Shonda Sneed of Yellow Springs, Ohio, was laid off in December 2009 and is about to run out of unemployment benefits. Because of state budget cuts, she also could soon lose the health care nurse who helps care for her mother who has dementia. At the last job she applied for, she was told 450 others had also applied for the same position.

Christian Norton of Working America reports on the first two semifinalists in Working America’s Bad Boss contest.

The people have spoken, and Working America’s Bad Boss contest has its first two semifinalists. But the contest is far from over. The votes have been cleared from the first round and voting is under way for the second round. Two more semifinalists will be chosen this week based on your votes. (So go vote.)

Connecticut has become the first state in the nation to have a law requiring employers to provide paid sick days, and efforts to pass similar legislation are under way in several cities and states including Denver, Seattle, New York City, Massachusetts and Georgia. Only two cities in the nation, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., have paid sick leave laws on the books.

AFL-CIO Community Services Director Will Fischer reports on the recent Oregon Wants to Work meetings for the unemployed.

Earlier this week, Oregon Wants to Work, an organization that advocates for the needs of the unemployed and underemployed, held a meeting with dozens of jobless workers in the Portland area to help them learn new skills to gain employment.

When you’re out with friends on a beautiful summer Thursday night in Minneapolis, supporting good union jobs might not be the first thing that comes to mind. At the Netroots Nation conference, we’re working to change that. One glass of beer at a time.

Although union members are the most visible targets of the attacks on working people, this anti-worker crusade extends way beyond unions to an assault on the broader American middle class, says Laura Clawson.

As part of the Tax Day: Make Them Pay mobilization, the AFL-CIO community affiliate Working America is urging people to tell Congress to close the corporate tax loopholes that allow companies like ExxonMobil to rake in $19 billion in profits in 2009 and yet pay no federal income taxes—and instead, get a $156 million rebate from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). You can tell these corporate tax scofflaws to pay up—click here.

Contrary to recurring predictions of the demise the American labor movement, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka told a Wayne State University audience in Detroit yesterday that the ”labor movement has a rich and vibrant future.”

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s (R) attack on workers’ rights and middle-class jobs is having what is surely an unintended effect, as far as he is concerned—building support for workers’ rights.