Delegates at the AFL-CIO’s quadrennial convention elected Tefere Gebre as the AFL-CIO’s new executive vice president this afternoon. Gebre was nominated  to succeed Arlene Holt Baker after she announced her retirement in July.

Lazy. Out of touch. Greedy. Self-serving. Thuggish.

Chances are you’ve heard a union member or leader called one of these things (and in all likelihood, more than once), and it made your blood boil. The unfortunate truth is that misconceptions, stereotypes and all-out lies seem to be dominating the public discussion and perception of labor unions, even among some progressives. We in the labor movement know that unions stand for the working class as the sole and vital counterbalance to corporate greed and excess…but no one else seems to have gotten the memo.

No worker is invisible, and that's exactly what AFL-CIO delegates and attendees said as they hit the streets of Los Angeles last night to raise awareness about the value of work. 

Check out the video highlights in this post, and see our blog post from yesterday explaining what these cardboard workers are all about. 

Last night, women of the labor movement came together to talk about creating a movement that matters to women at a "Bread and Rosie" reception. 

Sponsored by Union Plus, the reception featured special guests and speakers, including former Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Elizabeth Shuler, AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker and María Elena Durazo, executive secretary-treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor. 

Today, the following action sessions are taking place from 12:30–2 p.m. PDT. Check out the schedule after the jump, and don't forget to live-tweet using the hashtag #aflcio13.

While President Obama had to stay in Washington, D.C., to address the situation in Syria, he sent a video message to the convention attendees, thanking them for their hard work and reiterating his support for unions and working families. Watch the video in the post. 

The term “banana scanner” sticks in Jackie Gitmed’s throat. It’s what she and other members of United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 770 were called during the strike and lockout nearly 10 years ago.

“They said we were ignorant and overpaid and didn’t deserve any better,” Gitmed says, as she and three friends, all of Local 770, first drew and then painted a life-size image of a grocery bagger on cardboard in one of the Monday action sessions at the 2013 AFL-CIO Convention in Los Angeles.

As we pay tribute to the years of service AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker has given to working families, the voting rights and labor movement, we sat down with her, along with Bloomberg BNA Daily Labor Report, to talk about some of her greatest memories and her plans for the future during her retirement. 

Watch the tribute video in the post, and check out what Holt Baker had to say.

Today, the following action sessions are taking place from 12:30-2 p.m. PDT. Check out the schedule after the jump, and don't forget to live-tweet using the hashtag #aflcio13.

In recognition of this incredible achievement and the outstanding work this young organization continues to do, the AFL-CIO Executive Council named the International Domestic Workers' Network the recipients of the 2013 George Meany–Lane Kirkland Human Rights Award earlier this year. The award was presented by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka today at the AFL-CIO Convention to a chorus of domestic workers who entered the hall singing, following a moving video of their campaign.

Support California domestic workers by telling Gov. Jerry Brown to pass the California Domestic Worker Bill of Rights. Text DIGNITY to 235246. Standard data and message rates may apply.