Just a few days after the election, House Speaker John Boehner made clear that Republicans plan to hold the economy hostage once again to their ransom demands for the richest 2%.

Working families are telling Congress no more tax breaks for the wealthiest 2% and no benefit cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Learn more at www.aflcio.org/ProtectOurFuture. 

Fast-food workers in New York City today walked off the job to protest what they said "were low wages and retaliation against several workers who have backed the unionization campaign," writes Steve Greenhouse of the New York Times. 

President Obama came out Wednesday in opposition to Rep. Lamar Smith's (R-Texas) STEM Act, which would increase the number of visas available to highly skilled immigrants while reducing the visas available to people coming from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States. The bill would add 55,000 visas to masters and doctoral degree holders in science, technology, engineering and mathematics and it would eliminate all of the so-called "diversity" visas.

While Hostess Brands Inc. is shedding 18,000 of its workers' jobs, top level executives who ran the company into the ground are asking for bonus pay to the tune of $1.8 million. 

Hundreds of Michiganders flooded the state Capitol building in Lansing on Thursday to tell their legislators to reject a "right to work" for less proposal currently before a legislative committee. Working families oppose the legislation that would make it easier for corporations to take advantage of their employees and weaken workers' ability to bargain with management.

A federal appeals court ruled that Maine Gov. Paul LePage was within his rights when he took down a mural depicting labor history in a building that housed the state's Department of Labor. 

Citizen4Me: Where DREAMers Can Find U.S. Citizens to Marry is a cross-post from VOXXI, by Griselda Nevarez. 

Are you a DREAMer looking to marry a U.S. citizen who will petition for you to become a citizen? The Facebook group Citizen4Me is the perfect place to start.

The group lists profiles of eligible bachelors and bachelorettes who are U.S. citizens and are willing to marry DREAMers to help them fix their immigration status. It also lists profiles of DREAMers who are seeking a U.S. citizen to marry.

This is an excerpt of the AFL-CIO Solidarity Center's Human Trafficking Thrives Under Worker Exploitation. 

Human trafficking thrives in an environment of worker exploitation and engenders forced labor, debt bondage and other egregious labor abuse. The most effective way to address this scourge, says Neha Misra, Solidarity Center senior specialist on migration and human trafficking, is by empowering workers to have a voice in their workplace and supporting their right to organize and join unions.