It came to national attention following hurricanes Rita and Katrina: Relief and recovery after a natural disaster can serve as a prime opportunity for worker exploitation and abuse.

A new manual, " Guide to Rebuilding ," by AFL-CIO Community Services, the AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Department and United Way Worldwide, offers guidance and best practices on ensuring that when disaster strikes, the rebuilding of our communities is done well and contributes to rebuilding the local economy by using local labor and skilled union workers. Check it out here .

The Central Ohio Labor Council AFL-CIO and the United Way of Central Ohio Community Services Department have named Penn National Gaming to receive their Community Service Award. The award, which honors a community volunteer whose leadership and involvement have made a significant contribution to the community, was presented March 22 as part of the labor council’s annual George Meany Awards Banquet, the largest labor recognition of its kind.

If you’re a regular reader of our AFL-CIO Now news blog, you may come to our site without stopping first at the AFL-CIO home page here. If you haven’t been there recently, you’ve missed a couple of additions and new features on how unions and union members are connecting with communities.

The Indiana State AFL-CIO and United Way have established a disaster relief fund to aid the victims of the deadly tornadoes that ravaged southern Indiana. You can click here to donate online via credit card or send a check to: Indiana Union/UW Disaster Response; Indiana Association of United Ways; 3901 N. Meridian #306; Indianapolis, IN 46208-4026.

In southern Indiana and other areas where a series of powerful and deadly tornadoes stuck late last week, union members are mobilizing to bring help to union families and others.

William “Bill” McCarthy, president of the AFL-CIO Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation (MRLF), is recipient of the 2012 United Way’s prestigious Joseph A. Beirne Community Services Award. As president of the MRLF and member of UNITEHERE! Local 17, McCarthy has dedicated his life to the pursuit of social and economic justice for workers and their families.

Whether you’re a regular reader of AFL-CIO Now or a first time visitor, we certainly hope you’ll find our blogs and those from a growing number of outside contributors to be informative, helpful and sometimes even entertaining. But we also want to encourage you to click around the newly revamped AFL-CIO website, especially two new sections that highlight the innovations union members and unions are bringing to their jobs and communities and their work in their communities, from helping those in need to working in partnerships for economic justice.

Union bashing may the popular sport for Republican presidential candidates (click here for more). But a new report looks at some of the real stories about how unions and union members are having positive impacts on jobs, health care, education and their communities.   

Six months ago, Tropical Storm Irene battered New York’s Hudson Valley and historic flooding devastated communities like Schoharie, leaving hundreds of homes destroyed or severely damaged. But Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) members have been helping Schoharie’s residents reclaim their homes.

Holiday carolers serenaded Verizon board member Rodney Slater yesterday with new words to an old favorite:

On the Twelfth Day of Christmas, Verizon gave to me: Profits over people, less respect for workers, more corporate greed, less health insurance, dividends for stockholders, cutting our pensions, billions in profits, OUT-SOURCING JOBS, unfairly fired workers, dishonest bargaining, a cut in starting pay and a few million for the CEO!

Activists from the Communications Workers of America (CWA), other unions, Jobs with Justice and the Occupy movement sang carols about corporate greed outside Slater’s downtown Washington, D.C., office. Slater, the U.S. secretary of transportation under President Bill Clinton, made $219,000 last year as a Verizon board director and helped stuff the stockings of the company’s top five executives with a cool $258 million over the past four years, earning Slater and his Verizon