United Way of Metropolitan Nashville was in dire need of a new trailer to help with community outreach efforts. That’s where the local unions came in.

Central Labor Council of Nashville and Middle Tennessee, Nashville Building Trades, Tennessee AFL-CIO Labor Council and 39 affiliated local and regional unions pitched in donations for the trailer and the artwork along the sides. The trailer was used last Thursday for United Way's Day of Action, when it delivered backpacks and school supplies to area schools for children in need. 

All efforts to privatize, outsource, reduce, undermine, politicize, underpay or undervalue the work performed on behalf of working families by our federal workforce should be vigorously opposed, wrote the AFL-CIO Executive Council yesterday. The council adopted a policy statement, "Federal Employees Already Have Given Enough," during its August meeting in Washington, D.C., this week. A total of 2.6 million civilian employees in the federal government do everything from making sure our veterans receive their benefits to processing Social Security payments, Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements, collection, processing, and delivery of mail and so much more. 

With workers’ rights under attack, new labor partnerships like the merger of SAG-AFTRA “represents a bright spot in the union movement," said SAG-AFTRA Co-President Roberta Reardon.

SAG-AFTRA today received a national charter from the AFL-CIO. SAG-AFTRA joins 55 other unions, comprising more than 12 million working men and women, under the AFL-CIO banner. SAG and AFTRA voted to merge earlier this year. 

New members were elected to the AFL-CIO Executive Council this morning. Sean McGarvey, president of the Building and Construction Trades Department (BCTD), will fill the seat of former President Mark Ayers, and Laura Reyes, secretary-treasurer for AFSCME, will fill the seat of retiring AFSCME President Gerry McEntee. AFSCME President Lee Saunders was named chair of the Executive Council Political Committee.

Federal Housing Finance Agency Acting Director Edward DeMarco is denying relief to as many as half a million struggling homeowners by refusing to allow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to engage in principal reduction, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said Tuesday. Trumka's comments came after DeMarco announced he will continue to prohibit Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from participating in the Obama Administration’s mortgage principal reduction program. Read the rest of Trumka's statement here. 

We can strengthen the U.S. economy and invest in our nation's infrastructure and workers. A long-term plan for growth is needed, and it certainly doesn't involve austerity. 

Yale University Professor Jacob Hacker and Roosevelt Institute Founder Nathaniel Loewentheil today released their new paper, Prosperity Economics: Building an Economy for All, at the Economic Policy Institute. This bold paper provides a comprehensive plan to grow our nation’s economy in a way that works for everyone. 

Today, Colombian trade unionists, representatives from the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), the Escuela Nacional Sindical (ENS, Colombia’s National Union School) and the AFL-CIO participated in a panel discussion on the implementation of the Colombian Action Plan Related to Labor Rights. The panelists reached a grim conclusion—so far, the Labor Action Plan (LAP) has failed to stop serious labor and human rights violations in Colombia, even though the U.S. government has declared it a success and has allowed the related Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) to go into effect.  

Tomorrow, we are hosting two fab book events here at the AFL-CIO. If you’re in the Washington, D.C., area, you’re invited to join either or both. The events feature the books Clarence Darrow: Attorney for the Damned and Undocumented and Unafraid: Tam Tran, Cinthya Felix, and the Immigrant Youth Movement. 

Currently under fire for misogynist and sexist comments, in particular his attacks on Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke, Rush Limbaugh's broadcast career has also featured an ongoing campaign against unions and union members. Limbaugh regularly describes union members as "thugs" and questions the patriotism of their actions.

Viewers in Austin, Texas, and Pittsburgh are getting the first public look at a new AFL-CIO television spot, “Work Connects Us All: America’s Unions.”