In a major address at the National Press Club today, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka charted an aggressive independent approach by working people and their unions to build the power of working people in the workplace and in the political sphere. Trumka told the live audience and thousands of viewers on C-SPAN and other news outlets:

Working people want a labor movement strong enough to help return balance to our economy, fairness to our tax system, security to our families and moral and economic standing to our nation. Our role is not to build the power of a political party or a candidate. It is to improve the lives of working families and strengthen our country.

The struggle to save the nation’s middle class from the assaults of Republican governors and legislators continues to grow as more and more people realize that strong unions provide a counterbalance to runaway corporate power.

Nash Whaley and 13 of his classmates at a Louisville, Ky., high school learned a crucial life lesson of courage and displayed a strong sense of justice when they walked out of class earlier this month in support of their teachers and other public employees.

We Are One solidarity actions in support of workers in Wisconsin, Ohio and everywhere middle-class jobs are under attack continue throughout the nation this week. The events coincide with the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination in Memphis, Tenn., 43 years ago this week when he was helping sanitation workers fight for justice, workers’ rights and a voice with AFSCME.

At a jammed Electrical Workers (IBEW) hall in Trenton yesterday, New Jersey State AFL-CIO President Charles Wowkanech reminded the audience of union, community and civil rights activists that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.:

“understood the link between economic justice and social justice, and that the fight for labor rights and civil rights was the same struggle.”

From Pocatello, Idaho, to Paris, France, and in hundreds of big cities and small towns in between, workers and community, civil rights, student and faith activists yesterday said We Are One with workers in Wisconsin, Ohio and everywhere middle-class jobs are under attack.

Barb Kucera, editor at www.workdayminnesota.org, sends us this from Minneapolis.

Chanting “We Are One,” thousands gathered at the Cathedral of St. Paul Monday evening, then marched to the state Capitol to show their support for worker rights and a strong middle class.

Some 5,000 Mine Workers (UMWA) members, their families and other union and community supporters from Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia braved cold winds and snow in a Waynesburg, Pa., march and rally to show We Are One with workers around the nation under assault. (Check out the video.)

From as far away as Mongolia, workers and their allies around the world are joining We Are One actions in solidarity with their U.S. sisters and brothers whose workers’ rights and middle-class jobs are under attack.

Across the nation and around the world today–and throughout the week–working people are saying, We Are One with workers whose rights and middle-class jobs are under attack in Wisconsin, Ohio and elsewhere by Republican governors and legislators. They are also honoring the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s death. He was gunned down fighting for the same rights for Memphis, Tenn., sanitation workers.