"Working America Organizers Turn Into Neighborhood Heroes," by Seth D. Michaels, is a cross-post from Working America's Main Street blog. 

Michael Taeu, a Working America organizer, was out talking to people in Oregon City, Ore., last night when he saw something he doesn't usually see: smoke pouring out of the windows of one of the houses in the neighborhood.

Michael could have turned around, but he didn't. Instead, he went into the house, helped rescue a woman trapped inside and put out the fire.

Check out the AFL-CIO's new Innovators website feature, "Working America: Another Way to Join the Movement." 

One day in Havertown, Pa., a neighborhood organizer in a red shirt knocked on Vicki’s door, asking how Vicki felt about cuts in her state’s school budget. A retired school teacher who has a grandson with special needs, Vicki worried the cuts her governor was pushing would eliminate resources for special education. 

Vicki was already angry about these cuts. She felt that one of the most important people in her life was being targeted. But until that day, she felt powerless to do anything about it. Like so many people, she thought she couldn’t change the process, and that her elected leaders weren’t listening. Then someone showed up at her door with a solution—a strategy to change things.

Read the rest of "Working America: Another Way to Join the Movement."

This is a cross-post from Working America’s Dear David workplace advice column.

Question:

I just started a new job at a major national retailer as a sales associate in the housewares department. I’m grateful for the job, but during orientation, I was instructed to sign a waiver that said I wouldn’t join a union. My manager said that we don’t need unions here because the workers already have everything they need. But I happen to know that there’s a national effort to unionize my company. I don’t think they can require me to sign the release, but no one told me it was optional, and I’m worried that if I refuse to sign it, I’ll be flagged as a liability risk and possibly passed up for advancement opportunities. What do you recommend? See answer at the jump. 

Dear Abby’s got nothing on Dear David when it comes to navigating the workplace.

Dear David, Working America’s advice columnist, knows you deserve to be treated fairly on the job. And he’s available to answer any question you may have, whether it's co-workers making off-handed comments that you should retire or you feel like your job’s long hours are causing stress.

Mark King says he considers his Bachelor’s Degree in Labor Studies that he received Saturday at commencement ceremonies for the National Labor College’s (NLC) Class of 2012, as his “keys to the kingdom.”

King, a New Hampshire school librarian and AFT member, was one of 78 graduates from 25 unions and the AFL-CIO community affiliate Working America who received their degrees at the Silver Spring campus.

In the midst of a terrible jobs crisis, there are those in North Carolina who seek to cut assistance for those who have lost their jobs. That’s just plain wrong.

Currently, North Carolina’s Chamber of Commerce seeks to restrict unemployment benefits by reducing the maximum weekly income from $506 to $350. In addition to the monetary cut, the time allowed to receive benefits could be reduced from 26 weeks to 20 weeks. The restriction of unemployment benefits will devastate hundreds of thousands of families who are actively looking for work.

WI

The battle in Wisconsin resonates far beyond its borders. That’s why working people across the country are volunteering their time at phone banks in a huge get-out-the-vote (GOTV) drive for Tom Barrett in today’s recall election against Gov. Scott Walker (R).

The 40 lines at the Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) District Council 14 have been buzzing since Wednesday, says Chicago Federation of Labor (CFL) Political Director Hanah Jubeh.

The future of the union movement, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler told some 600 members of the AFL-CIO Lawyers Coordinating Committee (LCC), depends on showing the public that through our actions on the ground we are a:

broad, inclusive, innovative worker-driven organization....We need to build a broader, stronger, more effective movement for all working people—union and nonunion. That means organizing. It means advocacy. It means grassroots mobilization.

While many know of the AFL-CIO's community affiliate Working America as a high-level field operation that wins on issues and in elections, it has evolved into much more. Employing new tools and strategies, Working America is working with dozens of unions and progressive allies to strengthen ties between communities and local labor to build progressive infrastructure for the long haul. We’re in it to win it. Check out these examples.

The just-launched Workers' Voice initiative will activate and energize networks of working families—union and nonunion, online and offline—around political campaigns, legislative issues and holding elected officials accountable to “build an independent voice for the working and middle class,” says AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Elizabeth Shuler.