At a time of economic turmoil and austerity measures in many countries, Brazil is getting deserved recognition for its successes in lifting nearly 40 million of its citizens out of extreme poverty over the past 10 years while fostering economic expansion for the nation.

A well-attended brown bag discussion at the AFL-CIO this week provided background on Brazil’s transformation, insights about the work needed to continue improving conditions for Brazilian workers and unions and food for thought about the examples Brazil has set for the United States and the world.

As we've written here, Apple's record-breaking success in selling iPhones, iPads and iPods have come at a terrible cost.Take a minute to sign our petition to Apple’s CEO Tim Cook. Tell him to ensure that people integral to Apple’s success—workers who manufacture Apple’s  electronics—are treated fairly.

Outraged at the inhumane treatment of workers in China who make iPads, iPhones and other Apple products, protesters visited a half-dozen Apple stores around the world yesterday to deliver petitions calling for reforms in the working conditions at factories run by Apple’s suppliers, accroding to Democracy Now!

More horrors out now from the Chinese serf-labor system involved in creating Apple products like iPads and iPhones. It turns out many of the workers churning out millions of the devices in unendurable conditions at Foxconn and other factories are also forced laborers as young as 16.

Hours after Apple released its first quarter earnings, which showed a mind-blowing 44.7 percent profit, The New York Times published another in a series of articles illustrating some of the reasons behind Apple’s profit margin. Describing the conditions in which Chinese workers assemble iPhones, iPads and a panoply of Apple products, the report states:

A much-discussed report in the Sunday New York Times on why iPhones are made in China highlights the transition of Apple guru Steve Jobs who, a few years after Apple began building the Macintosh in 1983, bragged it was “a machine that is made in America.” Today, millions of Apple products like iPhones, iPads and Kindles are made in China sweatshops like Foxconn.

The horror stories out of China’s mega-sweatshop, Foxconn, just get worse and worse. Foxconn is the employer of hundreds of thousands of workers who make iPhones and other cool gadgets in working conditions so odious the company dorms where they live are now swathed in nets to prevent suicides.

The horror stories out of China’s mega-sweatshop, Foxconn, just get worse and worse. Foxconn is the employer of hundreds of thousands of workers who make iPhones and other cool gadgets in working conditions so odious the company dorms where they live are now swathed in nets to prevent suicides.

Jon Ross of Union Privilege sends us this.

The new iPhone 4S will be available from AT&T, Verizon Wireless and Sprint on Oct. 14. Here are three reasons why you should buy your new iPhone 4S—or any wireless device—from AT&T:

 1. AT&T is the one and only unionized wireless carrier. Some 45,000 members of the Communications Workers of America work as AT&T technicians, customer service representatives and retail store personnel. Both Verizon Wireless and Sprint are nonunion.

Want to make sure you’re getting paid what you’re due? Now there’s an app for that. The U.S. Labor Department announced last week its first application for smartphones: a time sheet to help employees independently track the hours they work and determine the wages they are owed.