Since the economic downturn, it's been really tough to find a job. But there is a certain type of work that is becoming more and more readily available: temporary, freelance and contract jobs. 

Jezebel writer Laura Beck writes in We’ve Seen the Future, and You’re Freelancing:

An annual research summer school co-sponsored by the AFL-CIO and Cornell University has served as an effective stepping-stone for students of all ages who are interested in working as campaign researchers. Over the last decade, the program has placed hundreds of participants in research jobs at unions across the country.

The summer school this year is June 9–14 in Ithaca, N.Y. The application deadline is May 17. 

Scholarships are available to individuals, based on need, if taking the course for credit. 

Nurses at Chicago's Jackson Park Hospital recently reached an agreement with hospital officials on a collective bargaining contract, National Nurses United (NNU) reported. The nurses went out of their way to make sure the contract wasn't just about improving their own lives, but that it also focused on improving the lives of their patients.

Update: 16 people were arrested at the rally, including UMWA President Cecil E. Roberts, after they refused police orders to move away from the Patriot Coal headquarters.

Thousands of people are rallying in Charleston, W.Va., Monday in support of retired workers from Patriot Coal, Peabody Energy and Arch Coal. Patriot filed for bankruptcy and is attempting to abandon its responsibilities to pay health care costs for retirees from the three companies, a strategy the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) argue was purposefully done when Patriot was created as a way to shed those costs. Along with current and retired mine workers, the rally includes family members, labor and faith leaders, elected officials and community supporters.

As Women’s History Month comes to an end, we’re highlighting two amazing female leaders in the labor movement who both serve as executive directors for their respective worker centers—Nikki Lewis of the Restaurant Opportunities Center of D.C. and D.C. Jobs with Justice, and Cristina Tzintzun of the Workers Defense Project.

After two years without a contract, the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians-Communications Workers of America (NABET-CWA) has reached a tentative agreement with the American Broadcasting System (ABC) on a four-year contract. The last contract between NABET-CWA and ABC expired on March 31, 2011. James C. Joyce, president of NABET-CWA and head of the bargaining committee, unanimously recommended to union members that they ratify the contract.

What if when you had a question or a concern about your workplace, you could go somewhere and get answers? Our friends at Working America, AFL-CIO's community affiliate, are launching a new site, www.FixMyJob.com, where every worker will have a resource to get more information or privately raise concerns about workplace issues.

For FixMyJob.com to be successful, more information needs to be collected about people who work. Can you take a few minutes to answer some quick questions about your current job, or the last job you had?

Fill out the quick survey now to share your story of work and to make sure FixMyJob.com becomes a powerful tool to support workers:

go.aflcio.org/fix-my-job

When learning that she would be classified by her employer not as an employee, but as an "independent" contractor, Sara Horowitz decided to do something, not just accept denial of benefits and security from her job.  She grew up in a labor-oriented family and even though her position didn't qualify her to join any existing union, she decided to form her own. 

Horowitz and her work with the Freelancers Union were recently covered in a New York Times article. 

Nearly 100 workers were arrested Wednesday night in Las Vegas as they engaged in civil disobedience to protest the Cosmopolitan casino's refusal to agree to a fair contract with its workers. As reported Wednesday, members of Culinary Workers Union Local 226 and Bartenders Local 165 blocked the street on the Las Vegas Strip, leading to 98 arrests.

On Wednesday night, members of the Culinary Workers Union Local 226 and Bartenders Local 165 will engage in the first act of civil disobedience on the Las Vegas strip by union members in more than 20 years in solidarity with workers from the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas casino. The workers have been negotiating a contract with the casino owner, Deutsche Bank, for more than two years and they contend that the owner refuses to agree on measures that are standard in other major casino contracts on the strip. Workers plan to engage in action by blocking traffic. Contracts for workers on the Strip will expire June 1.