Mark Ayers, president of the Building and Construction Trades Department (BCTD) and an AFL-CIO vice president, passed away yesterday morning. Prior to his election in 2007, Ayers served as the director of the Construction and Maintenance Department of the Electrical Workers (IBEW). A U.S. Navy veteran, Ayers also chaired the AFL-CIO Union Veterans Council.

Donna Gratehouse, who blogs at Democratic Diva and elsewhere on all things Arizona, sends us this.

The Grand Canyon Institute, a nonpartisan Arizona think tank, did a meticulous analysis on the compensation of 10,000 Arizona workers and found that public-sector employees in Arizona are paid, on average, 6 percent less than their private-sector counterparts with similar education and experience. This certainly contrasts sharply with what the Goldwater Institute and other anti-labor interests are pushing on the news media and in the state legislature.

Donna Gratehouse, who blogs at Democratic Diva and elsewhere on all things Arizona, sends us this.

"Act like your job is on the line—focus on good jobs, not attacks on the middle class."

That's the message Arizona working families will deliver to state legislators at the Capitol today at a press conference scheduled for 9 a.m. Representatives of labor and community organizations will be on hand to bring a petition with 20,000-plus signatures "demanding that politicians act like their job is on the line and focus on the economy instead of passing extreme bills that will hurt all of us," according to a media advisory sent out by the Arizona Working Families Coalition. At issue is a package of four Wisconsin-style bills that would strip public-sector workers of many rights and another bill, strongly backed by Gov. Jan Brewer, which would deprive state workers of civil service protections. None of the bills has reached the governor's desk yet and a broad coalition of opponents is keeping the pressure on legislators and the governor's office to defeat them.  

The U.S. Supreme Court today concluded three days of hearing oral arguments in the challenge to the Affordable Care Act brought by 26 Republican state attorneys general. Today's arguments focused on "severability"—if the court finds a portion of the law unconstitutional, whether the remainder of the law can continue in effect—and the act's expansion of Medicaid.

This is a cross-post from We Work Better Together, a project of the Communications Workers of America (CWA).

In an open letter published today in the New York Times, 11 leading German legal scholars and politicians called on Deutsche Telekom and other German companies to ensure that workers at German subsidiaries in the United States, particularly T-Mobile USA, are able to “exercise their unrestricted right to opt for organized representation in the company without fear. They must not be influenced, pressured, or intimidated by employers if they exercise their basic right for freedom of association. The human right of freedom of speech notably entails this right as well.”

This is a cross-post from the AFL-CIO's Solidarity Center.

In Colombia’s coal mines, troubling health and safety risks combined with serious environmental and social justice issues create conditions reminiscent of mining in the early 20th century in the United States. The dangers mine workers—and local communities—face are real and frightening, say four mining safety and health experts from the Mine Workers (UMWA).

TPM Livewire reports that its sources close to the case say the U.S. Department of Commerce has determined the Chinese government illegally subsidized solar exports to the United States. In response, Commerce will impose import duties on Chinese companies sending solar materials to this country.

Tax season. Ouch.

Zachary Teutsch, director of the AFL-CIO’s Investor Education Project, offers several resources to help you learn how to file your taxes for free, maybe get a bigger refund and avoid the pitfalls of refund anticipation loans.

This is a cross-post from the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) union

Kalamazoo, MI. – If you drive by a Panera Bread Café on any given morning, you will be treated with the decadent smell of freshly baking bread and sweet goods, thanks to the artful skills of Panera Bread bakers. These bakers work from 10 p.m. each night to 6 a.m. each morning making sure fresh bread, rolls, cakes and other baked goods are carefully molded and baked in time for the early morning Café opening. And if you were in Kalamazoo early [March 23], you may have heard the joyful screams of the Panera bakers celebrating their union victory after they voted by a two-to-one margin to be represented by the BCTGM.

Donna Gratehouse, who blogs at Democratic Diva and elsewhere on all things Arizona, sends us this.

"It was the most humiliating experience of my life."

That's how Elizabeth Brown, a former employee in the governor's office in Arizona, described the day a manager told her that her services were no longer needed. "The worst part was getting walked out of the building. They watched me pack up my stuff while I cried." That was 14 months ago and Brown, age 57, has not been able to find another job in Arizona's lagging recovery. But Brown knew when she started her job in constituent services with Gov. Janet Napolitano's office that, as a political hire, her employment was purely at the whim of whomever was in office. When Napolitano left Arizona to join the Obama administration in 2009, then-Secretary of State Jan Brewer stepped in. Brown was one of few Democrats who wasn't fired immediately and replaced with Republicans.