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.

Are you kidding, CBS? The network has rejected the “Let Us Play” ad (left) from the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) that was to air Feb. 5 on the CBS College Sports Network during the NFLPA college all-stars game.

Workers at the Daily Beast electronic news service will have the same benefits and pay as some of their new co-workers at Newsweek after the two companies merged last month.

Flight attendants ratify a four-year pact with Miami Air, 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.

The movies “The King’s Speech” and “The Fighter” and the HBO series “Boardwalk Empire” were the big winners at last night’s Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards, the nation’s largest and only nationally televised all-union awards show.