CEOs of health insurance companies received a generous early Christmas gift, thanks to Republican lawmakers in the House of Representatives.

In a time of heated rhetoric and divisiveness around immigration, Maryland’s unions, faith community and immigrant rights groups are leading the way forward on state-level immigration reform. Two bills are currently under consideration in Maryland that would offer significant protections to immigrant workers and families—the Maryland Law Enforcement and Governmental Trust Act (H.B. 1362/S.B. 0835) and the Regulation of Farm Labor Contractors and Foreign Labor Contractors Act (H.B. 1307/S.B. 1016). The measures proposed in these bills would help ensure that our law enforcement policies respect due process and protect civil rights in the workplace and community, and would expand protections within guest worker programs.

On Wednesday, March 8, International Women's Day, women across the world are taking action to call attention to the contributions we make every day in our workplaces, homes and communities.

This year, the organizers of the Women’s March on Washington have called for a day of action called, “A Day Without a Woman.” 

Federal contractors who seek lucrative contracts with the government are subject to commonsense scrutiny of their worker safety and pay records, thanks to an executive order signed by then-President Barack Obama and the regulations implementing it.

Now congressional Republicans are callously moving forward on a plan to overturn these regulations in the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Act. 

On Saturday, more than 5,000 auto assemblers, handlers and servicers marched with their families and supporters in Canton, Mississippi, to demand Nissan respect their employees' desire to come together in union. Nissan refuses to allow the people who work for them to have a seat at the table to voice their concerns and gain a better workplace. At the march, an active leader at the plant read a letter on behalf of his fellow members of the UAW. They called on the auto giant to stop attacking their union and threatening their families, and to include them at the table to improve safety and conditions in the plant.

Republican leaders in Congress are working on plans to cut health benefits for tens of millions of people. The harms from these cuts are likely to have the biggest impact on women, both for their own health benefits and as they try to manage health care for their families.

Every week, we bring you a roundup of the top news and commentary about issues and events important to working families. Here’s this week’s Working People Weekly List.

After vandalism was discovered at a Jewish cemetery in Philadelphia on Sunday, two unions responded with assistance in fixing the damage and making the cemetery more secure in the future. More than 100 gravestones at the Mount Carmel Cemetery were toppled or damaged. The Philadelphia Building and Construction Trades Council offered to replace the headstones, re-sod and clean the cemetery, and Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 98 will install additional lighting and security cameras. John Dougherty of the Philadelphia Building and Construction Trades Council said the vandalism is a "cowardly act of anti-Semitism that cannot be tolerated."

This Saturday is the March on Mississippi, with working people and community leaders rallying to demand that Nissan end mistreatment of its primarily African American workforce at the plant in Canton, Mississippi. In The Clarion-Ledger, Nissan employee Robin Moore makes the case for the march.

When the jobs of more than 700 mechanics and technicians were about to disappear, National Federation of Federal Employees-Machinists (NFFE-IAM) Local 2189 at the Texarkana Red River Army Depot did not wait for the U.S. Army to save those jobs. Instead, they took matters into their own hands.

On Saturday, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and actor Danny Glover will join the March on Mississippi in order to protest a pattern of civil rights abuses against the company's predominantly African American workers. Also joining the march are Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), NAACP President Cornell William Brooks, Sierra Club President Aaron Mair, hundreds of workers, civil rights leaders and social justice advocates. The march will end at Nissan's Canton factory, and the marchers will demand that the company start respecting its workers’ right to vote for a union free from fear and intimidation.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka appeared on Fox Business Network with Maria Bartiromo this morning to discuss his reaction to President Donald Trump's State of the Union speech last night. 

Welcome to our regular feature, a look at what the various AFL-CIO unions and other working family organizations are doing around the country and beyond. The labor movement is big and active—here's a look at the broad range of activities we're engaged in this week.

Every week, we bring you a roundup of the top news and commentary about issues and events important to working families. Here’s this week’s Working People Weekly List.

Expanding a union is hard work, especially in a "right to work" state like Florida, especially after a national election in which anti-union forces wrested control of the White House and Congress.

Don’t tell that to AFSCME affiliates in Florida.

Do you get your health care coverage through work? If you do, it's time to start paying attention to what’s going on in Washington. Especially to the new plan to tax our health benefits.

Iowa Republicans passed a bill last week that, in the words of Democratic House Leader Mark Smith, "unraveled Iowa’s successful, bipartisan collective bargaining law." The law, which favors special interests (mostly out-of-state special interests) over working people, has stirred up strong opposition, including this message from Shannon Miller that was shared by the Iowa Federation of Labor.

Every week, we bring you a roundup of the top news and commentary about issues and events important to working families. Here’s this week’s Working People Weekly List.

It is shocking that in the 21st century, we are still fighting to ensure that all eligible citizens have the right to vote—nevertheless, the battle to protect one of our most sacred rights continues.

It's time once again to take a look at the battles for the rights of working families in the states. Here is what the unions in the states are talking about this week. Click on any of the links to follow the state federations and labor councils on Twitter.