They endured weekly mandatory captive audience meetings in the basement of their Lexington Avenue MetroPCS store, tight monitoring from management and even a visit from T-Mobile U.S. CEO John Legere and other top executives who trekked from Bellevue, Wash., headquarters to the Harlem store. But this week, the workers voted 7–1 to join the Communications Workers of America (CWA).

On Labor Day, the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) used its hour of special order speeches to discuss the importance of the labor movement and how unions have been integral to improving the lives of African Americans. Communications Workers of America (CWA) compiled this video of the highlights of the speeches by various members of the caucus.

Attendees of the action session, “This Is NOT What Democracy Looks Like! The Democracy Initiative,” heard hopeful solutions to large problems with our democratic process. The tool for correcting these problems of political inequality was the topic of the session: the Democracy Initiative. The executive director of the Democracy Initiative, Marissa Brown, summed up the group’s task: “We are about making government function for people who voted for a government that functions.”

Emergency medical workers, massage therapists, bus mechanics and home health care workers are among the latest workers to choose a voice on the job with AFL-CIO unions. 

In California and Arizona, some 240 emergency medical services professionals voted recently to join United EMS Workers-AFSCME.

Who doesn’t love a heist movie? It’s great escapist fare. You get clever jewel thieves, bold bank robbers and elegant and suave con artists. But when you take that adventure out of the world of fantasy and into the real-life boardrooms, corporate offices and Washington hideaways and the loot isn’t sparkling diamonds and gold bars but the homes, savings and jobs of regular working stiffs, you get “Heist: Who Stole the American Dream?

Now streaming live—and free—here, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and Labor Day, “Heist” traces how American corporations orchestrated the dismantling of middle-class prosperity through rampant deregulation, the outsourcing of jobs and tax policies favoring businesses and the wealthy.

With a new website—TMobileWorkersUnited.org—workers at T-Mobile US are connecting with each other to build strength in their drive for workplace justice and respect.

Working with the Communications Workers of America (CWA), T-Mobile Workers United (TU) is an alliance of hundreds of call center representatives, retail associates and technicians who are standing up to discuss the issues and challenges they face at the new T-Mobile US, a merger of T-Mobile USA and MetroPCS.

Outside the Cannon House Office Building this afternoon, immigration activists, including AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker and Communications Workers of America (CWA) President Larry Cohen, took arrest for blocking traffic during a sit-in protest. 

Watch a video of the arrest from NBC News here. 

First, my apologies to any student in the middle of their summer reverie who stumbles across this blog. But like Christmas ads, back-to-school messages start earlier and earlier. Here’s ours, courtesy of the Union Label and Services Trades Department (UL&STD).   

Facing the possibility of 80 million private-sector workers losing access to workplace protections and labor law enforcement before Labor Day, the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and allies today held a Day of Action, calling on the Senate to confirm the five current nominees to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The Give Us 5 campaign also is working to end Senate Republicans’ tactics to cripple the NLRB, including legislation to defund the board, shut it down and curtail its work, and legal challenges that have stalled justice for many workers. 

In several actions around the country Tuesday—including a rally outside the U.S. Chamber of Commerce headquarters in Washington, D.C.—workers and their allies will tell the U.S. Senate it’s time to confirm President Obama’s bipartisan package of five nominees to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

Congress is due back to work July 8 and the nominees—three Democrats and two Republicans—must be confirmed before August, when the term of one of the current NLRB members ends and the board will be without a quorum.