Illinois union members raised more than $50,000 to support the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance’s (USA's) conservation mission with their First Annual Illinois Sporting Clays Shoot last weekend at the Max McGraw Wildlife Foundation in Dundee, Ill. The shooting competition was sponsored by the Illinois AFL-CIO, Chicago Federation of Labor (CFL) and the Chicago and Cook County Building and Construction Trades Council (CBTC).

The Pennsylvania AFL-CIO partnered with the United Way of Erie County last week to host an unemployment resources fair for jobless workers as part of Project Back on Track, a new program intended to help the unemployed. Pennsylvania AFL-CIO President Richard Bloomingdale says several more resource fairs are planned around the state.

Some 85 union members, community activists and students age 35 and younger took part in the 2nd Annual “Organizing Our Future” conference hosted by the Greater Boston Labor Council Futures Committee at the Boston Teachers Union Hall.  The goal of the conference on Sunday was to empower, educate and connect young union members around Boston to be more knowledgeable and active in their local unions, in their communities and the Greater Boston Labor Council Futures Committee.

Donna Gratehouse, who blogs at Democratic Diva and elsewhere on all things Arizona, sends us this.

Members of the community, including union members, met with four Democratic Arizona legislators at a public hearing to call attention to the package of harsh anti-worker bills making their way quickly through the Legislature this session. The anti-union bills would  prohibit collective bargaining and voluntary paycheck deductions for union dues for public-sector workers. Another bill, considered a pet project of Gov. Jan Brewer’s office, would strip state employees of their civil service protections and turn them into at-will political patronage hires.

At a time when the tea party-driven Republican agenda in New Hampshire's state capitol is more unpopular than ever with voters on both sides of the aisle, the House Labor Committee took another step toward dismantling New Hampshire’s collective bargaining rights law by voting no fewer than five anti-worker bills "ought to pass."

Donna Gratehouse, who blogs at Democratic Diva and elsewhere on all things Arizona, sends us this.

After a four-hour hearing described by Arizona Capitol Times reporter Jeremy Duda as “testy” on his Twitter feed, the Employment and Regulatory Affairs Committee of the Arizona House of Representatives approved Gov. Jan Brewer’s plan to remove civil service protections from state workers and make them at-will employees. It was a 6-3 party-line vote with Republicans for and Democrats against, proving (once again) that elections have consequences.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker knew better than to run his gubernatorial campaign on a platform based on decimiating jobs in Wisconsin. But just one year into his term, he’s already become Job Killer in Chief, according to a new report by the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO.

AFL-CIO communications staffer Nora Frederickson sends us this cross-post from Blue Hampshire.

Full of tea party zeal after voting to repeal lunch hours for all employees, the House Labor Committee took up a new so-called right to work “RTW” bill today over the loud objections of union members, business owners and faith leaders.

Mike Gillis, Ohio AFL-CIO communications director, sends us this.

A new report released today by People For the American Way Foundation, Common Cause, the Center for Media and Democracy and Progress Ohio reveals the deep ties between the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and Ohio state lawmakers.

AFL-CIO Field Communications staffer Cathy Sherwin sends us this from the Indiana statehouse.

Far from conceding defeat after the passage of a so-called right to work (RTW) bill, tens of thousands of Hoosier workers came together in solidarity to march from the statehouse to Super Bowl village in Indianapolis. From the steps of the statehouse, Indiana AFL-CIO President Nancy Guyott said today would mark a new start to taking back the state, starting with “the biggest march Indiana has ever seen!”