Members of unions from the Chicago Federation of Labor (CFL) and activists from Jobs with Justice demonstrated in front of a Chicago Walmart and urged customers to boycott American Crystal Sugar products and support the workers who have been locked out since Aug. 1, 2011. There have been several actions around the nation this week in support of the workers and the boycott. 

American Rights at Work (ARAW) and Jobs with Justice (JwJ) are joining forces. In a joint statement, American Rights at Work Executive Director Kimberly Freeman Brown and Jobs with Justice Executive Director Sarita Gupta say:

Unions are about the collective being stronger than the individual—that together we can achieve what we cannot on our own. What's true for construction workers and nurses, for janitors and teachers, is also true for the workers' rights movement. That's why American Rights at Work is joining together with Jobs with Justice by merging.

In response to protests by foreign students exploited in a factory subcontracted by the Hershey Company and advocacy by the AFL-CIO and our allies, this week the U.S. State Department announced that it will make major revisions to a guest-worker and cultural exchange visa program and barred participation by a major player in the program, the Council for Educational Travel, USA (CETUSA).

He beat out some tough competition, but Rob Walton, chairman of Wal-Mart’s board of directors, is the top vote getter in the 11th annual Jobs with Justice (JWJ) Scrooge of the Year election.

The holiday season’s here and that means it’s time for the always-fun Jobs with Justice (JwJ) Scrooge of the Year contest. JwJ is now accepting nominations for the greediest, most cold-hearted company, CEO, or politician of 2011 in the 11th annual “Scrooge of the Year” contest. Click here to nominate your candidate.

A new report shows how wage theft reaches deep into the low-wage economy.

“The Movement to End Wage Theft” illustrates the problem with the stories of workers employed by a grocery chain, a temp agency, a construction company and other incorporated businesses. These workers’ wages were stolen by their employers who failed to pay the minimum wage or overtime, or refused to abide by work-break and safety rules.

In this excerpt of a cross-post from the Student Labor Action Project (SLAP), Jeremy Hedlund and Isaiah Toney, SLAP members at the University of Oregon and George Washington University, respectively, explain that students have real power.

As summer winds down and schools across the nation start back up, students are being forced to ask themselves many tough questions. “How will I pay for my school? Will I be able to get a job when I graduate? And will that job be a good paying, family wage job, or will I have to work weekends just to make ends meet?”

Davon Lomax, a member of the Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) District Council 9 in New York, hasn’t worked for more than a year. One of his colleagues lost his home and ended up panhandling in the subways.

On Aug. 26, two days before the official dedication of the historic Martin Luther King Jr. memorial in Washington, D.C., the AFL-CIO and The King Center will host a national symposium to explore how far we have come in fulfilling King’s dream of a nation of economic equality and justice for all people.

A courageous group of foreign students in the United States on a cultural exchange program  joined with union members and members of Jobs with Justice last week to expose the U.S. labor market’s dirty little secret: the web of subcontracting that prevents workers from exercising their rights because they don’t know exactly who employs them.