Several hundred union and community activists and music lovers joined the American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada (AFM) members of the Minnesota Orchestra in a downtown Minneapolis rally Tuesday to mark the one-year anniversary of the lockout by orchestra management, the Minnesota Orchestral Association.

Artists are finding it harder and harder to get paid...is it time for them to strap on a hard hat and form unions? Salon writer Scott Timberg asks this question in his new article, Can Unions Save the Creative Class? This article is part of a Salon series brought to you by the AFL-CIO.

While the world’s eyes Sunday night were focused on the actors, video clips and red carpet gowns at the 79th Academy Awards show, their ears were being treated to melodies and rhythms—both in the Oscar-winning films and live broadcast—of the members of Professional Musicians/AFM Local 47.

Local 47 members composed and performed on the musical scores of 10 films that received 39 Oscar nominations and won 10 Oscars.

Alex Ross, The New Yorker’s music critic, has called the Minnesota Orchestra “the greatest orchestra in the world.” On Oct. 1, the orchestra’s management locked out “the greatest orchestra in the world” because the 95 musicians refused to take an up to 50% pay cut.

Check out our latest “What I Do” video feature on the AFL-CIO home page, www.aflcio.org (scroll down), with National Symphony Orchestra violist and American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada (AFM) member Jennifer Mondie.

Mondie, who has been an AFM member for 25 years, says the union “has done so much for classical music, for the world of music, in general.”

Captain America wouldn’t take kindly to someone raking in U.S. taxpayers’ dollars and then turning around and shipping American jobs overseas. Neither does the American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada (AFM). But that’s exactly what Marvel Entertainment did with the musical score for its blockbuster, "The Avengers," and that’s why AFM members today will picket the Wilmington, N.C., location where Marvel (a Walt Disney Co. subsidiary) is shooting "Iron Man 3."

Are you looking for a bluegrass band for your Labor Day picnic? Or maybe you want something a bit funkier for an upcoming wedding and want to make sure you’re buying union?

That’s easy to do now, thanks to a new tool recently launched by the American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada (AFM). AFM Entertainment (click here) lets you search a wide range of genres, from rockabilly to brass quintets to strolling violinists.

USA

This week, leading up to July 4, we're highlighting American products, jobs and stories for our Made in America series. What are your favorite Made in America products? Please comment and share your ideas.

Check out this video, which used footage from the award-winning documentary film "Note by Note: The Making of Steinway L1037" and narration provided by the late John H. Steinway that shows the process of making the greatest piano in the world—the American-made Steinway.

The Machinists union is suing South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley for remarks she made about keeping unions out of a Boeing plant, and more news from the “Bargaining Digest Weekly.” The AFL-CIO Collective Bargaining Department delivers daily, bargaining-related news and research resources to more than 1,300 subscribers. Union leaders can register for this service through our website, Bargaining@Work.