Working families had a strong presence at the annual  Netroots Nation  conference for progressive activists, with several unions co-sponsoring the event, numerous labor-sponsored events and displays and 30 panels with themes about workplace rights or union activists as speakers. Netroots Nation is the largest annual conference of progressive activists and has grown well beyond its initial creation as a get-together for lefty bloggers and fans of the  Daily Kos  website. 

It's hard to argue with fairness. Pointing out the injustices for dancers in the music video industry is exactly how choreographer and chair of the Dancers' Alliance Galen Hooks found momentum around gaining basic workplace safety and benefits. Something as simple as a water break during an eight-hour video shoot (sometimes in the desert) and access to chairs were workplace safety and health basics  dancers simply did not have. But that all changed when the power of collective action spread across the dancer community, which often was hard to organize because of the nature of the business: multiple employers, different jobs every day and competition from fellow dancers who'll take any job (even if it's unpaid).

Union members are turning the union "thug" label on its head today, handing out free hugs at the Netroots Nation 2013 conference in San Jose, Calif.

After all, a union hug is the only hug with a union bug.

With the rapid rise of worker centers and alternate ways to  gain a voice on the job , a traditional union is no longer the only way to organize and bargain for paid sick leave, a raise and other workplace rights. Just look at the Walmart strikers and restaurant workers speaking out about the need for paid sick leave. Worker centers representing domestic and food service workers and groups like the Dancers’ Alliance and Working America, the AFL-CIO's community affiliate, are expanding the definition of what it means to be a part of the labor movement.

At the Netroots Nation 2013 conference, a group of people representing traditional labor and worker centers will be discussing  "Alt-Labor" in a panel on Friday at 4:30 p.m. PDT .

If you're a progressive activist seeking to make economic change, delving into the role of "derivatives" or other arcane discussions likely results in blank stares. Which is why Erica Payne, founder of the Agenda Project says that progressives need to cut through the right-wing noise and talk about what's really happening to the U.S. economy. For Payne, explaining  the recession isn't complicated: "A bunch of rich privileged guys stole our money."

Some 3,000 netroots activists are headed to Providence, R.I., for the start of the annual Netroots Nation 2012 conference , where progressives of all stripes—with a big showing from the union movement—will share online and offline strategies for mobilizing at the local and national levels. The June 7-10 event features such blockbuster speakers as Rebuild the Dream co-founder Van Jones and NAACP President Benjamin Jealous  and an economic keynote highlighted by Pulitzer Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman and AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka.

AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler joined Rep. Debra Wasserman-Schultz (D-Fla.) Melissa Bradley from the Tides Foundation, Rha Goddess at The Opportunity Agenda and researcher Anat Shenker-Osorio yesterday’s at Netroots Nation plenary session.

AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler joined Rep. Debra Wasserman-Schultz (D-Fla.) Melissa Bradley from the Tides Foundation, Rha Goddess at The Opportunity Agenda and researcher Anat Shenker-Osorio yesterday’s at Netroots Nation plenary session.

I’m at a Netroots Nation  panel with some folks who have been on the front lines of state battles in Wisconsin and Missouri, along with Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.).  In the panel, they’re discussing their on-the-ground experiences, and how their strategies can be used by other states facing similar challenges (and, ultimately, used to build a national movement to take back the American Dream).

We’re live-tweeting AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler’s presentation at Netroots Nation in Minneapolis. In a panel on breaking down barriers to inequality, Shuler joins Melissa Bradley from the Tides Foundation, Rha Goddess at The Opportunity Agenda and researcher Anat Shenker-Osorio.