U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis sends us this. 

Today, I want to extend my warmest wishes to you, the working men and women of America. You remain the beating heart of the greatest middle class in the world. Thank you for your commitment, your talent, your hard work and your service to this country. On behalf of everyone at the Department of Labor, I'm honored to wish all of you a great Labor Day.

Ann Hernandez gets up at 4:30 a.m. every day to deliver the Los Angeles Times newspaper to Martin Sheen's neighborhood...and he thinks that’s pretty cool. Hernandez works 365 days a year—even Christmas. Check out Sheen’s thank you video and visit www.aflcio.org/ThankYou to upload your own video or send an e-card, thanking someone whose work you appreciate.

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. 

This morning, the Association of Injured Workers and Ex-Workers of General Motors Colombia (ASOTRECOL) announced that they had reached an agreement with General Motors (GM) and its Colombian subsidiary GM Colmotores to enter into mediation to resolve a labor dispute that has been going on for more than a year.  Twelve ASOTRECOL members have just announced an end to their hunger strike, organized to shame GM Colmotores into coming to the table to discuss a variety of issues including wrongful termination and compensation for occupational injuries.

Meet the faces of Union Summer in our new Innovators website feature. Watch the video in this post or on the website here. 

Union Summer, an educational internship that introduces young people to the labor movement, sent interns across the United States to organize for change. For more information on Union Summer, visit www.aflcio.org/unionsummer. Share the video on Facebook here.  

The next time you take a cab, take a moment to think about the person driving the car. Taxi drivers typically do not have the same benefits as workers in other professions. But the National Taxi Workers Alliance (NTWA) is working to change that. 

NTWA in New York City is the largest taxi driver union in the United States working to ensure that its members can make a living wage. This summer, Sahar Khan, one of the nine New York Union Summer interns, is learning about NTWA's innovative strategies to grow the union's membership.

Rosemary Feurer is producer of the documentary Mother Jones, America’s Most Dangerous Woman (2007) and is an associate professor of history at Northern Illinois University. 

The spirit of Mother Jones came home this month to Cork, Ireland. A festival honoring the Irish-American labor heroine that included the unveiling of a plaque in her honor highlighted her continuing relevance to the global project of social justice. For more on the Cork festival, see http://motherjones175.wordpress.com.

Although Mitt Romney continues to try and distance himself from his record of offshoring U.S. jobs overseas during his tenure at Bain Capital, a new report by the Financial Times’ Robin Harding shows there were even more anti-worker tactics occurring under Romney’s watch at the company. Now we might understand more about why he boasted earlier this year that he’s “taken on union bosses before.”

According to U.S. District Court and federal documents, Key Airlines, controlled by Bain Capital at the time, ran an unlawful campaign to stop the organization of a union in the 1980s. Mitt Romney was a director of the airline, according to regulatory filings, and a shareholder in the company. The Financial Times put together this report with documents from the National Mediation Board in 1986 and a 1992 judgment in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada.

As we prepare for Sept. 3, we’re encouraging you to thank your family, friends and neighbors for the work they do each day. Workers don’t always receive the appreciation they deserve. From the baristas who brew your coffee in the morning to the letter carrier who drops off your mail, nearly every aspect of our day is affected by people we work with and alongside.

Here are some brand-new Labor Day cards you can print out at home to give to the workers in your life.

Stacey Hendler Ross, communications director of the South Bay AFL-CIO Labor Council, sends us this. 

Through rap, “spoken-word” poetry and music, one strong message permeated a room full of supporters for a November ballot initiative to raise the minimum wage in San Jose, Calif.: “It’s time for $10.” The event, held at IBEW Local 332 featured AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler who flew in from Washington, D.C., to throw her support behind the campaign. Shuler's labor roots are with IBEW Local 125 in Oregon.

Shuler offered her unwavering endorsement of the minimum wage increase as she lauded the group of young activists who launched the effort to create an ordinance mandating a $10 an hour minimum wage in San Jose. The current California state minimum is $8.