AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka put Mitt Romney's recent statements on public employees into perspective Sunday. Speaking on CBS's "Face the Nation," Trumka said:

Mitt Romney says he wants fewer teachers—that means larger classrooms. He says he wants fewer firefighters—that means less safety. I mean, rich people will probably still have good protection; working-class people won’t. He wants fewer police officers—that means we’re in danger.

This is a crosspost by AFSCME Secretary-Treasurer Lee Saunders from Huffington Post.

Rupert Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal, the Pravda of the 1 percent, is at it again, continuing its push to gut the retirement security of millions of middle class workers across the country while enriching the Wall Street moneymen who just three years ago took our economy over the cliff.

As Detroit’s economy reaches unimaginable lows, firefighters go to work in a nearly bankrupt city set aflame by arsonists—some by building owners looking to collect insurance and others by gang members. The perils faced by these front-line first responders captured the imaginations of filmmakers Tom Putnam and Brenna Sanchez, who are putting the finishing touches on “Burn: The Detroit Firefighter Documentary.”

Michael J. Smith, AFL-CIO Community Services Liaison in Monroe, Mich., sends us this report.  

For the past 20 years, Monroe (Mich.) Fire Fighters (IAFF) Local 326 has held an annual holiday dinner serving those in need in the city of Monroe.

With the fight in Ohio to defeat Issue 2 coming down to its final days, the Fire Fighters (IAFF) have launched ads featuring firefighters who are war veterans urging voters to vote “No on Issue 2.”  A “No” vote on Issue 2 would repeal S.B. 5, the law passed this spring that takes away the right of public employees to collectively bargain for a middle-class life.

AFL-CIO Field Communications staffer Cathy Sherwin sends us this report.

When Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker headed over to Iowa to raise money for the right-wing special interest group, the Heritage Foundation, union members and Occupy Des Moines protesters were there to greet him. A crowd of more than 200 filled the sidewalk outside the fundraiser: teachers and jobless Iowans, construction workers and retirees, community activists and families with children.

AFL-CIO Field Communications Coordinator Andrew Richards sends us the latest from Ohio.

Thousands of Ohio working families went door to door canvassing across the state over the weekend to get out the vote against Issue 2/S.B. 5. With a little more than two weeks left until Election Day, Nov. 8, Ohioans are working furiously to talk with as many Ohioans about how Issue 2/S.B. 5 is unsafe, unfair and has hurt our communities because it takes away the ability of public employees to collectively bargain for a middle-class life.

Deborah Dion with the Ohio AFL-CIO field program sends us this.

More than 250 firefighters and working families rallied for an early vote  in Mansfield, Ohio, to defeat Issue 2. Voting “NO” on Issue 2 would repeal S.B. 5, passed earlier this year, that gutted collective bargaining rights for public employees.

Mike Gillis, Ohio AFL-CIO communications director, writes about a panel in Ohio earlier today in which participants agreed that women will be hard-hit by the state’s newly passed bill (S.B. 5) that takes collective bargaining rights away from public employees—and why voters need to go to the polls Nov. 8 to vote NO on Issue 2, to kill the bill.

AFL-CIO Field Communications Coordinator Andrew Richards sends us this follow up from Ohio on the dirty tricks campaign to kill collective bargaining for public employees.

Although nearly every TV station in Ohio and West Virginia are refusing to air a campaign ad that distorts the views of Marlene Quinn, a 78-year-old great-grandmother from Cincinnati, Ohio, Gov. John Kasich and his operatives defend their decision to use their deceptive commercial. (To date, 30 stations have pulled the ad.)