Today, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Editorial Board ridiculed the absurd notion from the Missouri state Senate that somehow union members (teachers, nurses, secretaries, pothole fixers and home health care workers) are to blame for the state's economic woes. "Oh, please," the board responds. 

It's back. The Ryan–GOP budget that gives seniors "coupons" to pay for health care and guts Medicaid and public investment to enrich millionaires and billionaires was once again proposed by the House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) today. 

You probably don't have to look beyond your own community to see the visible signs of a crumbling and over-crowded transportation system. And you probably don't need to look further than your own family or close friends to find someone who is out of work.

Tristan Jackson and eight other Maine lobstermen traveled to Hollywood, Md., in February to get the training and knowledge they need to start forming a union, which they say will give them unprecedented clout when dealing with the state legislature and the businesses that buy the lobsters they catch. The lobstermen met with representatives of the Machinists (IAM) and left the meeting geared up to recruit others and launch their local union.

In 2012, the pay gap between women’s and men’s median weekly full-time earnings increased from 2011, reported the Institute for Women's Policy Research (IWPR) in new analysis. 

Still looking for plans this week? Check out the feature-length documentary by Juan González, "Harvest of Empire: A History of Latinos in America." Recently released in select cities, the film looks at the role of U.S. policy, including immigration and the rise of the Latino population in the United States. "Harvest Empire" tells the untold story of Latino immigrants in America.

Are people really living longer? That depends...how much money do you have?

Media pundits and Washington elites love to point to their own lives and say, "Hey, we're living longer, why not raise the Social Security retirement age and Medicare eligibility age?"

What they fail to realize is that large gains in life expectancy are closely related to how wealthy a person is. Just look at the case of the two counties in Florida that Washington Post reporter Michael A. Fletcher examined in Research Ties Economic Inequality to Gap in Life Expectancy.

It's budget season and talk show hosts and media pundits are gleefully predicting a "Grand Bargain" between Republicans and Democrats that would cut lifelines like Social Security and Medicare in the name of reducing the deficit. Salon writer Alex Pareene points out the faulty logic here:

The paycheck deception law proposed in Missouri would create burdensome restrictions that interfere with union members’ rights to participate in the political and legislative process. These laws also weaken the ability of working people to advance working family issues such as legislation that would create jobs and stop job outsourcing. Missouri AFL-CIO President Hugh McVey sent the following alert to working family activists:

I'm writing you with very disappointing news and an urgent call to action. After more than eight hours of filibuster, the Missouri Senate advanced S.B. 29, paycheck deception. 

Call your representative now at 888-907-9711 and urge him or her to oppose paycheck deception, "right to work" for less and anti-prevailing wage bills.

More than 800 union members, their families, immigration advocates and community leaders rallied in front of the Arizona state Capitol yesterday to reaffirm their support for commonsense immigration reform that protects immigrants and America's workers. In a press conference before the rally, Arizona AFL-CIO Executive Director Rebekah Friend announced that the organization had adopted a resolution that calls on Congress to pass immigration reform, including a practical and inclusive road map to citizenship that reflects core American values such as fairness, equality and family unity.