I am writing this letter because of the Patriot Coal bankruptcy proceedings taking place at the federal courthouse in St. Louis, Missouri. I am writing this letter on behalf of the thousands of UMWA [Mine Workers] retirees who sacrificed their bodies to build a billion dollar company, on behalf of the thousands of UMWA retirees and their families who depend on their pensions and health care to live, on behalf of the more than 4,000 active UMWA employees at Patriot Coal whose jobs are threatened, on behalf of the coal miner spouses who wait and worry that their loved ones will not return to them due to a mining accident or disaster, on behalf of the mine workers who fought, suffered and died at the battle of Blair Mountain, and the Ludow, Colo., massacre, on behalf of the mine workers at Piston and countless other labor struggles.

The first-ever Global Labor Film Festival (GLFF) kicks off on May Day, as festivals in the United States, Australia, England, Israel, Norway and Turkey host more than a dozen screenings of labor films. 

Highlighted in Nate Silver’s New York Times article, Conservatives’ Love Affair with Christie Is Over, was New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie becoming the eighth Republican governor to announce that he will accept Medicaid expansion under the president’s health care law, in spite of Christie’s party’s general opposition to the law.

Harry Moser, founder of Reshoring Initiative, is courageously engaged in a debate on Economist.com. The link to the debate follows: Offshoring & Outsourcing: Do Multinational Corporations Have a Duty to Maintain a Strong Presence in Their Home Countries? Moser’s opponent argues that: competitiveness is hardly likely to be undermined by multinational corporations investing abroad.

With the desire to focus all attention on solving the emergent issues with the Boeing Co.’s 787, the union representing engineers and technical workers proposed incorporating areas of agreement from ongoing negotiations into existing contracts and extending the agreements for another four years.

Last week, millions of unemployed American workers who are currently receiving Federal Extended Unemployment Benefits were notified that on Dec. 29, 2012, these benefits will end. Many of the people receiving this message are union brothers and sisters. These union members depend on these benefits to provide food and housing for their families until they can obtain a new job. They fell on hard times through no fault of their own, now they need our help in getting these benefits extended through 2013.

A report by Metropolitan Washington [D.C.] Council assistant mobilizer Julia Kann of Union City.

It took two-and-a-half years but the Teamsters 639 strike against Daycon is finally over. The Upper Marlboro, Md.-based janitorial and maintenance supply company is calling the last remaining strikers back to work after a U.S. Court of Appeals ruling Tuesday upheld National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) rulings in the union’s favor.

It certainly does, in a variety of different ways. Health care matters from the perspective of affordability, can each and every American afford health care? Health care matters from the perspective of access, does everyone have adequate access to meet their needs? Health care matters from a quality perspective, does every person receive the same quality of health care throughout their lifetime?

Hugh J. Campbell of the United Steelworkers (USW) sends us "Trust Is Situation-Specific, Trusting Romney Is No Exception!"

Self-proclaimed as Independent and American, Newsmax's article, "Romney’s $2 Billion Sacrifice for America," is a not-so-independent “Hail Mary” shot to convince voters to trust Mitt Romney’s results at Bain Capital to aid our nation to solve its economic problems. Stephen M. R. Covey in his book, “The Speed of Trust,” makes a persuasive case that trust is situation-specific, i.e. don’t trust a dermatologist to perform heart surgery. 

War is the most important issue Americans should be concerned with in this 2012 election. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have cost America at least $3 trillion (with a T), almost 7,000 of our sons and daughters lives and ruined our economy. Some economists like Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel Prize recipient for economics, have put the cost trillions higher.