While the Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers were getting ready for today's Super Bowl, the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) participated in several community service projects to help out the local community of the game's host city, New Orleans. The first event was "Feed the Children," where 14 current and former players, as well as other volunteers and community members, delivered much-needed care packages consisting of food and household supplies to families in need.

Show your solidarity Super Bowl Sunday by not only cheering on your favorite NFL Players Association (NFLPA) members on the San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Ravens, but also buying union-made-in-America food and drinks for your party. Check out these union-made Super Bowl party products, compiled by our friends at Labor 411, the union business directory from the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor. Food and drinks are brought to you by the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM), the UAW, Machinists (IAM), Teamsters (IBT) and the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW).

The growing number of lockouts—where employers close the doors or gates in order to wring concessions out of workers—“represents an overreach on the part of employers,” writes Minnesota AFL-CIO President Shar Knutson, in an op-ed piece today in the Minneapolis StarTribune.

For examples of these lockouts, Knutson points to the more than 13-month lockout of American Crystal Sugar workers, the NFL lockouts of referees and players, Cooper Tires recent lockout and this month’s lockout of the Minnesota Orchestra (American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada [AFM] Local 30-73), where management is seeking 30% to 50% pay cuts.

This football season has become a disaster because of the greed of NFL management and team owners—who brought in more than $8.3 billion in revenue last year and who don't mind making a quick buck at the expense of NFL players’ safety, NFL fans and the integrity of America’s game, says AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka in an e-mail to online activists. 

Since the botched call by a replacement referee cost the Green Bay Packers a win against the Seattle Seahawks Monday night, football fans all over the country are speaking out and demanding the NFL owners and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell end the referee lockout. (Read "Monday Night Football Disaster in Seattle Brings More Calls to End NFL Lockout of Refs.")

Sign the petition we’ve launched with our partner Daily Kos to NFL owners and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to demand they end the referee lockout.

Want to help your favorite NFL player and member of the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) fight against school dropout rates in your community?

Pledge to become a reader, tutor or mentor, along with the 30 football players and the United Way initiative.

Pro football players and members of the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) were busy during the 2012 offseason giving back to their communities. Carolina Panthers wide receiver Steve Smith pledged to donate $100,000 to help cover the medical bills of survivors of the Aurora, Colo., theater shooting; Kansas City Chiefs players helped rebuild homes devastated by the tornado in Joplin, Mo.; and Chicago Bears rookies planted trees at LaFollette Park. Read a full list of the community service work here. 

When the 2011 National Football League season kicks off  next month, the players on the field will again be  members of the AFL-CIO. After negotiating a fair and secrure contract and reconstituting their union, the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) today rejoined the federation.  The NFLPA renounced its status as a union in March so the players could take advantage of legal anti-trust action against the owners’ lockout.