Since Aug. 1, 2011, 1,300 American Crystal Sugar Co. workers have been locked out of their jobs in five sugar beet processing plants in Minnesota, North Dakota and Iowa. The locked-out workers are members of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM). More than 20 children and grandchildren of the locked-out workers gathered in East Grand Forks, Minn., to write letters to American Crystal Sugar CEO Dave Berg and the board about how the lockout is affecting them, their families and community. 

Watch the YouTube video in the post: "AFL-CIO: Children Speak Out Against the American Crystal Sugar Company Lockout (BCTGM)."

Sign the petition to end the lockout: aflcio.org/endthelockout.

The decision by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) yesterday that upheld last December's decision by an administrative law judge (ALJ) that the Mine Workers (UMWA) fairly won the representation election at Big Ridge Inc.'s Willow Lake coal mine in Harrisburg, Ill., is a tremendous victory for miners, says UMWA President Cecil Roberts.

The attacks on the middle class and the ability of public employees to bargain collectively are spreading from Wisconsin and Ohio to Long Island’s Nassau County, where a proposed bill would gives the county executive the right to unilaterally open contracts and decide what provisions the executive wants to retain, change or eliminate.

Liz McElroy of the Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO and AFL-CIO field communications staffer Nora Frederickson send us this report about a Verizon action in Philadelphia.

As 45,000 members of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and Electrical Workers (IBEW) on the East Coast continue their strike against Verizon to maintain quality, middle-class jobs, union locals in southeastern Pennsylvania decided to take their message directly to the public – at the local ballgame.

Teresa Casertano in the AFL-CIO Organizing Department’s Global Campaigns section reports on upcoming contract negotiations at Bayer.

With a contract that expires on Aug. 24, more than 420 workers at the Berkeley facility of the giant Bayer pharmaceutical and health care conglomerate have been preparing for bargaining for several months with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 6.  Union leaders have held trainings for rank-and-file leaders, collected suggestions for bargaining proposals and held house meetings to prepare members for action to back up the bargaining team.