Mine Workers (UMWA) President Cecil Roberts and nine other union members were arrested in front of Peabody Energy’s corporate headquarters in St. Louis yesterday, as more than 750 members and retirees sang Amazing Grace and held signs calling for fairness. Several of those arrested had oxygen tanks, and many in the crowd were brought to tears as the arrested protesters were peacefully loaded into the sheriff’s van while Which Side Are You On played on the loudspeakers. The protesters arrived at Peabody after marching from federal bankruptcy court, where Patriot Coal’s lawyers were inside. Those arrested were released later in the day, according to the St. Louis City Division of Corrections. 

Show your solidarity Super Bowl Sunday by not only cheering on your favorite NFL Players Association (NFLPA) members on the San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Ravens, but also buying union-made-in-America food and drinks for your party. Check out these union-made Super Bowl party products, compiled by our friends at Labor 411, the union business directory from the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor. Food and drinks are brought to you by the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM), the UAW, Machinists (IAM), Teamsters (IBT) and the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW).

The UAW has a long history of its members serving in the military. More than 5,000 active duty reservists and veterans work at General Motors (GM) plants all over the United States. This is why GM and the UAW teamed up to donate five Chevrolet mobility vans to help veterans with disabilities get around in their communities. Watch the video from GM (below) for the whole story. 

As part of a strong holiday program, Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 668 puts up the entire holiday lighting display for downtown Lafayette, Ind. Between 25 and 50 volunteers show up weeks in advance of the local holiday festival and install the lights in the downtown plaza and county courthouse rotunda, a tradition the local has taken part in for 65 years. Members continue to make sure all the lights are working and fix any problems that come up throughout the holiday season.

UAW locals 531 and 2317 in Lafayette, Ind., served a piping hot Christmas meal on Dec. 19 to local people who live on a low income or don't have a home. The union members split the cost of the meal between the two locals.

See more photos on the United Way of Greater Lafayette's Facebook page. 

More than 1,100 graduate student employees at New York University (NYU) and NYU-Poly have signed and delivered a letter to the university’s administration urging the school to respect their choice to join a union.

The letter was delivered in anticipation of a decision by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) that could reverse a 2004 decision by the then Bush-administration-controlled NLRB holding that graduate teaching and research assistants at private universities were not employees protected by federal labor law.

Finding that perfect gift this holiday season doesn't have to be a headache. Check out this Made in America, union-made gift guide. Here are some highlights from the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor's resource site, Labor 411. Gifts include those made by members of UNITE HERE, Boilermakers (IBB), Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM), Machinists (IAM), United Steelworkers (USW), Teamsters (IBT), UAW, United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union/UFCW (RWDSU/UFCW) and United Farm Workers (UFW).

UPDATE: Republican Michigan lawmakers who’ve rammed “right to work” for less legislation through the state House and Senate, didn’t have to do much original work in drafting the anti-worker law.  They just turned to model legislation playbook from the extremist American Legislative Council (ALEC) and copied verbatim. Take a look at this side-by-side comparison from our friends at the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD).

The UAW will live-stream portions of the march and rally in Lansing, Mich. Here is the Ustream link and you can visit the UAW Facebook page for live-streaming updates.

We’ll also bring you updates throughout the day on the AFL-CIO Now blog and you also can follow the action from Michigan AFL-CIO on Twitter.     

Supported by global labor activists and unions, a Mississippi Nissan worker announced the UAW’s global organizing campaign yesterday at the third annual LabourStart conference in Sydney, Australia. At Nissan’s Canton, Miss., plant, there are more than 3,000 workers who want a voice at work to improve conditions and secure decent work for more members of their community. In addition to reducing safety problems and resulting injuries at the plant, workers want to unite to build power and raise their voice so that Nissan will directly hire more of its workforce and not depend so heavily on temporary workers. Nissan’s production model increasingly tries to avoid the responsibility of being an employer while reaping the gains of all production workers.

Check out UAW's site: http://DoBetterNissan.org. 

Here’s a roundup of reactions to last night’s election victory by President Obama and other working family candidates from national and state union leaders.

AFT President Randi Weingarten:

The American people voted today to create opportunity and shared prosperity by sharing responsibility, and to reject the cynical "you’re on your own" philosophy.