The Machinists ratified a new three-year contract with Alaska Airlines—and more news from the “Bargaining Digest Weekly.” The AFL-CIO Collective Bargaining Department delivers daily, bargaining-related news and research resources to more than 1,300 subscribers. Union leaders can register for this service through our website, Bargaining@Work.

Just a week after Natalie Portman and Melissa Leo gave shout outs to their union at the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards, two more high-profile union members were in the spotlight. On Super Bowl Sunday, Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers, the Packers’ team rep. for the NFL Players Association (NFLPA), took home the Super Bowl MVP award. The same day New England Patriot alternate rep. Tom Brady was named Offensive Player of the Year for the 2010 season.

After a nine-year battle to gain a voice in the workplace, more than 40,000 transportation security officers (TSOs) finally can become union members and bargain for a contract.

This is a guest blog from Charles Lenchner and Elana Levin, co-founders of Organizing 2.0. Levin also serves as director of communications for the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE).

Organizing 2.0 is an annual training conference in New York City for union movement organizers and social justice activists. It’s set for Feb. 13 at the City University of New York (CUNY) Murphy Institute.

Nora Frederickson, AFL-CIO Media fellow, sends us this report on the first Young Worker Advisory Council meeting.

The union movement’s young workers are getting ready to shake things up.

Nora Frederickson, AFL-CIO Media fellow, sends us this profile of a union member who gives back to his community in a big way.

Eric Howard, a painter from Hialea, Fla., knows what it’s like to dream of a better life. Growing up in inner city Miami in a working-class family, Howard worked odd jobs after school and learned from his family how to make do. He painted his first house as a teenager—but it wasn’t until his first painting class at Miami’s local Job Corps program that he decided to make his living as a union painter.

Radio and TV host Tavis Smiley, who had a reservation at the Madison Hotel in Washington, D.C., yesterday, showed support for the workers by not crossing their picket line and checking in at another pro-union hotel. As AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker said:

“Tavis Smiley wasn’t smiling.”

Almost two-thirds of NFL players suffered injuries during the 2010 season, a significant jump from the previous eight years, according to the NFL Players Association (NFLPA). In its first annual report on the “Dangers of the Game of Football,” the NFLPA found the average number of player injuries jumped from 3.2 to 3.7 per week per team, while the share of players injured increased to 63 percent compared with an average of 59 percent over the previous eight years.

Boxing and ballet may not have a lot in common, except for the hard work to get to the top. But two award-winning actors in the films spotlighting the worlds of prize fighting and dancing share one thing in common: their support of unions.

AFL-CIO Media Outreach fellow Jennifer Angarita joins Chris Hicks, Student Labor Action Project (SLAP) coordinator, to discuss the parallels between campus and community organizing.

Founded in 1999 as a joint initiative between Jobs with Justice and the United States Student Association, the Student Labor Action Project (SLAP) engages student activists with economic justice campaigns in their communities and campuses.