Resist focusing on the shiny object, urged speakers at one of this morning’s panels at the start of Netroots Nation 2012 conference in Providence, R.I., where thousands of progressive activists, political junkies and new media nerds from across the country are gathering..

Moderated by Jordan Kupersmith, political targeting analyst at the AFL-CIO, panelists on “Taking the Offense in State Elections” urged folks in the room to keep their eyes on state elections and legislatures where many key issues are decided – voting rights, reproductive health, education reform, marriage equality and more – especially as attention shifts towards the presidential race, the bright and shiny object that captures the media's frenzy and activists' energy. 

Some 3,000 netroots activists are headed to Providence, R.I., for the start of the annual Netroots Nation 2012 conference, where progressives of all stripes—with a big showing from the union movement—will share online and offline strategies for mobilizing at the local and national levels. The June 7-10 event features such blockbuster speakers as Rebuild the Dream co-founder Van Jones and NAACP President Benjamin Jealous and an economic keynote highlighted by Pulitzer Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman and AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney yesterday outlined his proposals for education and, like his economic platform, Romney’s proposal centers on failed policies of the past while attacking teachers. He even says class size doesn’t matter.

While at a labor-management conference of more than 400 teachers, administrators and other educators working together on school reforms, AFT President Randi Weingarten said this about the Romney plan. 

This is a cross-post form Crooks and Liars

Thursday, I reported that several major labor unions expressed support for Barack Obama's statement that he supports the right of all Americans to marry, regardless of their sexual orientation. More unions expressed their support for the president and marriage equality in a move that, as I pointed out yesterday, is good for Obama, for unions and for LGBT Americans.

For students who wish to work as researchers in unions and at social justice organizations, understanding how to mine data on corporate America is key. Students now have the opportunity to gain such skills through an intensive, hands-on, weeklong course at Cornell University on Strategic Corporate Research. The June 10-15 session in Ithaca, N.Y., is co-sponsored by Cornell and the AFL-CIO Center for Strategic Research. Registration deadline is May 17, 2012.

Today is Teacher Appreciation Day and A.J. Kelinheksel tweets:

Today I'm thinking about Mrs. Blas-Murphy. She always took my opinions seriously. I realize now how hard that must have been.

You can thank a teacher today by tweeting your thoughts with the hashtag #thankateacher and retweet to @AFTunion.

Every seven minutes somewhere in America a child is bullied, and 160,000 students a day stay home from school because they fear being bullied. On Friday, May 4, students, teachers and school administrators across the nation will Stand 4 Change to send this simple but powerful message:

Bullying is not acceptable in our schools or in our communities.

More than 1,800 University of Oregon faculty members won a voice at work after they chose to join United Academics, an affiliate of AFT Oregon and the American Association of University Professors (AAUP).  The Oregon Employment Relations Board Friday certified the professors’ choice after the university dropped its objections.

If you’re a regular reader of our AFL-CIO Now news blog, you may come to our site without stopping first at the AFL-CIO home page here. If you haven’t been there recently, you’ve missed a couple of additions and new features on how unions and union members are connecting with communities.

Christian Sweeney, AFL-CIO deputy organizing director, sends us this.

A busload of teaching and research assistants from New York University (NYU) traveled to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) headquarters in Washington, D.C., in recent days to call on the board to affirm their right to form unions. The NYU TAs and RAs, members of the UAW, filed a petition seeking a union recognition election in the spring of 2010 but are still waiting for a board decision.