New Republican governors, old right-wing radio windbags, Fox News and extremist hacks continue to stoke the noise machine that’s belching blather about public employees.

Petty. Petty. Petty. With major issues like jobs and the economy straining for attention, House Republican leaders took a big step to solving the nation’s problems when they boldly acted—drum roll, please—to change the name of the Education and Labor Committee to the Education and Workforce Committee.

When workers decide they want to come together and form unions, it’s a well-documented fact that management is none too happy about it.

Meaning no disrespect to the world’s most famous and lovable rodent, but New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s (R) response to last week’s massive snow storm that hammered the Garden State and other East Coast states was literally Mickey Mouse.

The 17-year-old  Michigan factory worker who was the inspiration for the iconic World War II Rosie the Riveter, “We Can Do It” poster, died Dec. 26 in Lansing, Mich. Geraldine Doyle was  86.

House Republicans have put repealing health care reform at the top of their to-do list.  Their fight against the Affordable Care Act is not only pure partisan politics, it is also an attack against the millions of regular working people and seniors who benefit from the new law.

When the Apollo Alliance released its Clean Transportation Manufacturing Action Plan (TMAP) in October (click here for detailed coverage) one of its key job-creating recommendations was ensuring that American manufacturers and U.S. workers supply the rail cars, tracks and other mass transit equipment to modernize the nation’s mass transportation system.

Happy New Year from the 12 million members of the AFL-CIO.

I wish all the best for you and your family, for our unions and for our nation in 2011. And I know you share that wish.

In the global economic race, the United States is coming in second—and one of the major reasons is that we have stopped making things in this country. A recent poll shows the public thinks it’s going to be that way for awhile. Only one in five Americans say the U.S. economy is the world’s strongest. Nearly half (47 percent) say China’s economy is stronger and only one in three expects the United States to regain the top spot in the next 20 years. Nearly three-fifths of those surveyed say that increasing competition from lower-paid workers around the world will keep living standards for average Americans from growing as fast as they did in the past.

Kay Tillow, a veteran union activist from Louisville, can inspire us all as we start the New Year. “Set a stout heart to a steep hillside” is an old Scottish proverb that reminds me of Tillow, who’s executive director of the Nurses Professional Organization.