With workers’ rights under attack, new labor partnerships like the merger of SAG-AFTRA “represents a bright spot in the union movement," said SAG-AFTRA Co-President Roberta Reardon.

SAG-AFTRA today received a national charter from the AFL-CIO. SAG-AFTRA joins 55 other unions, comprising more than 12 million working men and women, under the AFL-CIO banner. SAG and AFTRA voted to merge earlier this year. 

New members were elected to the AFL-CIO Executive Council this morning. Sean McGarvey, president of the Building and Construction Trades Department (BCTD), will fill the seat of former President Mark Ayers, and Laura Reyes, secretary-treasurer for AFSCME, will fill the seat of retiring AFSCME President Gerry McEntee. AFSCME President Lee Saunders was named chair of the Executive Council Political Committee.

Check out the AFL-CIO's new Innovators website feature, "Not Your Daddy's Labor Movement," here.

Leave behind what you know about Robert's Rules of Order and structured union meetings. A new generation of emerging labor leaders across the country is bringing young workers together in paintball games, music festivals, trivia nights and pub crawls—all with an activist edge.

In a 52-47 vote, the U.S. Senate blocked a vote on the Paycheck Fairness Act this afternoon. With 60 votes needed to proceed to a vote on the bill, Republicans succeeded in blocking pay equity for women for the second time. 

The just-launched Workers' Voice initiative will activate and energize networks of working families—union and nonunion, online and offline—around political campaigns, legislative issues and holding elected officials accountable to “build an independent voice for the working and middle class,” says AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Elizabeth Shuler.

Mrs. Gardner still has a firm grip when she shakes your hand. She stood at the edge of the property she and her husband, Robert, had opened up to participants in the Selma to Montgomery, Ala., marches back in 1965, as a new generation recognized her contributions while drawing attention to new injustices.

Christian Sweeney, AFL-CIO deputy organizing director, sends us this.

A busload of teaching and research assistants from New York University (NYU) traveled to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) headquarters in Washington, D.C., in recent days to call on the board to affirm their right to form unions. The NYU TAs and RAs, members of the UAW, filed a petition seeking a union recognition election in the spring of 2010 but are still waiting for a board decision.

Kurston Cook, AFL-CIO Young Worker coordinator, sends us this.

Next week, 20 members of the AFL-CIO Young Worker Advisory Council will meet in Washington, D.C., to finalize the 2012 work plan for the AFL-CIO Next Up Young Worker Program. The advisory council advises the AFL-CIO on its programming as it relates to young people, and leaders' implementation of these programs. One major goal of Next Up is to be a voice for all young workers and to provide inspiring and relevant opportunities for participation within the labor movement.

Emmelle Israel, AFL-CIO Media Outreach fellow, sends us this.

At the current rate, pay equity between men and women won’t occur for another 45 years, according to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR).

Occupy Wall Street marchers arrived in Washington, D.C., today after walking for 10 days from New York City to deliver the message that Congress should stand with the 99 pecent, not the 1 percent.