City leaders in Camden, N.J., who plan to fire all 273 police officers on the city’s force in favor of low-paid, nonunion mercenaries, should “learn a lesson from the NFL referee debacle,” says AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka:

Though replacement refs threatened a game we love, a replacement police force threatens lives and puts our families and communities at risk. The decision by Camden city leaders is irresponsible and unacceptable and should be rescinded immediately.

Unfathomable that Camden city leaders plan to fire entire police force & use replacements - have they not learned the lesson from the NFL?

— Richard L. Trumka (@RichardTrumka) October 3, 2012

This is sent to us by Charles Wowkanech, New Jersey State AFL-CIO president. 

While tens of thousands of union and community supporters joined the Workers Stand for America rally in New Jersey to stand up for the voices of working men and women and economic opportunity for all, 22 labor candidates were learning about how to win their election in November so they can support workers in their local governments.

The 16th Annual Labor Candidates School, held last weekend, continues the New Jersey State AFL-CIO's long tradition of preparing and educating rank-and-file union members to run for elected office. The 22 students are representing 18 different local unions and a complete range of our state’s labor movement. 

Made with pride.

Made to last.

All-American and All-American made.

The U.S. flag.

On July 4, we salute the women and men at this New Jersey factory (video) who create our star-spangled banners, our military troops who ensure our flag is still flying and all America's workers who toil to build this country with pride.

The first-ever New Jersey chapter of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA) was chartered today at a ceremony at New Jersey State AFL-CIO headquarters.

Hundreds of Verizon workers who have been striking for middle-class jobs last night took their message to the posh upper-class New Jersey neighborhood where Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam lives, to “mourn the death of good middle-class jobs.”

The battles against anti-worker laws across the country have turned to the ballot boxes and courtrooms. As voters go to the polls next week in high profile recall elections in Wisconsin, workers in other states and their lawyers will argue before judges that some anti-worker laws should be struck down. 

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) will join the rogue’s gallery of governors that includes Wisconsin’s Scott Walker, Ohio’s John Kasich and others who have attacked the collective bargaining rights of public service workers when he signs a bill this week that takes way the rights of  half a million public employees to bargain for health care.

This is a cross-post from the New Jersey State AFL-CIO.

Thousands of working men and women protested the New Jersey Statehouse today against legislation that would effectively eliminate public employee collective bargaining rights over health care benefits. Chanting “Kill the bill” and “Worker rights are human rights,” 25 union members, including New Jersey State AFL-CIO President Charles Wowkanech and Secretary-Treasurer Laurel Brennan, were arrested for disorderly conduct.

Education cuts made last year by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) were so large that the state Supreme Court today ruled they violated the state’s constitutional requirement to provide a “thorough and efficient system of free public schools.”

This is a cross-post from the New Jersey State AFL-CIO.

In New Jersey and across the nation collective bargaining rights are under attack, working families are being blamed for an economic disaster manufactured on Wall Street, and the assault on collective bargaining threatens the foundation of our middle class.