If you are a union member who participates in certain Union Plus programs and have been affected by severe storms in Georgia or Mississippi at the end of January 2017, you may be eligible for financial assistance through the Union Plus Disaster Relief Grant program.

It would be an understatement to say that the past few years of witnessing public displays of racial injustice against black and brown communities have been devastating. From the public executions of Mike Brown, Walter Scott, Philando Castile and Renisha McBride, to the recent ban on Muslims enacted by newly elected Donald Trump, we find ourselves living in a time where racial anxiety and tensions are at an all-time high. While we relished the election of the first black president, Barack Obama, we were soon reminded of the deep racial divisions our country still has to overcome in the recent appointments of known white nationalists to the top White House positions, and the confirmation of Attorney General Jeff Sessions—who has a history of racial discrimination in his court rulings. Often, the issue of racial politics and discrimination is not seen as a central priority of the labor movement—but it is our duty to protect workers from racial discrimination in our work places and in our society. One of the labor movement’s most important challenges is to understand how racial discrimination hurts all working people and impedes our ability to protect workers' rights.

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.

Over the years, we have profiled some key African American labor leaders for Black History Month. Here is a look back at some of the women and men who fought for their rights and the rights of other Americans and who deserve our thanks.

"I was fortunate enough to have the support of a union, and I was a member of a union. And I think in this situation, I’m convinced more than ever how important the unions are. And I just wanted to mention that I know here in New York there are so many students from private universities who have been trying to and fighting to get their right to have a union, and the administration of the universities are denying them this right." —Saira Rafiee

The big banks came out swinging at the beginning of the new Congress. What’s at the top of their list for 2017? Raising workers’ wages? Lowering prescription drug prices? Fighting the gender and race wage gaps? Nahh.

Andrew Puzder was nominated as secretary of labor, and hearings for his nomination, though postponed, are going to happen soon. As reporters and pundits are examining Puzder's record, we thought it would be interesting to imagine what it would be like to actually work for Puzder. This is speculative fiction, of course, but based on the things he's said and done over the years. Here's what we think it could be like to work for Puzder.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka issued the following statement in response to the confirmation of Jeff Sessions as attorney general.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and Canadian Labour Congress President Hassan Yussuff made the following joint statement about recent acts of violence against Muslim communities in both countries and President Donald Trump’s executive orders on immigration.

This past Friday, President Donald Trump ordered the Department of Labor to reconsider the Obama administration's retirement savings protections due to begin taking effect in April, with an eye toward revising or completely eliminating them.

AFT President Randi Weingarten released the following statement in response to the confirmation of Betsy DeVos as secretary of education.

Judge Neil Gorsuch was nominated to fill the current vacancy on the Supreme Court. Soon the U.S. Senate will hold hearings on his nomination. In taking a deeper look at Gorsuch's record, there are quite a few rulings and writings that should concern working people. As a private lawyer and as a judge, he has aligned himself with the interests of Big Business, not the concerns of working families. He has ruled against protecting the health and safety of workers, made it harder to have discrimination-free workplaces and argued for corporations’ misconduct to be protected from correction by investors and consumers.

Let’s take a breath and step back from our circus-like introduction to the Trump era.

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.

I spent 36 years working at the Bridgestone Tire plant in Oklahoma City. The work was hard but rewarding. It afforded me the opportunity to provide for my family, always ensure there was enough food at the table and that my kids were afforded every modest opportunity to grow up in a household that was stable, secure and free from worry. That all changed suddenly in 2006, five years after Oklahoma passed a "right to work" law that was billed by politicians as a job creator. For the 1,400 men and women who worked at the plant, right to work didn’t work as advertised. Not only did the plant close, but the effects of the closing and the chilling effect that right to work has on a state’s economy were felt by everyone.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka released the following statement in response to the executive order calling for rollbacks of financial regulations:

Christmas came late to Wall Street. But my, oh my, has it come.

This is thanks to President Donald Trump, aided by Goldman Sachs and other Wall Street executives, who now have the run of the White House. 

The U.S. economy added 227,000 jobs in January in the last employment report of the the Barack Obama administration. Unemployment was little changed at 4.8%, according to figures released this morning by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. President Donald Trump is inheriting a relatively strong economy based on years of work that Barack Obama and his administration did to bring us out of the horrible recession brought on, in part, because of George W. Bush-era deregulation and weak enforcement. Obama inherited a failing economy, with 589,000 jobs lost in January 2009 and an unemployment rate in February 2009 of 7.6%. Trump, on the other hand, is inheriting a much stronger jobs market, with 227,000 jobs added in January 2017 and an unemploymet rate of 4.8%. Trump's challenge is to continue the pattern of job growth and rising wages. The administration needs to create policies benefiting working people so the recovery continues.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka issued the following statement in response to a leaked executive order from President Donald Trump's administration.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka released the following statement on the national “right to work” bill:

Right to work is a lie dressed up in a feel-good slogan. It doesn’t give workers freedom—instead, it weakens our right to join together and bargain for better wages and working conditions. Its end goal is to destroy unions. Numbers don’t lie. Workers in states with right to work laws have wages that are 12% lower. That’s because unions raise wages for all workers, not just our members.