In another victory for Southern California “carwasheros” seeking justice, respect and safe workplaces, the workers at Magic Clean carwash in Los Angeles this week voted to join United Steelworkers (USW) Local 675. The Magic Clean employees are the fourth carwash workforce to win their union as part of the CLEAN Carwash Campaign.

Working people across the United States in more than 100 events last night called on their representatives to reject benefit cuts for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid and to stop tax giveaways for the richest 2%. 

View photos from events around the country on the AFL-CIO Facebook page. 

This post is from the Chicago Federation of Labor.

Illinois AFL-CIO President Michael Carrigan and Chicago Federation of Labor President Jorge Ramirez are calling on Gov. Pat Quinn to reverse his decision to terminate the union contract that covers some 35,000 state workers.

“State employees are on the frontlines every day preserving public safety, safeguarding children and assisting families, caring for aging veterans, responding to disasters, and protecting our environment,” Carrigan said.  “Gov. Quinn’s effort to undermine their collective bargaining rights is unwarranted and virtually unprecedented in Illinois government.

Here’s a roundup of reactions to last night’s election victory by President Obama and other working family candidates from national and state union leaders.

AFT President Randi Weingarten:

The American people voted today to create opportunity and shared prosperity by sharing responsibility, and to reject the cynical "you’re on your own" philosophy.

Check out the AFL-CIO's new In Our Communities website feature, "Recovering After Superstorm Sandy."

The recovery from Superstorm Sandy could be one of the most expensive in American history, with estimates climbingtoward the $50 billion mark in property damage alone. As Americans all across the country pitch in, most of the work repairing and rebuilding the storm-ravaged areas will be done by talented and hardworking union members. Many of the organizations dealing with Sandy’s devastation emphasize the importance of union workers’ expertise and skill, as well as of sufficient government financial support for rebuilding physical structures and roads and, in many cases, people's lives. Here is what our members have been doing to help with the recovery:

Working people up and down the East Coast are pitching in to alert people about the clean up efforts for Hurricane Sandy and provide information for transportation, shelter and other resources. Firefighters, public employees, utility workers, letter carriers, nurses, grocery store employees, hotel workers and others continued to work through the storm to make sure everyone is taken care of. Once again, we’re reminded that work connects us all, and we’re better together. Here are some unions and agencies you can follow on Twitter and Facebook who've been hard at work during the storm:

More than 300 union and community activists "unwelcomed" Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) to Kalispell, Mont., yesterday with signs and chants letting him know that there’s no room in Big Sky Country for the anti-worker, anti-union, education and health care cutting policies that mark his record.

Check out the AFL-CIO's new Innovators website feature, "Union Architects, Engineers Inspiring the Next Gen to Go Green."

When you’re 6 or 7 years old, the start of a new school year is a big deal. But for students at PS 264 in Brooklyn, N.Y., it’s even more special this year because they are walking into a newly built “green” school. And as a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified building, that means encountering the unexpected.

Like lights that go on automatically when you’re the first one to enter a classroom.

And a gym that’s on the top floor of the building.

Temo Fuentes is one of the public employees Mitt Romney says we have "too many" of and that “it’s time for us to cut back." Fuentes repairs the fire trucks that would be on the scene immediately if Romney’s exclusive $12 million oceanfront La Jolla, Calif., mansion—or any other in the posh neighborhood—caught fire.

In this third AFSCME video spotlighting the public service workers and the 47% Romney says he doesn’t care about, Fuentes—whose mother once cleaned houses in Romney’s upscale enclave—worries about how he will provide for his family if his job disappears.

If Mitt Romney has his way, even more public service workers will be out of jobs because he says, “It’s time for us to cut back” on police officers, teachers, social workers and sanitation workers like San Diego County’s Joan Raymond, who says, “I actually did pick up trash on Mitt Romney’s street.”

This second video from AFSCME features a worker whose job it is to keep exclusive neighborhoods pristine, including Romney’s in La Jolla, Calif., where his $12 million mansion is perched on a cliff above the Pacific Ocean.

Raymond says: