There’s still time to enroll in the fall semester of the online program at the National Labor College (NLC). Aug. 17 is the deadline for scholarships and financial aid applications for fall 2012. NLC also is offering Solidarity awards to new students who register for two courses by Aug. 17. Awards cover the cost of one three-credit course (value $915). Here is more info on the online degree program from NLC:

How would you like a 100 percent boost in wages?

If you’re in the top 1/1000th of the U.S. income earners, you already got one. Since 1980, a household making $1.5 million in 2010 has received a pay increase of more than 100 percent, after adjusting for inflation, according to New York Times reporter David Leonhardt (click on chart at left to expand).

Leonhardt points to inequality and a long-term slowdown in the economy as behind the nation’s current woes. This economic slowdown began after the 2001 recession, which never had a strong recovery.

This is a cross-post from Labor's Edge by Rebecca Band of the California Labor Federation.

For decades, performers have been coming together in unions to bargain for fair protections and decent working conditions. And this year, actors and performers took their collective voice to the next level by voting overwhelmingly to merge the two biggest entertainment and media industry unions—Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA)—into one big union, SAG-AFTRA. Actress Gabrielle Carteris, who starred as Andrea Zuckerman on the original series Beverly Hills, 90210, has been actively involved with the merger for nearly two years, a process which she describes as “exciting, challenging, inspiring and historic.” Carteris spoke with Labor's Edge for a Q and A on the merger and her involvement in the labor movement. 

Two years ago on Aug. 5., a San José copper-gold mine located in Chile’s northern Atacama Desert, caved in, trapping 33 miners 2,257 feet underground. “The 33,” as they were quickly known around the world, survived a staggering 69 days underground before their rescue.

Mitt Romney tries to walk the walk of a friend of working people but he certainly doesn’t talk the talk: whether he is attacking the American auto industry or insulting the British workers organizing the Olympics, Romney remains an out-of-touch voice of, by and for the richest 1%.

Colombian unionists visited Washington, D.C., to meet with U.S. government officials and ask for their support in ensuring the Colombia Labor Action Plan. The delegation included Miguel Conde, general secretary of the Puerto Wilches local of Sintrainagro, an agricultural worker union representing workers on palm oil plantations; Jhonsson Torres, a founding member and vice president of the cane cutters union; Sinalcorteros; and Jose Luciano Sanin, executive director of the Escuela Nacional Sindical (ENS, National Union School). Getting assurance of continued support for implementation made the trip worthwhile for the Colombians, who are in the midst of a long-term struggle for an economy that provides workers with dignity, fair pay and benefits and respect for the exercise of free association and other fundamental rights. 

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.:

This is a cross-post from the California Labor Federation's blog, Labor's Edge, by Danielle Tipton. 

There is no issue more important in California and America right now than jobs. All of us know someone struggling to find one—you might even be struggling to find one yourself. So why is our tax money helping to ship jobs to other countries?

Last week we launched our Meet Mr. 1% website with shareable infographics on Mitt Romney’s record as a state governor, his overseas bank accounts and his economic attack plan that would harm working families. The graphics also highlight, with Romney at its helm, that Bain killed and outsourced jobs and pushed companies into bankruptcy.

Here are some of the “greatest hits” remarks from our commenters. John DeRosier writes:

Andrew Brady, director of Union Solidarity International (USi), sends us this:

Union Solidarity International (USi) is only a couple of months old and we have been trying through social media to inform, educate and campaign with trade union members in the U.K. and Ireland on the issues facing our movement across the world. It’s a high ambition but we know people like you share it.