After 20 years, longtime Boston mayor Tom Menino is stepping down. And after Tuesday, the people of Boston are one step closer to electing a pro-labor champion to follow in his footsteps.

While most attention in the Boston tragedy is rightfully focused on the victims of last Monday's bombings at the Boston Marathon, the damage done by the terrorist attacks didn't end with the explosions or the subsequent shootout that led to additional deaths. Much of the city shut down during the manhunt for the terror suspects; and while most salaried employees could take the day off without losing pay, low-wage workers did not have that luxury. Other workers were forced to work long hours or brave dangerous conditions to get their jobs done.

While reports are still coming in about the tragedy at the Boston Marathon, Fire Fighters (IAFF) union sends us this update:

Boston Fire and EMS Detailed to Scene of Explosions at Boston Marathon.

Boston’s taxi system is riddled with “staggering exploitation and abuses,” according to an in-depth exposé in The Boston Globe. Many of the city’s 6,200 drivers are forced to pay nightly bribes for the keys to their cabs, start the shift already more than $100 in the red and are frequently charged with “phantom shortfalls” in the fares they deposit to the cab owners.

Chances are everyone around you is sick. Not a pleasant thought, but recent reports show the flu season is one of the worst we've seen in a decade. Check out this Google map to see your risk factors for catching the flu in your state. 

Union members and working people are mobilizing all over the country in labor walks, phone banks and leafletting, getting the word out about what's at stake this election. AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Elizabeth Shuler has been meeting with working people and joining labor walks from coast to coast this past week.

On Wednesday, Shuler helped kick off the first local chapter of  Young Emerging Labor Leaders (WA YELL) in Spokane, Wash.

Shuler thanked the young workers’ group for their activism on the Verizon and T-Mobile campaigns and encouraged the group to stay energized for Nov. 6. Shuler reminded the group that good jobs and college loans are on the line this November.

Congratulations to the newest members of UNITEHERE!—75 housekeepers, front desk attendants and others at the Hilton Boston Downtown whose persistence in the face of management roadblocks resulted in a successful effort to unionize. The workers waged nine months of sit-ins, pickets and talks with Hilton management before formally winning a voice at work Friday.

Some 85 union members, community activists and students age 35 and younger took part in the 2nd Annual “Organizing Our Future” conference hosted by the Greater Boston Labor Council Futures Committee at the Boston Teachers Union Hall.  The goal of the conference on Sunday was to empower, educate and connect young union members around Boston to be more knowledgeable and active in their local unions, in their communities and the Greater Boston Labor Council Futures Committee.

AFL-CIO Community Services Director Will Fischer reports on the recent Walk for Burn Awareness in Boston.

More than 350 firefighters, burn survivors and supporters came together on Sunday for the second annual New England Walk for Burn Awareness.

Across the country and around the world, workers, community and faith activists are standing in solidarity with nurses, firefighters and other public employees in Wisconsin, Ohio and around the nation in their fights against a coordinated attack on middle-class jobs.