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President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address tonight made clear that he hears the people who aren’t being heard by the 1%, says AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. Obama’s speech showed he “listened to the single mom working two jobs to get by, to the out-of-work construction worker, to the retired factory worker, to the student serving coffee to help pay for college.”

The 72-page report, issued yesterday by the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, makes many solid suggestions for how to address our nation’s jobs crisis, says AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. But Trumka says the fundamental focus is so flawed that, as a member of the council, he issued a dissent to the report.

The following is by John August, executive director of the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions. Read the full version of his column at L&M Partnership.

It’s no secret that our economy is changing profoundly for millions of workers. But a Dec. 30, 2011, New York Times article, “Factory Jobs Gain, but Wages Retreat,” deserves special attention.

A new exposé, published by Remapping Debate, lifts the veil on how the anti-regulatory, anti-labor line finds its way into media coverage of business, all under the guise of objectivity.

Dave Johnson, a fellow at the Campaign for America’s Future, sends us this.

The Take Back the  American Dream conference opened Tuesday with a discussion on the “Contract for the American Dream.” Deepak Bhargava of the Center for Community Change began by saying that there is a movement in America today and it’s not the tea party—it’s the American Dream Movement. People are working to build a huge movement that can meet this huge moment.

Dave Johnson, a fellow at the Campaign for America’s Future, sends us this.

The United States needs a “green industrial revolution” to breath new life into American manufacturing and bring back from overseas badly needed manufacturing jobs, experts told progressive activists at today’s opening session of the “Take Back the American Dream” conference in Washington, D.C. (Click here for video highlights.)

America is facing historic choices that will shape our economy, our society and our democracy for decades to come, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said today.

The U.S.-China trade deficit has eliminated or displaced nearly 2.8 million jobs, mainly in manufacturing, following that country’s entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001, according to a study released today. View an interactive map of jobs lost throughout the United States here.

AFL-CIO Field Communications staffer Cathy Sherwin sends us this report.

In too many of our state legislatures, the start of the legislative session means the start of another round of attacks on workers. That’s been true throughout the Midwest and across the country, but the Missouri special session has the potential to be a major exception. There’s a great opportunity for elected officials, Democrats and Republicans alike, to make an investment in the kind of good jobs that are so hard to find right now.