Public figures, working families and community allies are sharing their thoughts today about the benefits of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) on its 20th anniversary and the need for paid sick leave. Check out some highlights from the MomsRising blogger carnival by AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Elizabeth Shuler, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), President Bill Clinton and several labor leaders:

Mine Workers (UMWA) President Cecil Roberts and nine other union members were arrested in front of Peabody Energy’s corporate headquarters in St. Louis yesterday, as more than 750 members and retirees sang Amazing Grace and held signs calling for fairness. Several of those arrested had oxygen tanks, and many in the crowd were brought to tears as the arrested protesters were peacefully loaded into the sheriff’s van while Which Side Are You On played on the loudspeakers. The protesters arrived at Peabody after marching from federal bankruptcy court, where Patriot Coal’s lawyers were inside. Those arrested were released later in the day, according to the St. Louis City Division of Corrections. 

AFT President Randi Weingarten expressed her support for the conclusion reached by a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation study that calls for more effective evaluation of teachers. The Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) study shows teachers are the most crucial component of student success, and that current measures of teacher effectiveness fail to accurately recognize good teachers and show a pathway toward improving teacher and teaching quality.

Children who grow up in homes with books, research shows, have much higher reading scores and go farther in the education system than others. But many children can’t get books at home because their families just don’t have the money or have other problems. The AFT partners with First Book to help reduce the achievement gap between low-income and middle-class students. First Book has distributed more than 90 million new books to children across the United States, many of whom could not afford them.

Three years after the disastrous earthquake struck Haiti, workers and their families continue to struggle as the cost of living keeps rising while wages—for those who have jobs—remain the same. Informal discussions by the AFL-CIO Solidarity Center staff with Haitian export-processing workers this month indicate that in the past year, the cost of food and education has increased between 20% and 25%, while rent and transportation have risen between 15% and 20%.

In March 2012, the AFT helped lead a public-private partnership to help struggling McDowell County, W.Va., and the participants were hopeful that things could be turned around economically and educationally. A year later, the Reconnecting McDowell project has begun to show that investment in communities can change people's lives.

Before the National Rifle Association press conference today with NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre, who claimed having armed cops in schools would end gun violence in schools, AFT President Randi Weingarten and the National Education Association (NEA) President Dennis Van Roekel released a statement to proposals to arm teachers from Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas). 

Just in time for yesterday's celebration of International Migrants Day, a federal court jury ruled on Monday that Universal Placement International of Los Angeles and its owner, Lourdes Navarro, must pay $4.5 million to 350 Filipino teachers who were forced into exploitative contracts. According to the AFT, the Filipino teachers were brought to Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina and taught in public schools under H-1B guest worker program. This became the first positive jury verdict in a federal labor trafficking case brought forth by workers (as opposed to the government) involving workers who are not domestic workers. It is a clear example that workers can fight back against corporate greed and that when allies join forces on behalf of working families, victories can be achieved.

UPDATE: Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) did veto the bill to allow concealed weapons in schools and other public venues. State Senate Minority Leader Gretchen Whitmer (D) said, “I am thankful that common sense has prevailed and that Gov. Snyder has vetoed this terribly misguided legislation.”

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder today will veto a just-passed bill that allows licensed concealed weapons permit holders to carry their weapons into current “gun-free zones” such as schools, churches, arenas, hospitals and other specified locations.

In a letter to Snyder following the Connecticut school shooting where 20 children and six adults were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School, AFT President Randi Weingarten and Michigan AFT President David Hecker wrote Snyder and urged him to veto the legislation.

Faced with a shrinking margin for the 2013 legislative session, Michigan Republicans not only majority-muscled through a “right to work” for less bill in its lame-duck session that stood little chance of passage next year, but several other last-minute controversial measures as well.