in the United States.”

We Will Defend and Resist: Prepare for Workplace Raids and Audits: “During the 2016 election, then-presidential candidate Donald Trump made it clear that his administration would be more aggressive in pursuing immigration enforcement. This likely means more aggressive workplace actions, including raids that result in the immediate arrest of working people. Our new We Will Defend and Resist toolkit explains the processes and players involved in worksite enforcement and provides resources and guidance on how to prepare for and respond to a raid or audit.”

A Winning Week for Corporations and Wall Street—Paid for by Your Health and Retirement: “Corporations and Wall Street won big last week, and working people will pay a high price for it. Here are three things Congress did for Big Business that will harm working people’s health care and retirement:”

Texas AFL-CIO: Immigrant Working People Will Suffer Under S.B. 4, but So Will State as a Whole: “On May 7, from the privacy of his office, and broadcast over Facebook Live, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) signed S.B. 4, the harshest bill in the nation that aims to punish so-called sanctuary cities.”

More Fake Facts About CEO Pay from the American Enterprise Institute: “The right-wingers at the American Enterprise Institute just can’t seem to accept the fact that runaway CEO pay is increasing inequality. Their latest solution to the growing gap between CEO and worker pay: abolish the weekend! According to AEI, if everybody worked a 60-hour workweek, then the CEO-to-worker pay ratio would be only 132:1 instead of 347:1.”

Would You Be as Brave as This Man?: “Moises Sanchez handles irrigation pipes at a melon farm in Honduras for an Irish multinational fruit company called Fyffes. He has been threatened for his union activism, and his brother was chopped on the face with a machete.”

5 Things You Need to Know from the AFL-CIO’s New Executive Paywatch Report: “Today, the AFL-CIO released the 2017 edition of its Executive Paywatch report. The Executive Paywatch website, the most comprehensive, searchable online database tracking CEO pay, showed that in 2016, the average production and nonsupervisory worker earned some $37,600 per year. When adjusted for inflation, the average wage has remained stagnant for 50 years.”