LABOR

• symbol represents a site we find particularly useful.

AFL-CIO (http://www.aflcio.org)
Labor news, policy statements, and public document; economic research library with essays on selected economic issues; and extensive links to other union sites. Executive Paywatch has useful links to finding CEO wages (including 2003 wages). There are also great links to track campaign finance, living wage information, company public records and links to sweatshop watchdog organizations. Use their new Economic Richter Scale to see how your state rates in terms of unemployment, healthcare coverage, poverty, and income levels.

• AFSCME labor links (http://www.afscme.org/otherlnk/index.html)
The AFSCME Information Center has brought together both AFSCME publications and the best Web resources for labor research organized by topic including their own guide to company research on the web at http://www.afscme.org/wrkplace/ftipstc.htm. Check out their latest section on state fiscal crisis, giving you the tools to evaluate claims of "budget deficit" or" budget crisis" as well as determine the costs employers can save on worker's comp if they follow safety and health measures.

Department of Labor (http://www.dol.gov/)
US Department of Labor statutory and regulatory information. Labor related data. Includes information on wages and hours, healthcare plans and benefits and unemployment insurance. Also includes publications in Spanish from the Employee Benefits Security Administration.

FAST Manual of Corporate Investigations (http://www.fastaflcio.org)
Cut & paste web address if link does not work
For $25 you can access the Food and Allied Service Trades Department's Manual of Corporate Investigations. A must read for anyone engaging in a corporate campaign. For $100, purchase the FAST Labor CD, a powerful tool to use in organizing and bargaining. The 26 indexes that are included put a vast labor-relations history of U.S. employers at your fingertips. By searching the 1.5 million records on the CD you can find out:

Labor Research Portal (http://iir.berkeley.edu/library/laborportal/index.html)
Industrial Relations Libraries of universities often offer excellent portals to labor research. Invariably their strongest coverage is home turf. While this portal from the University of California at Berkeley's Institute of Industrial Relations offers exceptionally strong coverage of labor issues in California, it also provides comprehensive coverage of sources for labor research covering the United States. The online guide to Corporate Research (http://iir.berkeley.edu/library/blg/corprsch.html) provides a wealth of "starting points" and strategies and the Alternative Forms of Ownership guide is a great resource for workers looking for models of employee participation and ownership.

LaborNet (http://www.labornet.org/)
The global online communication network for a democratic, independent labor movement. LaborNet is an independent network that seeks to build up labor communication for all working people. The site includes sections for Forums, Viewpoints, Labor Video, News Archives, Search, and Links containing information on topics of concern to progressive activists and organizers.

National Employment Law Project (http://www.nelp.org)
Contains information on their Immigrant Worker Project, Nonstandard Worker Project, Unemployment Insurance Safety Net Project, Work and Family Project, Welfare & Low-Wage Workforce Project and materials for workers regarding benefits, worker's rights, unemployment insurance.

National Labor Relations Board (http://www.nlrb.gov)
The NLRB is a Federal agency that conducts elections regarding union representation and investigates unfair labor practices. The site contains full text of recent decisions. Click on Decisions. Either view a volume of decisions or use "search Instructions" link to search by keyword.

• Occupational Health and Safety Administration (http://www.osha.gov)
This government web site provides full reports of OSHA inspections. These include regular inspections and those filed due to complaints or accidents. Violation, fines and descriptions of incidents are available. You can get a nation-wide record of a company or focus your search to specific plant. Click on INSPECTION DATA, then ESTABLISHMENT SEARCH. Be sure to check off Exact Match or you will get irrelevant information.

Sweatshop Watch (http://www.sweatshopwatch.org/)
Sweatshop Watch is a coalition of labor, community, civil rights, immigrant rights, women's, religious and student organizations, and individuals committed to eliminating the exploitation that occurs in sweatshops. Sweatshop Watch serves low-wage workers, with a focus on garment workers in California, as well as nationally and globally. Web site links track garment industry watch-dog organizations and garment worker justice campaigns. Check out their working paper "Free Trade's Looming Threat to the World's Garment Workers", available in English and Spanish.