Falls are the leading cause of death among construction workers and cause the second-highest number of injuries. A new interactive map marks fatal construction falls and graphically conveys what numbers alone cannot.

We've written before about the congressionally manufactured Postal Service "crisis," but this infographic from Delivering for America illustrates why a mandate to pre-fund 75 years of retirement in just 10 short years put the Postal Service under financial strain. Download the "The Truth About the Postal Service Finances" infographic. 

Many people told President Barack Obama saving the auto industry was too bold, too risky, Vice President Joe Biden told the delegates at the Democratic National Convention tonight. President Obama met with policy and economic experts, members of Congress and other advisers to decide how to handle the imminent bankruptcy of Chrysler and General Motors in 2009. Despite the opposition, the president knew what a bankruptcy would mean to the auto industry workers and the American people. "He understood something they didn’t. He understood that this wasn’t just about cars. It was about the Americans who built those cars and the America they built."

If you’re a football fan, tonight’s the night. The first game of the 2012 National Football League season—between the Super Bowl champion New York Giants and the Dallas Cowboys—will kick off at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.

There’s plenty of excitement about the football matchup (even with replacement workers subbing as referees), but the construction workers who built the stadium can feel an extra surge of pride in the work they completed two years ago under a project labor agreement (PLA).

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Trade and Labor Affairs (OTLA) has issued a report on the 2010 SINAUT-SUNAT submission under the U.S.-Peru Free Trade Agreement (FTA) that represents the resolution of the first case under the so-called “May 10” agreement—an agreement that raised the bar for labor obligations in U.S. FTAs. The U.S.-Peru FTA was the first to require parties to “adopt and maintain in its statutes and regulations, and practices thereunder,” the rights stated in the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and its Follow-Up, including the right of collective bargaining.

Promoting policies that strengthen the working and middle class is a major goal of the labor delegates who represent working people at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Charlotte, N.C., this week.

Speaking at the DNC CarolinaFest on Labor Day in Charlotte, AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker said:

We built this country together. Every one of us lends a hand. We do it every day. All work has value. Our work connects us to each other. And together, we are better….All work is honorable. All work has dignity and is worthy of respect. And decent pay. And good benefits. I’m talking about the work of all of us. Not just some of us. Not just the 1%. All of us. Each and every single one of us.

Last week, while Clint Eastwood argued with a chair and Mitt Romney officially became his party’s presidential nominee, working families in the West made sure that the spectacle of the Republican National Convention didn’t drown out their own voices and concerns.

Barbara J. Easterling is president of the Alliance for Retired Americans. She was previously the secretary-treasurer of the Communications Workers of America.  

As we near Labor Day, I want to encourage you to help younger generations better understand why labor unions are so important. Too many people either know very little about unions or only know what politicians and Fox News tell them.

We're kicking off the Labor Day weekend with a very special "thank you" message from United Way President and CEO Brian Gallagher, to a union member who changed his life. Watch the YouTube video in the post. Gallagher also thanked all the union members and affiliates of the AFL-CIO for their community service efforts across the country. 

Don't forget to send your own video or free e-card to someone whose work you appreciate at www.aflcio.org/ThankYou. 

Tonight Mitt Romney tried to reinvent himself, appealing to Americans’ aspirations and hunger to come together while trying to show his personal side. But his policy proposals or record do not reflect the kind of America where working families get a fair shake. Whether it's proposing to cut back severely on Medicaid, forcing seniors on fixed incomes to pay more out of pocket for their health care or cutting taxes for the wealthiest Americans, the Romney-Ryan budget doubles down on the failed economic policies that brought on the economic crisis in the first place.

He touted his business experience, despite his business record as an outsourcer. He called out divisiveness, despite proposals that would provide bigger income disparities and ignored Republican obstructionism for the past two years..