Working America, the AFL-CIO’s more than 3 million-member community affiliate for people without unions, is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. To mark the occasion, Working America tomorrow will unveil its “50 in 5” initiative to expand into all 50 states in five years, as well as new efforts to organize workers at their workplaces. Says Working America Executive Director Karen Nussbaum:

Every day, we talk to people struggling to support their families or piece together a living with their current jobs. These are people who want to see changes in their communities or on the job. This expansion allows working people to make a difference in new states and communities.

Where does the Republican Party put its energy? On anything that furthers the interests of the wealthiest. Tax cuts and kicking government are right at the top of that list.* Also near the top comes blocking minimum wage increases, blocking workplace safety rules and keeping lots of people unemployed so they are desperate to take any nasty, dirty, low-paying job, etc. But next to tax cuts and keeping the government from operating, Republicans fight to keep unions from being able to organize because the power of working people acting together collectively begins to challenge the power of concentrated wealth that corporations represent. To this end, Republicans hate and fight the Labor Department and, now, the new nominee for secretary of labor.

Republicans in Congress have renewed their decades-old attack on the 40-hour workweek. Once again, they are pushing so-called “comp time” legislation that would allow employers to stop giving workers any extra pay for overtime work.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W-Va.) introduced the Medicare Drug Savings Act of 2013 that would produce savings without passing on costs to seniors. 

The act offers a worthwhile alternative to this approach, strengthening the Medicare program’s fiscal footing while shielding beneficiaries from harmful cost-shifting. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that restoration of Medicaid-level drug rebates for low-income Medicare beneficiaries would save the federal government $141 billion over 10 years. As federal budget negotiations continue, we urge you to consider the following critical facts:

House Republican leadership rammed through a bill (H.R. 1120) earlier today that would effectively put the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) out of business. 

The NLRB enforces rules established under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), which protects the rights of workers to form unions, bargain collectively and have a voice on the job. 

On one side of the rope, students, workers, a polar bear, a walrus and Robin Hood stood. On the other side, a series of fancily dressed Wall Street executives.  The tug-of-war was over a proposed half penny tax on Wall Street transactions designed to raise billions of dollars to pay for education, climate change mitigation and the improvement of public infrastructure. That was the scene Thursday when working family activists who are part of the U.S. Robin Hood Tax Campaign rallied at Hotel Palomar in Washington, D.C., where finance and environmental ministers of select developed countries met.

As the bipartisan Gang of Eight continues to draft comprehensive, commonsense immigration policy legislation, thousands of activists, families and supporters of all ages and nationalities flooded the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday for the “April 10: The Time Is Now” rally for immigration policy reform with a road map to citizenship.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) sent the following message about Social Security to her supporters:

My brother David has always had the special spark in our family.

Like our two older brothers, David served in the military. When he got out, he started a small business—and when that one didn't work out, he started another one. He couldn't imagine an America where he wasn't living by his wits every single day.

The budget that President Obama released today is drawing intense criticism for its cuts to Social Security and Medicare benefits. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka called those cuts “wrong and indefensible.”

A president’s budget is more than just numbers. It is a profoundly moral document. We believe cutting Social Security benefits and shifting costs to Medicare beneficiaries—while exempting corporate America from shared sacrifice—is wrong and indefensible. 

Recently, the bipartisan group of senators—known as the “Gang of Eight”—who are crafting immigration legislation in Congress signed off on yet another piece of the reform puzzle: a mechanism for new workers to come to the United States regardless of whether they have family living here or the ability to qualify for one of the existing visa programs.