Introducing the nation’s poet laureate, Philip Levine, yesterday, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka described his poetry as cutting through false language and ”unflinching” in exposing the ”raw realities around us.”

When the nation’s Poet Laureate, Philip Levine, gives a reading of his work tomorrow here at the AFL-CIO, he will recite poems that weave a lyrical web of words around his visceral understanding of the world of work. Levine, whom the Library of Congress named Poet Laureate in May, and who has written of his experiences working in Detroit factories in the post-World War II years, finds his verses especially resonate with America’s workers—and that’s in part because his portrayals are so honest. (To attend the event, which begins at 1 p.m. Nov. 15, RSVP here.)

President Obama spent Labor Day in Detroit speaking with working families in an event sponsored by the Metropolitan Detroit AFL-CIO. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and other top union leaders joined Obama, who asserted his strong support for workers’ freedom to seek a voice at work through a union.

President Obama will join AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and tens of thousands of workers at the nation’s biggest Labor Day celebration in Detroit on Sept. 5, the White House announced today.

On Friday, Benton Harbor, Mich., became the first town in that state to get crushed under the boot of Gov. Rick Snyder’s (R) “financial martial law,” when his appointed so-called “emergency manager” suspended the decision-making powers of city officials.

Steve Cappozola of the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM), reports on what happens when manufacturing jobs disappear. This is a cross post from the AAM website.

Last week, Manufacture Thispublished a chart showing how lost manufacturing jobs correspond with lower state revenues and higher state budget deficits.