Will Fischer, who leads AFL-CIO Community Services, sends us this update welcoming the new class of AFL-CIO Community Services Liaisons:

AFL-CIO Community Services is halfway through wrapping up its annual new staff training. New AFL-CIO Community Services Liaisons and community services representatives from around the country came to Washington, D.C., to receive training that provides them with skills necessary to be more effective in their jobs.

Staff are familiarized with the national AFL-CIO Community Services Network and how Community Services connects to other grassroots work of the AFL-CIO. 

At its February meeting, the AFL-CIO Executive Council, representing 57 affiliate unions, adopted several statements that covered energy and jobs, workers' rights and the National Labor Relations Board and immigration, among other things. 

More than 1,500 people rallied Tuesday on Capitol Hill in support of working families and to tell Congress not to make any benefit cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. They also told Congress to close tax loopholes for big corporations and the wealthiest 2% and to prevent the sequester from going into effect and harming the country. Throughout the rally, working families spoke with a unified voice calling for "jobs, not cuts."

Today at the Trans-Atlantic Agenda for Shared Prosperity conference held at the AFL-CIO, Janet Yellen, vice chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, talked about the reasons why the recent economic downturn has been painful particularly for America's workers and what the Federal Reserve's role is in reaching maximum employment.The problem with the economy is the lack of demand and current fiscal policy is not helping. Yellen said the Federal Reserve is committed to action that will create jobs and produce economic growth. 

Public figures, working families and community allies are sharing their thoughts today about the benefits of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) on its 20th anniversary and the need for paid sick leave. Check out some highlights from the MomsRising blogger carnival by AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Elizabeth Shuler, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), President Bill Clinton and several labor leaders:

Trumka sent this message to working family activists on Tuesday:

I’m from Nemacolin, Pa. It’s like a lot of other little towns: close-knit, lots of great families, working together in tough times and good times, just trying to make something of themselves.

If you're looking for more ways to connect with America's unions, check out this new page on the AFL-CIO website that lists the 57 affiliates, along with links to their websites, social media accounts and union stores. 

We're fighting back against the negative stories the national news media is putting out about our movement by establishing a Message Movers team—folks who are willing to push back against biased stories about unions through social media and email.

Can you join in? You're a powerful voice in making sure that the great work of the union movement is being spread far and wide.

Become a message mover. 

The AFL-CIO wishes you and your family a Happy New Year filled with solidarity, justice and peace.  

We hope you'll continue to be active readers and commenters in our AFL-CIO Now blog community. 

The first edition of “We Stand in Solidarity with Migrant Workers” appeared on the AFL-CIO Now blog in 2010.  

Dec. 18 is International Day of Solidarity with Migrants and marks the date the United Nations adopted the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families.

To commemorate this day, we have compiled personal stories of the immigrant experience at the AFL-CIO. As you’ll see, our colleagues’ collective experiences are a tapestry of the immigrant experience. Our co-workers have come to the United States from around the world for a variety of reasons—to escape war and repression, to work, to feed their families back home, to study and to marry.