Yesterday, I had the opportunity to head to New York where Occupy Wall Street is now entering its third week. I had just flown into New York City from Minneapolis and was coming off the enthusiasm and passion of 800 young workers at the AFL-CIO Next Up Summit.  Young workers at the Summit issued a statement of support for Occupy Wall Street, and I had to see and experience the movement first-hand.

The economic and social problems, the hate and the fear we see around us today can only be solved by a fresh generation of committed, smart, tireless and creative activists, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler told the nearly 800 young workers, activists and student  at the Next Up Young Workers Summit today.

Nearly 800 young working people, activists and students from across the country kicked off the AFL-CIO Next Up Young Workers Summit in Minneapolis today by doing what union members do best—helping others in need. 

AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler and U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis will kick off the second annual Next Up Young Workers Summit in Minneapolis tomorrow. Hundreds of young working people, including organizers and students from across the country, will meet in Minneapolis Sept. 29-Oct. 2 for the Summit, part of the AFL-CIO’s efforts, led by Shuler, to reach out to working people under age 35. 

U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis will headline a panel, along with AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler at the second annual AFL-CIO Next Up Young Workers Summit beginning later this week. Since taking office in 2009, Solis, the daughter of union members, has changed the direction of the Labor Department from one that favored employers to one that protects working people.

Casey Karns hopes young workers will come to the Next Up Young Workers Summit, which begins next week, ready to take a bigger and stronger role in the union movement. Because if they don’t, she says, Big Business and the far right will win the battle for the future of America.

During the second panel in today’s national symposium on “Jobs, Justice and the American Dream,” panelists made it clear that now is the time for a massive effort by progressives to come together at all levels to build a movement that reclaims the moral vision that King had and to force needed social change in our nation.  They agreed that Martin Luther King Jr.’s vision of social justice is not limited to African Americans and poor people. It encompasses all people who are oppressed or denied their human rights, including working people who are either immigrants, middle class, lesbian, bisexual, gay, transgender (LBGT) or young.

When the highly acclaimed movie “The Help” premiers today, 2.5 million domestic workers will be hard at work taking care of someone else’s children and cleaning their homes. Working people are hoping that this movie, which for the first time features African American domestic workers at the center of a major motion picture, will also shine a spotlight on those who usually remain invisible.

There’s still time to register online to join hundreds of activists from Jobs with Justice (JwJ) and stand together to “Build Power and Fight Back” against the attacks on America’s working people by corporate executives and politicians.

Emmelle Israel, a fellow in the AFL-CIO Media Department, writes about the founding of the Caring Across Generations campaign.

More than 700 care workers, care recipients, community activists and union members came together yesterday in Washington, D.C., for the first-ever Care Congress. The energy in the room was electric as everyone celebrated the launch of the Caring Across Generations campaign, a national effort to reform the direct-care industry. Care workers from across the nation were joined by Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Schuler and AFSCME Secretary-Treasurer Lee Saunders. Each spoke about the importance of direct care work for the nation as a whole and even in their own lives.