In the wake of President Barack Obama's announced public support for marriage equality, a number of major labor unions have come out in support of the president's position and equality for the LGBT community.  This is a great development for a number of reasons.  One, it's a clear statement from unions that they recognize that LGBT families are working families, too.  Two, it gives Obama strong public support on an issue that he is certain to be attacked on.  Third, it is a good way to attract new people to the labor movement who might have otherwise not paid much attention to unions because they had other issues that were more important to them.  If it is clear that unions support LGBT families -- which it is -- there is more reason for people to move out of issue silos, recognizing that they have allies they can work together with to improve everybody's situation.

This is National Nurses Week and National Nurses United (NNU) is sending out “a simple THANK YOU” to the nation’s 3.1 million registered nurses because:

Your work is not easy. You must have compassion and endurance to be there in the middle of the night, when your patient is struggling with pain. You must have patience and courage to fight that bureaucratic red tape that’s delaying your patient’s medications from the hospital pharmacy.

Imagine our surprise last week when Fox Business correspondent John Stossel made an unexpected visit to the AFL-CIO building. Stossel’s previous coverage of the labor movement include a special on public education that blames teachers’ unions for the failings of public schools, an interview with TWU Local 100 President John Samuelsen, in which Stossel claims unions impede job growth and several entries on his FoxBusiness.com blog where he argues against the minimum wage and against regulations on unpaid internships.

Leon Lynch, a former vice president of the United Steelworkers (USW) and the AFL-CIO Executive Council, died Friday in Memphis, Tenn. He was 76 years old.

Pittsburgh-based The Union Edge, “Labor's Talk Radio,” is making its debut today in Washington, D.C., with a feature on this week’s local Verizon rally and an interview with Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 2108 President Marilyn Irwin, taped live from the local’s rally outside Verizon in Silver Spring, Md.

Every seven minutes somewhere in America a child is bullied, and 160,000 students a day stay home from school because they fear being bullied. On Friday, May 4, students, teachers and school administrators across the nation will Stand 4 Change to send this simple but powerful message:

Bullying is not acceptable in our schools or in our communities.

The Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild (WBNG) Local 32035 and the Labor Heritage Foundation are sponsoring the “Occupy Now!” photo contest. The winner will be announced at the Great Labor Arts Exchange festival, June 22-25. The contest—with almost $1,000 in prize money—is looking for the great photos of the Occupy movement.

Looking to save a little money on you next vacation? Let Union Plus put you in the driver’s seat. Enter the new Union Plus contest for a chance to win a week-long car rental. All you need to do is click here and register for program e-mails and mobile alerts. Union Plus will keep you posted about valuable new benefits, future contests and more.

An estimated 65 million people in this country—or one in four adults—now have an arrest or conviction record that can show up on a routine criminal background check for employment. Today, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency that enforces federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination, voted 4-1 to approve updated guidelines on how employers may use criminal background checks on job applicants and current workers.

Sean McGarvey, who has served as secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Department (BCTD) since 2005, was elected president today by the BCTD’s Governing Board of Presidents. He succeeds Mark H. Ayers who died April 8.