Before a company, say Oracle, would be allowed to recruit and hire foreign workers under the H1B visa program in the draft of the immigration bill now under consideration in the Senate, it first must give U.S. workers who are equally or better qualified the first shot at the jobs. That sounds like a patriotic no-brainer.

But recent news reports outline a huge lobbying effort by high-tech firms—like Google and Microsoft—to get those pro-U.S. worker provisions out of the bill.

The American Legislative Exchange Council, its corporate backers and extremist Missouri lawmakers may have won the first round in their drive to silence working people with a paycheck deception bill, when the House gave it final approval (86-69) earlier this week.

The Obama administration should suspend deportations of aspiring citizens who would be eligible for a pathway to citizenship under a commonsense immigration reform bill that is under consideration in the U.S. Senate, a group of labor—including the AFL-CIO—Latino and other immigration reform advocates told the White House earlier this week.

The Machinists (IAM) and the Transport Workers (TWU) have reached a partnership to jointly represent nearly 30,000 ground workers at the “new” American Airlines following the merger of American Airlines and US Airways.

Marcus Hedger, illegally fired in 2010, will have to wait even longer to get his job back if the Senate fails to confirm President Obama’s bipartisan nominees to serve on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

Call your senators toll free at 1-888-264-6154 and tell them to confirm the board nominations now.

In January 2012, the Ironworkers launched a new worksite safety campaign, with the goal of “zero fatalities, and the first figures in show that Countdown to Zero” is making a difference and saving lives (see chart inside post).

Join us Wednesday at 1 p.m. EDT for this week’s live online discussion with with Dr. Steven Pitts, labor policy specialist at the UC Berkeley Labor Center. He is hosting our second online conversation on how we build a better future for working people and a bigger and stronger movement.

On Monday we asked our readers what we can do together to make a better future for working people and to build a bigger and stronger movement. We need to know what you think because our 2013 AFL-CIO Convention will focus on how the labor movement should change and what we can do together to improve the future of all working people.

Your response has been tremendous. Nearly 300 of you have gone to our AFL-CIO Convention discussion page and told us what you think has to be done to give working families a better deal. Further below are excerpts from some of your suggestions and thoughts.

Union members in Swampscott, Mass., this week showed just how grassroots democracy works when a coalition of unions from the North Shore Labor Council mobilized to turn back an attack on public employees’ health care and retirement security.

By a near party-line vote, the House yesterday approved a bill, pushed by Republican leadership, that if it ever became law, would mean many workers would work more hours for less pay. By a 223-204 vote, the House passed the so-called Working Families Flexibility Act (H.R. 1406).