This week, we celebrate Social Security's 78th anniversary. There is a lot to celebrate. For nearly eight decades, Social Security has provided seniors with a secure retirement income and prevented retirees from falling into poverty. Social Security lifts more than 21 million Americans out of poverty, including over 14 million seniors. It is doing just what it was designed to do.

We are all familiar with the standard textbook argument for why minimum wage is harmful to job creation. The standard view, which in political discourse has also come to be known as the conservative view, holds the minimum wage to be bad for all concerned. And yet, there is a conservative view to be made in favor of the minimum wage, and regular increases in the minimum wage, on the grounds that its neglected macroeconomic effects also would militate against another thing that conservatives hold to be equally as bad: redistribution. 

Tomorrow, hundreds of cars from more than 30 California cities will join a caravan to Bakersfield to visit Rep. Kevin McCarthy's (R-Calif.) office to tell him to support an immigration policy with a road map to citizenship. This is the first of many activities in support of a new immigration policy that California's working families are planning. 

The Los Angeles County Federation of Labor sends us this piece on why two members of the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) are joining the caravan—with the support of their employer.

On Aug. 14, hundreds of cars from more than 30 California cities will join in a caravan to Bakersfield to visit Congressman Kevin McCarthy's (R-Calif.) office to tell him to support an immigration policy with a road map to citizenship. This is the first of many activities in support of a new immigration policy that California's working families are planning.

Not in California? Text NOW to 235246 to tell House Speaker Boehner you want a vote on citizenship. Standard data and messaging rates may apply. 

Social Security turns 78 on Aug. 14 and you can join the celebration and help ensure Social Security stays strong for years to come by signing this petition from the Alliance for Retired Americans. 
Alliance Executive Director Edward C. Coyle says that thanks to Social Security, millions of seniors are able to pay their bills, buy groceries and maintain their independence. But proposals to cut those vital Social Security benefits through schemes such as “chained” CPI threaten seniors and others who rely on Social Security. 

The U.S. Postal Service just released a series of “Made in America: Building a Nation” first-class Forever stamps. The 12-stamp series features images of industrial workers from the early 20th century, and 11 were taken by famed photographer Lewis Hine.   

While no one can argue with USPS’s decision to honor the coal miners, construction workers, textile workers and others who helped build the nation (and continue to do so), the gesture would mean a lot more if the USPS treated its current workers with the same respect.

Change and innovation comes not from the status quo, but from disruption. It takes a disruption in our everyday lives to stop us in our tracks, make us reflect and decide to make a change. This idea of cognitive disruption comes from Brazilian scholar Sebastiao Ferreira. The recent wave of courageous acts of nonviolence for immigrant rights proves this true--particularly the win just this week by the DREAM Nine immigrant youth leaders. 

Aug. 28 marks the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. To celebrate that half-century anniversary, civil rights, labor, faith and other groups will hold a weeklong series of events Aug. 21-28 in the nation’s capital under the banner of “Freedom, Jobs, Peace and Social Justice.”  

The Chicago Federation of Labor and various allies have organized a rally to protest the American Legislative Exchange Council's (ALEC's) 40th Anniversary Meeting in Chicago on Thursday, Aug. 8. ALEC is leading conservative efforts to roll back the rights of working families.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka called on corporate America today to pay its fair share, saying, "At a time when the 1% have demanded so much sacrifice from working people in the name of deficit reduction, we must ask something of big corporations. That means “revenue positive” corporate tax reform that raises significant amounts of new tax revenue."