We all know unions have our backs on the job, but did you know they also have your bottoms and soles?

Atlanta-North Georgia Labor Council Community Services Committee just completed a successful underwear drive where they netted 704 items (socks, belts, T-shirts, underwear and bras), which were delivered to Crossroads Community Ministries in Atlanta yesterday morning.

A cross-post from Metropolitan Washington [D.C.] Council.

Dave McCord, a 25-year member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), is bringing his passion for riding bicycles and changing lives together. As the director of the IBEW Local 26 Joint Apprenticeship and Training Committee (JATC), McCord joined other electricians and union-organized contractors last April on a bike ride in Southern Maryland to benefit End Hunger in Calvert County.

Georgia union members reached out to small business owners, like Charlita Varner, who joined them in sending a message to lawmakers about what it takes to strengthen our communities: Bring Jobs Home.

Read how they did it.

If you live in the Marietta, Ga., area and haven’t registered to vote and are a football fan, you have a chance Wednesday to make your voice heard at the ballot box and meet members of the Atlanta Falcons and NFL Players Association (NFLPA). The players are pitching in with the Atlanta-North Georgia Labor Council for a voter registration event from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwiches at 801 Church St., N.E.

No matter where you live, if you haven’t registered to vote, click here to find out how to register in your state. 

A lot of us—I confess I’ve done it—have gotten distracted getting into the car and left something on the roof or trunk and driven off. That’s what Jane Corbett of Shrewsbury, Mo., did last week near St. Louis, with more than $800 earmarked to feed the homeless. Thanks to the fast action of Plasterers and Cement Masons (OPCMIA) member Ray Leuthauser and the generosity of his fellow union members, nobody missed a meal.

A union construction and building trades career can put workers on the path to the middle class. The Metropolitan Washington [D.C.] Council Community Services Agency's Building Futures pre-apprenticeship construction program can be the first step on that path.

The next course begins in October and applications are due by Sept. 14. Click here for a brochure, or call 202-974-8223 for more information.

Want to help your favorite NFL player and member of the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) fight against school dropout rates in your community?

Pledge to become a reader, tutor or mentor, along with the 30 football players and the United Way initiative.

This is a crosspost from the Fire Fighters (IAFF).

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and the IAFF encourages affiliates to participate in fundraising and awareness campaigns in
support of women in their fight against breast and other cancers.

Over the last several years, IAFF affiliates across North America have participated in events throughout October, prompting a movement to wear and sell pink  t-shirts as part of their breast cancer awareness efforts. Inspired by the  success of these campaigns, in 2010, the IAFF passed a resolution  that supports and encourages IAFF members to develop campaigns to benefit local  and national organizations dedicated to finding a cure for cancer.

Hundreds of babies and toddlers from low-income families in the Green Bay, Wis., area will be happier and drier in the coming months, thanks to the 13,000 diapers collected by Brown County United Way, in partnership with the Greater Green Bay Labor Council Community Services Committee and 21 community partners. Dan Wadle, the AFL-CIO Community Services liaison, says:

It’s a case where there’s a lot of need in the community as far as with low-income families. It’s difficult to afford diapers.

United Way of Metropolitan Nashville was in dire need of a new trailer to help with community outreach efforts. That’s where the local unions came in.

Central Labor Council of Nashville and Middle Tennessee, Nashville Building Trades, Tennessee AFL-CIO Labor Council and 39 affiliated local and regional unions pitched in donations for the trailer and the artwork along the sides. The trailer was used last Thursday for United Way's Day of Action, when it delivered backpacks and school supplies to area schools for children in need.