Union members in Swampscott, Mass., this week showed just how grassroots democracy works when a coalition of unions from the North Shore Labor Council mobilized to turn back an attack on public employees’ health care and retirement security.

Tax season is upon us. Whether you use an online filing service or a certified public accountant or your mom still helps you fill out your taxes, here are five things you probably won’t learn from your 1040.

In case you missed it, AFSCME President Lee Saunders and AFSCME members who were part of the sanitation strike in Memphis, Tenn., in 1968 were interviewed on "NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams." 

Watch the video in the blog and check out the USA Today column, Renewing King's Fight for Black Justice, by Saunders, the Rev. Al Sharpton and Martin Luther King III. 

The budget that President Obama released today is drawing intense criticism for its cuts to Social Security and Medicare benefits. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka called those cuts “wrong and indefensible.”

A president’s budget is more than just numbers. It is a profoundly moral document. We believe cutting Social Security benefits and shifting costs to Medicare beneficiaries—while exempting corporate America from shared sacrifice—is wrong and indefensible. 

Working families rallied on Capitol Hill last week, calling on 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. 

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."

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:

In New Orleans this Super Bowl week, there are plenty of fans sporting 49ers' red and gold caps and jerseys and Ravens' purple and black gear. But there also are thousands of union members—including many from unions in the Greater New Orleans AFL-CIO (GNO)—who proudly display their union label and are making the game possible and the fan experience in the Crescent City run smoothly.

Around 200 AFSCME supporters protested Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter’s austerity measures outside a downtown Washington, D.C., hotel today at noon.

As Nutter participated in the first day of the 79th winter meeting of the United States Conference of Mayors, people in the block-long picket line that formed in front of the hotel chanted things like “No more cuts! Nutter’s nuts!” and “Take a hike! Corporate Mike!,” alluding to his administration’s record of reducing community health services and closing down libraries, schools and fire stations and his support for tax breaks for the wealthiest.

Union members and attendees of the AFL-CIO's annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Observance in Philadelphia today participated in community service projects across the city. Check out these tweets and photos from the AFL-CIO and the Transport Workers (TWU):