Just across the border with Texas, workers in Ciudad Juárez have been launching brave actions against global manufacturing giants to improve conditions in the low-wage maquiladora sector. Over the past six months, workers at large assembly plants owned by Commscope, Eaton, Foxconn and Lexmark, producing electronics, auto parts and printing supplies for the U.S. market, have launched a series of mobilizations to protest wages as low as $30 per week, unsafe working conditions, sexual harassment and discrimination. Juárez is a major location of such industry, accounting for well over 10% of all such exports from Mexico. In several cases, workers have attempted to form independent unions to defend their rights and have a voice at work.

Every week, we'll be bringing you a roundup of the important news and commentary about issues and events important to working families. Here's this week's Working People Weekly List.

The U.S. economy added 292,000 jobs in December and unemployment was 5%, remaining unchanged from the previous month, according to figures released this morning by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. This continues the record string of months with job growth.

The International Union of Food Workers (IUF) and the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) have affirmed their solidarity with employees of Mondelēz International, the maker of Nabisco products, around the world. The state of Illinois has given Nabisco/Mondelēz millions of dollars in public assistance and tax breaks. BCTGM represents some 4,000 Mondelēz workers. The company has asked for massive concessions from employees that BCTGM says would amount to lost wages and benefits of $22–$29 per hour, per employee, and would lead to hundreds of lost jobs. In July, the company moved hundreds of jobs from Chicago to Mexico, jobs that were mostly held by African American and Latino workers before the move. Most of them are also over the age of 40, a surprisingly disproportionate targeting of experienced and valuable employees.

Despite the departure of four of their own, Kentucky House Democrats should be able to keep the Republican "right to work" wolf away from organized labor’s door. Prevailing wage repeal, another long-cherished Republican goal, also faces an unlikely future in the South's only Democratic-majority legislative chamber.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka released the following statement in response to the Obama administration’s large-scale deportations.

How do you tell if the 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is a good deal or a bad one?

Confused about Friedrichs? It's pretty simple. See more after the jump. 

As Donald Trump maintains a high standing in Republican primary polls, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka had to speak out about the reality TV star's negative campaign that includes racism, attacks on workers and attempts to divide Americans and treat them differently because of their religion. In Trumka's words, "We deserve better."

We're back! In our regular weekly feature, we’ll be taking a look at the winners and losers of the week in the struggle for the rights of working families. The winners will be the people or organizations that go above and beyond to expand or protect the rights of working families or working people who have fought for or won a significant victory. The losers will be whomever went above and beyond to limit or deny those rights or the working people who have lost a right or a battle for expanding or keeping their rights. 

Happy New Year from America's unions. 

Here's to 2016 being filled with working-people wins and a union voice on the job.  

It's been a busy year here on the AFL-CIO Now blog where we try to cover the issues that are important to working people. The stories, from TPP to anti-worker rhetoric from presidential candidates and governors to the growing momentum in efforts to organize workers, raise wages and expand the collective voice of working people, that most affect working families. Here are the 10 stories that were most read by you, our readers.

America's working people in unions wish you a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year. 

In Solidarity, 

The AFL-CIO. 

Each year, Corporate Accountability International asks the public to vote for the “worst of the worst” corporations, and the leading vote getter is added to its Corporate Hall of Shame. The non-profit organization then launches grassroots actions at the “winning” company.

As we enter the home stretch of the holiday season, there are many ways for thoughtful San Francisco residents and visitors to have fun while making their communities better, instead of battling fellow shoppers for those desperate last-minute gifts. Whether it’s visiting the theater, the zoo or even Six Flags, residents and visitors to the City by the Bay have plenty of opportunities to support good, local jobs while having fun over the holidays.

If it’s December in the nation’s capital, it means residents and visitors alike are gearing up to celebrate the holiday season with family, friends and loved ones. But before we do, let’s take a moment to thank our Washington, D.C., union brothers and sisters on the front lines fighting for better wages, hours and benefits for all of us.  

It’s the holiday season in Southern California. Not only can you count on residents complaining about the weather dipping below 60 degrees, you can also bet on Angelinos and visitors alike getting in the spirit of the holidays—by the beach. It’s a good time of year to kick back and have some fun with friends and family, all while supporting good local jobs.

Working people won big in 2015. Whether it was coming together and voting “union yes,” or winning legislation for paid sick and family leave, we can say it was a very good year. 

We’ve covered many of these “worker wins” stories over the last year on the AFL-CIO Now Blog. Here are some highlights you don’t want to miss (after the jump).

Every year young activists from across the country choose to make theirs a Union Summer. They are an inspired group of social justice activists who go on to become the future union organizers and leaders of the labor movement. 

Transport Workers (TWU) members across the country helped raise more than $72,000 in donations and gifts for Operation Military Embrace and the Wounded Warrior Project this holiday season. Working people belonging to TWU collected countless Christmas gifts, including toys, clothing and shoes, for veterans and their families in honor of Brother Hank Trujillo, former chairman of the TWU Veterans Committee and a Vietnam veteran, who passed away earlier this year.