Late Sunday night California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) vetoed the California Domestic Workers' Bill of Rights and TRUST Act. The TRUST Act would have prevented a deeply flawed federal deportation program from tearing apart more California families, diverting important resources and costing the state millions of dollars. 

The governor's midnight veto of the California Domestic Workers' Bill of Rights “does not shake our commitment to winning in California or building a national movement,” said the National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA), in a statement released Monday. The group vowed to carry on the fight for the workplace rights of the state’s 200,000 domestic service workers.

Even in the face of setbacks like this one, our movement for dignity, respect and labor protections for domestic workers grows stronger. We know that our work to make the world a more just place for domestic workers—and for all of us—is the work of a lifetime. And one governor’s poor decision will not derail us.

"My Own Political Opinion" is a cross-post from Working America’s Dear David workplace advice column.

Question:

As a courtesy, I communicated to the director of the company where I work that I will be volunteering for one of the candidates running for president. I was told that I was not allowed to participate in any kind of political activity as long as I worked for the company. I asked why, fairly offended. He said that due to the fact that most of his clientele support the other candidate, he would risk losing up to 90% of his clientele. Not only am I not allowed to express my opinion or represent what I believe in as a proud American, but I also cannot even put a bumper sticker on my car, as I would risk immediate termination. What are your thoughts on these subjects? —Raven, N.H.

Answer:

Around the globe, 215 million children are engaged in child labor, including an estimated 6 million in forced labor. Annual reports, released this week by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB), tracks the progress and lack of progress in combating child labor. The reports, said Labor Secretary Hilda Solis:   

Remind us of what happens to the most vulnerable members of society when poverty and labor exploitation unite.

We all have regrets in our lives, even Mitt Romney, who told a group of high-roller donors that he regrets federal workers are protected by union contracts, so that if he wins the election, he won’t be able to fire as many workers as he’d like to.

The middle class is the great engine of the American economy, but that engine is sputtering. Today, the National Employment Law Project (NELP), the AFL-CIO and more than a dozen other worker advocate and economic research organizations are proposing “10 Ways to Rebuild the Middle Class for Hard Working Americans: Making Work Pay in the 21st Century.”

Now that the Republican National Convention—with its divisive policies, masked by a cynical call for unity—has wrapped up, let’s take a look at the deeply embedded anti-union and anti-worker philosophy in the Republican platform of Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan. Daily Kos’ Laura Clawson says:

The basic message of the Republican platform on labor issues is this: Rights are there to be taken from workers and given to the 1 percent.

This is a cross-post from Working America’s Dear David workplace advice column.

Question:

I just started a new job at a major national retailer as a sales associate in the housewares department. I’m grateful for the job, but during orientation, I was instructed to sign a waiver that said I wouldn’t join a union. My manager said that we don’t need unions here because the workers already have everything they need. But I happen to know that there’s a national effort to unionize my company. I don’t think they can require me to sign the release, but no one told me it was optional, and I’m worried that if I refuse to sign it, I’ll be flagged as a liability risk and possibly passed up for advancement opportunities. What do you recommend? See answer at the jump. 

The AFL-CIO welcomes a dialogue with Palermo Villa Inc. CEO Giacomo Fallucca to discuss the company’s recent actions in response to union organizing efforts among workers at the pizza manufacturing plant in Milwaukee, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said today.

I am encouraged by your willingness to discuss workers’ desire for a voice on the job. It is only through open dialogue that management and labor can reach a just and fair resolution of workplace problems, and I am happy to participate in opening such a dialogue.

Workers at Palermo's Pizza in Milwaukee, Wis., have been on strike for nearly two months in a struggle for justice with one of the largest frozen pizza manufacturers in the nation. You can help the workers—like Laura Torres, a single mother of six who has worked at the Palermo's plant for 10 years—by asking Costco, Palermo’s biggest customer, to urge the pizza maker to respect workers and improve working conditions at the plant.

The AFL-CIO Executive Council endorsed Yale Professor Jacob Hacker’s just released economic blueprint, Prosperity Economics: Building an Economy for All, that says restoring the middle class must include restoring workers’ ability to bargain collectively.

The agenda for shared prosperity builds upon an understanding of the central role of workers, their unions and collective bargaining to address the full range of our society’s economic ills—our jobs and infrastructure deficits, our housing crisis, the hollowing out of our manufacturing sector, the disconnect between wages and productivity, the health care and retirement security crisis and the particular toll that these crises have taken on communities of color and women.