This is a cross-post from We Work Better Together, a project of the Communications Workers of America (CWA).

In an open letter published today in the New York Times, 11 leading German legal scholars and politicians called on Deutsche Telekom and other German companies to ensure that workers at German subsidiaries in the United States, particularly T-Mobile USA, are able to “exercise their unrestricted right to opt for organized representation in the company without fear. They must not be influenced, pressured, or intimidated by employers if they exercise their basic right for freedom of association. The human right of freedom of speech notably entails this right as well.”

This is a cross-post from the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) union

Kalamazoo, MI. – If you drive by a Panera Bread Café on any given morning, you will be treated with the decadent smell of freshly baking bread and sweet goods, thanks to the artful skills of Panera Bread bakers. These bakers work from 10 p.m. each night to 6 a.m. each morning making sure fresh bread, rolls, cakes and other baked goods are carefully molded and baked in time for the early morning Café opening. And if you were in Kalamazoo early [March 23], you may have heard the joyful screams of the Panera bakers celebrating their union victory after they voted by a two-to-one margin to be represented by the BCTGM.

Inequality in both wealth and income is greater than at any time since the early part of the last century. At the same time, says the AFL-CIO Executive Council, the best remedy to inequality and injustice—collective bargaining—is under increasing political attack in the private and public sectors. But workers across the country are fighting for their right to join a union.   

Here’s one for the good guys. David Warrick, executive director of AFSCME Council 62, reports that a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) administrative law judge has ruled that Louisville, Ky.’s Our Lady of Peace psychiatric hospital must reinstate former employee Amanda Doyle, who was fired, says Warrick, for trying to form a union at the hospital.

Mark your calendars for the 34th Annual Great Labor Arts Exchange and Conference on Creative Organizing. This year’s event—June 22-25—is happening at the Conference Center at the Maritime Institute in Linthicum Heights, Md.

Yesterday, 282 Cablevision technicians and dispatchers in Brooklyn voted to join the Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 1109 in a union election administered by the National Labor Relations Board, overcoming a vigorous anti-union campaign led by Cablevision. They are the first Cablevision workers to join a union. Cable TV is an overwhelmingly nonunion industry while the traditional telecommunications industry remains highly unionized.

Today, 285 Brooklyn-based Cablevision workers—the Cablevision 99%—will vote in a election for union representation.

Tune in TODAY from 3-5 p.m. EDT, for a live webcast of the special AFL-CIO forum on The Future of Work and New Ways to Build Power. You can click here for the webcast and follow on twitter with the hashtag #thefutureofwork.

Brenda Loya in AFL-CIO Media Affairs sends us this report.

As a Latina working at the AFL-CIO, I take particular interest in the impact Latinos have had on our nation and on our union movement. I am honored to join my colleagues, labor and community leaders today to celebrate the contributions of Latino working families in the United States.

Nearly 23,000 registered nurses will hold a one-day strike Thursday, Sept. 22, at 34 Northern and Central California hospitals. They are speaking out for their patients and against cuts in health care or retiree coverage for nurses and other hospital employees.