This is a cross-post from Working America's Main Street blog. 

Lawmakers in Michigan are still pushing a bill that would keep cities and towns from making their own decisions about paid sick days laws. We call them “preemption bills”— restaurant lobbyists and their allies call it the “kill shot” to paid sick days.

Working America, the AFL-CIO’s more than 3 million-member community affiliate for people without unions, is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. To mark the occasion, Working America tomorrow will unveil its “50 in 5” initiative to expand into all 50 states in five years, as well as new efforts to organize workers at their workplaces. Says Working America Executive Director Karen Nussbaum:

Every day, we talk to people struggling to support their families or piece together a living with their current jobs. These are people who want to see changes in their communities or on the job. This expansion allows working people to make a difference in new states and communities.

This is a cross-post, by Doug Foote, from Working America's Main Street blog. 

This week, Minnesota state Rep. Jason Metsa (D) is taking the Working America Minimum Wage Challenge—living on the minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. He’ll report his experience back to the Minnesota legislature, where they are considering a bill to raise the minimum wage to $9.95.

On Wednesday, Metsa’s challenge was to find a place to live. Why a challenge? His budget that he set out on Monday allowed for only $359 a month for housing.

This is a cross-post from Working America's Main Street blog. 

With 12 votes needed, only 11 members of the Philadelphia City Council were willing to override Mayor Michael Nutter’s veto of the sick leave bill. For the second time in three years, corporate interests defeated a measure that would allow more than 180,000 Philadelphians to finally earn sick days.

“I’m very disappointed,” said city councilman Bill Greenlee, who tried but failed to get the 12 votes needed to override Mayor Nutter’s veto.  “I’m particularly disappointed for the 180,000 workers who could have had a benefit that other cities are providing.”

This is a cross-post, by Aruna Jain, from Working America's blog Main Street.

As legislation to raise the minimum wage to $9.95 makes its way through the Minnesota Legislature, Rep. Jason Metsa (D) is taking up Working America’s challenge to live on Minnesota’s current minimum wage for five days.

A beat-up van pulls to a stop just up the road. A creaky screen door opens from the apartment at the end of the building. A young African American girl runs out toward the van, barely hanging onto a large gym bag that was obviously not meant for such a pint-sized carrier. The driver of the van, a middle-aged white man with glasses and a beard, throws the passenger door to the van open and the little girl tosses the bag onto the floor before climbing in. The apartment door, which had banged shut in the meantime, creaks open again as the girl’s mother waves goodbye.

“Be good. Have fun,” she tells her daughter.

“I’ll have her back by eight,” the driver replies, as the little girl shuts the van door and waves goodbye to her mom.

What if when you had a question or a concern about your workplace, you could go somewhere and get answers? Our friends at Working America, AFL-CIO's community affiliate, are launching a new site, www.FixMyJob.com, where every worker will have a resource to get more information or privately raise concerns about workplace issues.

For FixMyJob.com to be successful, more information needs to be collected about people who work. Can you take a few minutes to answer some quick questions about your current job, or the last job you had?

Fill out the quick survey now to share your story of work and to make sure FixMyJob.com becomes a powerful tool to support workers:

go.aflcio.org/fix-my-job

Since 2010, right-wing governors and legislators have attacked workers’ rights across the Midwest. These attacks have come in different forms: from stripping public workers’ collective bargaining rights in Wisconsin to an all-out ban on fair share contracts in Michigan and Indiana.

In Missouri, extremist legislators and their corporate backers are taking a different tactic. They are pushing paycheck deception bills, which limit how union workers can make their voices heard in the political process.

A number of states are considering legislation that would allow workers to sue for on-the-job harassment and bullying that causes physical or emotional harm. Some employers have already instituted anti-bullying policies, but advocacy groups want a more comprehensive response to what has been a problem on the rise since the economic downturn began. More than a dozen states have considered legislation to combat on-the-job bullying in the past year.

First thing you need to do is watch the video above, by YouTube user politizane. We’ll wait.

OK, finished? Great. I’m sure you’re mind is a little blown.