Want a reason to support unions? A union may help keep you alive.

Your chances of surviving a hospital stay after a myocardial infarction—also known as a heart attack—are higher if your nurses are in a union than if they’re not.

That’s the conclusion of a study by academics at the University of Massachusetts and the University of California. It’s also part of a much larger picture that the media ignore, that might give even right-wing Republicans a reason to support unions, and that makes the latest U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics evidence of a dwindling union presence bad news for all of us.

David Cohen from the AFL-CIO Department for Professional Employees (DPE) sends us this.

How many books do you know include a union business rep in the dedication?

The Internet is a major source for intellectual property theft and a major marketplace for counterfeit goods. But new legislation would crack down on “rogue websites” that offer anything from pirated copies of Hollywood blockbusters and popular music to counterfeit brand-name prescription drugs and airplane parts.

Too few people who download entertainment illegally recognize that they are stealing wages and benefits from workers, Paul Almeida, president of the AFL-CIO Department for Professional Employees (DPE) told a bipartisan Capitol Hill press conference today.