If you’re watching NFL football on CBS this Sunday, watch for a new ad from the Electrical Workers (IBEW). The union’s 30-second commercial spotlighting IBEW members will air during the pre- and post-game shows and during the games. Says IBEW President Edwin Hill:

Our ad is a reminder that real people bring their skills to work every day to provide our nation with the power and the electrical and communications infrastructure that are often taken for granted. And in the case of our members, the people behind this success are making a decent living and are part of the fabric of their communities and the backbone of North America.

A cross-post from Metropolitan Washington [D.C.] Council.

Dave McCord, a 25-year member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), is bringing his passion for riding bicycles and changing lives together. As the director of the IBEW Local 26 Joint Apprenticeship and Training Committee (JATC), McCord joined other electricians and union-organized contractors last April on a bike ride in Southern Maryland to benefit End Hunger in Calvert County.

Emergency medical service professionals, Ikea workers and green energy geothermal technicians are among the latest workers to choose AFL-CIO unions.

More than 150 paramedics, emergency medical technicians, nurses, fleet techs and vehicle supply techs at Rural/Metro of Northern California voted overwhelmingly last week to join AFSCME Local 491/United EMS Workers. They join the more than 400 Rural/Metro EMS professionals in Santa Clara County and the Medic Ambulance EMS workers in Solano County, who earlier this year voted to join AFSCME.

Some 40,000 working people—including Bo McCurry—stood up for working families and a Second Bill of Rights at a huge rally in Philadelphia on Saturday.

McCurry, 58, worked for 25 years at a Sparta, Tenn., manufacturing plant. Earlier this year, the plant closed its doors and shipped the jobs to Mexico. Says McCurry:

It was the sixth day of the London Olympic Games and Jim and Cecilia Adrian still hadn’t seen their son Nathan for whom they traveled 4,800 miles to watch swim for the United States. Nathan, 23, was competing in his second Olympics. Nathan and his mom were exchanging text messages, but the two hadn’t spoken in-person in days. While waiting to watch the 100-meter freestyle race on Aug. 1, the Adrians chatted with some Australian spectators who were on their way to see a water polo match in the Olympic Park.

“They wished Nathan good luck,” says Jim. “But not enough to come in first…at that point, everyone was predicting [James] Magnussen would win.”

In a dramatic, heart-racing sprint, Nathan, of Bremerton, Wash., took home his first individual gold medal in the 100-meter freestyle swim, beating Magnussen by one-hundredth of a second. 

If you couldn't attend the Workers Stand for America rally today in Philadelphia, you can follow the action live streaming here starting from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. EDT: www.WorkersStandForAmerica.com. If you're tuning in later, see the resources below where you can catch up on videos, photos and posts from the day's action. Click here to sign the Second Bill of Rights.

Here are other ways you can get involved from home:

This Saturday, Aug. 11, join thousands of working families who are coming together in Philadelphia in the first major action of the Workers Stand for America campaign, the centerpiece of which is America’s Second Bill of Rights:

• Full employment and a living wage.
• Full participation in the political process.
• A voice at work.
• A quality education for all.
• A secure and healthy future.

Union members in the Marietta, Ohio, area are joining with several charitable organizations to raise funds to build a “smart home” for Army Private First Class Kyle Hockenberry who lost both legs in an improvised explosive device attack in Afghanistan last year.

The Parkersburg-Marietta Building and Construction Trades Council has volunteered the labor to build the house. The group is also working with the Gary Sinise Foundation and the Tunnels to Towers Foundation’sBuilding for America’s Bravest initiative in promoting an Aug. 16 fundraising concert in Marietta featuring Sinise’s Lt. Dan Band. Sinise portrayed double amputee Lt. Dan in the movie “Forrest Gump.” 

On Aug. 11, thousands of American workers will come together in Philadelphia in the first major action of the Workers Stand for America campaign, the centerpiece of which is America’s Second Bill of Rights:

• Full employment and a living wage.
• Full participation in the political process.
• A voice at work.
• A quality education for all.
• A secure and healthy future.

This is a cross-post from the Transport Workers (TWU) blog. 

The rain couldn’t stop TWU Local 525 members as they kicked off informational picketing last week about their fight for a fair contract with G4S GS at the Kennedy Space Center in Brevard County, Fla.