The New York State AFL-CIO thanked the U.S. Senate today for approving $60.4 billion in relief for victims of Superstorm Sandy and urged the House to pass the measure as well.

A temporary deal has been reached between the Longshoremen (ILA) and the United States Maritime Alliance (USMA) that will delay for 30 days a strike that was scheduled to start Sunday. The strike would have shut down East Coast ports from Boston to Miami, with 14,000 workers taking part. A strike will start at midnight Jan. 28 if a deal isn't reached by then.

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), working families and small business owners, along with with the activist group The Action, took to Capitol Hill on Friday to tell Congress to reject tax breaks for the richest Americans and to avoid raising taxes on middle-class families. The group gathered beneath a massive Times Square-style disco ball, where a New Year's Eve-like countdown was held to show that Republicans were planning to "drop the ball" on working families.

Current and former employees of Flat Rate Movers and Mystique clothing stores received good news yesterday. New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced these 400 workers will receive restitution funds for unpaid overtime and minimum wage violations. The 306 current and former employees of Flat Rate Movers, a multistate moving and storage company with headquarters in New York City, are being paid $1.13 million. Approximately 100 employees of Mystique in New York City have also begun receiving restitution as part of a $950,000 settlement.

As you plan your New Year's Eve celebration, don't forget to check out this list of union-made in America wine and champagne from our friends at Labor 411, the union business directory from the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor. Beverages include those brought to you by the United Farm Workers (UFW), the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) and the Teamsters (IBT).