This is an excerpt of "Domestic Workers Inspire the Global Movement for Rights" from Huffington Post, by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and Ai-jen Poo, director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance. 

Domestic workers around the world have been organizing for years to secure decent wages, benefits and recognition.

This past summer, domestic workers and their allies celebrated a major global victory after the Philippines joined Uruguay in becoming the second country to ratify International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention 189, Decent Work for Domestic Workers.

The convention addresses issues such as working conditions, wages, benefits and child labor and goes into effect one year after two countries approve it.

The person who’s flipping burgers and making sure there are enough hot dogs to go around at your Labor Day barbecue deserves a little extra thanks, don’t you think? 

Unions and working families will honor the holiday that celebrates the hard work that has made America strong by doing something special this year: recognizing people for their work.

The AFL-CIO is launching a new online application just in time to reclaim Labor Day as a day to recognize people for their hard work. On the new app, at www.aflcio.org/thankyou, participants can send thank-you cards and videos through Facebook and e-mail to friends and others whose work they depend on. 

With workers’ rights under attack, new labor partnerships like the merger of SAG-AFTRA “represents a bright spot in the union movement," said SAG-AFTRA Co-President Roberta Reardon.

SAG-AFTRA today received a national charter from the AFL-CIO. SAG-AFTRA joins 55 other unions, comprising more than 12 million working men and women, under the AFL-CIO banner. SAG and AFTRA voted to merge earlier this year. 

Federal Housing Finance Agency Acting Director Edward DeMarco is denying relief to as many as half a million struggling homeowners by refusing to allow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to engage in principal reduction, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said Tuesday. Trumka's comments came after DeMarco announced he will continue to prohibit Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from participating in the Obama Administration’s mortgage principal reduction program. Read the rest of Trumka's statement here. 

It may not always be obvious, but the union movement and progressive student activists share the same core values when it comes to fighting for social and economic justice for all people. Today, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka addressed more than 1,200 young activists at the 8th annual Campus Progress National Conference in Washington, D.C.:

Mitt Romney “doesn’t know a thing about responsibility,” AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka will tell delegates of the Heat and Frost Insulators today in Las Vegas at their 2012 convention. Romney’s plan to better the wealthiest 1% of taxpayers at the expense of the middle class is not the kind of America we want. 

It’s been made abundantly clear in recent weeks that Mitt Romney doesn’t share the values the majority of American workers hold.

Tomorrow, we are hosting two fab book events here at the AFL-CIO. If you’re in the Washington, D.C., area, you’re invited to join either or both. The events feature the books Clarence Darrow: Attorney for the Damned and Undocumented and Unafraid: Tam Tran, Cinthya Felix, and the Immigrant Youth Movement. 

Tens of thousands of working families are volunteering today to improve conditions in their communities as part of the United Way Day of Action.

You can join them, from your desk or mobile, through Facebook and Twitter.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka is taking part in the L20’s June 18-19 meeting in Los Cabos, Mexico. Leaders of the 19 nations and the European Union who make up the L20 are discussing the global economic crises.

Yesterday, Trumka introduced International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Christine Lagarde, and @AFLCIOLatino tweeted the exchange. Check it out. 

If you're a progressive activist seeking to make economic change, delving into the role of "derivatives" or other arcane discussions likely results in blank stares. Which is why Erica Payne, founder of the Agenda Project says that progressives need to cut through the right-wing noise and talk about what's really happening to the U.S. economy. For Payne, explaining  the recession isn't complicated: "A bunch of rich privileged guys stole our money."