Check out the AFL-CIO's new In Our Communities website feature, "Union Members Fashion Super-Sized Salvation Army Kettle for the Holidays."

Around the holidays, grocery store shoppers expect to see a cheerful person in a Santa hat and red apron, ringing a bell and collecting donations in the iconic Salvation Army red kettle.

Voters scored another victory against the growing voter suppression efforts by Republican lawmakers when an Iowa judge ruled that new state election rules imposed without any public hearings could not be implemented. Polk County District Court Judge Mary Pat Gunderson said the new rules:

have created fear that new citizens will lose their right to vote.

When a company locks out skilled employees and replaces its entire workforce with inexperienced new hires, here’s what happens: productivity plunges and profits tank.

Losing money is not a wise corporate strategy. Yet, unless American Crystal Sugar Co. agrees to return to contract negotiations with the 1,300 workers the company locked out a year ago, the company is on course to repeat its sorry fiscal 2012 performance. After the company replaced all its seasoned employees, production costs increased by 23 percent and payments to its shareholders lagged behind the rest of the industry, which saw their shareholder payments increase. That followed a year in which Crystal Sugar was hugely profitable, with $1.5 billion in net earnings.

(Sign a petition calling on American Crystal Sugar CEO Dave Berg to treat workers fairly and return to the bargaining table.)

AFL-CIO Field Communications staffer Cathy Sherwin sends us this report.

When Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker headed over to Iowa to raise money for the right-wing special interest group, the Heritage Foundation, union members and Occupy Des Moines protesters were there to greet him. A crowd of more than 200 filled the sidewalk outside the fundraiser: teachers and jobless Iowans, construction workers and retirees, community activists and families with children.

Mike Peters, AFL-CIO community services liaison for the Northwest Iowa Labor Council, reports on the Siouxland Food Bank.

This past Labor Day, the Northwest Iowa Central Labor Council presented a check for $6,000 to the Food Bank of Siouxland in Sioux City, Iowa. The donation comes as the need for food bank programs are growing. The donation will help the food bank’s Back Pack program, which provides  nourishing snacks for children who qualify for free or reduced lunches in our school system to take home on the weekends. In some cases, this may be the only thing the kids have to eat over a weekend.

AFL-CIO Community Services Director Will Fischer reminds us that residents in the Midwest are still struggling with flood waters—and union members are there to assist them.

As the waters of the Missouri River continue to rise, union members are mobilizing to help and preserve labor landmarks along the river’s bank.

Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad (R ) says he will not mount an all-out attack on public workers’ right to bargain for middle class jobs like his fellow Republican governors Scott Walker in Wisconsin and John Kasich in Ohio.