Working people across the country are creating better lives for themselves and their families by using the power of collective bargaining to improve their working conditions on many levels. Here are some highlights from recent working people wins.

Working people and the issues we care about have been a prominent part of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia this week. The program has been filled with union leaders and members, members of union families and longtime advocates and allies. Advocates like Hillary Clinton.

Working people are taking this historic 2016 election very seriously, and the Working America Coalition is unleashing the most comprehensive electoral program in our history. When working people are inspired, there is no political force in America more powerful.

Last night at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, President Obama lifted up the spirit of America's working people and our courage to fight for a better life.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka released the following statement in response to comments made by Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe on Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s position on the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Today at 2 p.m. EDT live from the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) will join car wash workers, BCTGM Local 300 member  Mike Smith ,  Fight for 15  and working people to discuss organizing to win for a better life. 

The livestream will happen on our Facebook page:  www.aflcio.org/Facebook  and on Twitter:  www.twitter.com/aflcio.  

The working people of the AFL-CIO proudly congratulate Hillary Clinton as the first female presidential nominee of a major party. 

 Are you with Clinton on building an economy of shared prosperity for all? Join us . 

We want elected leaders who think big. Today, two families control more wealth than half our population. One family is spending almost a billion dollars to influence our elections. Meanwhile, more than 60% of American households are one missed paycheck away from economic calamity. This is not the America we should leave our children. We can and must do better.

This month has hit me hard with news that not once, but twice, black lives were lost at the hands of police officers. And then even more violence unfolded in Dallas and Baton Rouge, La. While the locations of these most recent events are far from Boston, where I live and work, they have hurt me so deeply I feel I must respond.

Last night AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka addressed the working people of the Democratic National Convention. 

Here are his remarks:

Working people recognize the high stakes in the 2016 presidential election. On one side, you have Donald Trump, who supports "right to work," which takes away power from working people, and thinks your wages are too high. On the other side, you have Hillary Clinton, who has a long history of advocating for families and working people. She believes that paid family leave, earned sick days, fair schedules, equal pay for women and quality affordable child care are critical, as well as the right to come together in union and negotiate for a better life. Here are 10 ways Clinton stands with working people:

My name is Michael J. Smith . I am an American worker and, up until March 23, I worked at the Nabisco bakery located on the South Side of Chicago. I worked there nearly five years, and I am unemployed today because Mondelēz International/Nabisco sent my job and 600 others to Mexico where workers earn in one week what I made in several hours.

My wife and I live in Tinley Park, and we have four children and five grandchildren. We attend the apostolic church where I teach Sunday school. I believe in America and am proud to live in America.

Working people in unions are uniquely positioned to demand and defend democracy—government by all the people. Working people know that only in a democracy do we have a chance to be heard.

And so today, after the end of the Republican National Convention, what should people in unions, who above all care about the health of our democracy, make of this spectacle?

Donald Trump will speak later tonight at the close of the Republican National Convention and, in case you missed it, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka took to Twitter today to remind everyone about Trump's troubled record with working people (after the jump). 

Six years ago this week, hundreds of people gathered in Washington to watch President Barack Obama sign into law the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. On that day there was a hope that its passage marked the beginning of a new phase in Washington’s approach to Wall Street regulation.

"I am happy that trade issues are getting so much attention in this election," said steelworker Ed Rico in Cleveland this week. "It is a critical issue for places like Lorain, like Cleveland or any place else where we make things. It is on us, however, to be sure we separate fact from fiction when it comes to candidates’ claims and promises. And on trade matters, it is clear who stands with us and who has been part of the problem."

Each week, we take a look at the biggest friends and foes of labor. We celebrate the workers winning big and small battles, and we shame the companies or people trying to deny working people their rights.

"Trump tries to talk a good game about trade policy, but how is someone like me supposed to believe a word he says when his own business practices threaten my well-being and that of my co-workers?" said union member Wanda Navarro in Cleveland this week, in advance of the Republican National Convention. "I hear what he says on the need for fair trade, then I look at what he does and it just doesn’t make any sense." 

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka released  the following statement  in response to the shooting of police officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

A little more than a year ago, President Barack Obama called on the Department of Labor to implement a new overtime protection rule. Hundreds of thousands of Americans spoke up, and we were able to get the rule passed.