Of all the reasons a path to citizenship is vital for our nation's 11 million aspiring citizens, one powerful reason stands out: It's the right thing to do. Check out this great new video from Seattle, where DREAMer Elizabeth Lara explains why she's excited to become a citizen. Lara was joined by union members and community leaders who gathered to support comprehensive, commonsense immigration reform this week. 

Striking Palermo’s Pizza workers have set off on a Truth Tour to educate the public about their strike and build support for a national boycott of Palermo's products. Palermo's workers have been calling on Costco to stand with them and stop selling Palermo's Pizza products. 

Palermo’s Pizza workers have been on strike since June 1, 2012. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is investigating charges that the company illegally fired nearly 90 workers in response to a request for recognition of the Palermo Workers Union.

In West Seattle, workers from the unions of the Seattle Building and Construction Trades Council (SBCTC) are in the middle of a major green construction project that will convert an area that sat vacant for more than five years into a nearly 200-unit rental property.

The $48 million Youngstown Flats project, funded by the AFL-CIO Building Investment Trust (BIT), will be completed in the spring and is bringing a big boost to the local economy. Last week, BIT officials and local labor leaders took time off to honor the workers at a ceremony and special luncheon on site for “dedicating their time and skills to making this building project a reality.

This is a cross-post from the Machinists.

A Seattle-area veteran who served his country in Vietnam was the recipient of another kind of service recently when volunteers from the Machinists (IAM) union built a wheelchair ramp to help him get in and out of his Tukwila home.

With workers under attack across the nation, all the major theaters in the Seattle area affirmed their support for workers everywhere to organize and bargain collectively. In a statement, 24 theatrical, sound and stagecraft employers, who all have contracts with the Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) Local 15, said:

We are proud to be a union employer. We are committed to bargain fairly and in good faith with our employees, and to maintaining our history of respect for, and cooperation with, the labor community.

South Seattle Community College’s Georgetown campus is creating new training programs to meet the growing needs for job training with a focus on environmental sustainability. The Georgetown campus also houses the largest regional apprenticeship training program in the Pacific Northwest, representing more than 25 programs with strong labor and management commitment.