Greetings,

Greetings,

Top of the News from the AFL-CIO - April 6, 2009

Nationwide Ad and Grassroots Actions Intensify Campaign for the Employee Free Choice Act
As Members of Congress depart Washington, to return to their home states for the April recess, a new ad campaign supporting the Employee Free Choice Act is being launched. To view the new ad and for more information, visit www.FreeChoiceAct.org or www.americanrightsatwork.org . The ad "Fabric of America" features union-represented workers at the oldest flag manufacturer in the United States.

Kids Health Care Bill passes House committee, next stop House Ed Finance
The "Cover All Kids" bill (HF 181-Thissen) passed out of Rep. Thissen's Health Policy Committee and now moves to the K-12 Finance Committee.

Unemployment stats update
In a news release Friday, the Econonomic Policy Institute reported that an average of over 30,000 jobs were lost every work day in March. The March 2009 employment situation report, released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, showed that the labor market continued its free fall in March. Unemployment increased sharply to 8.5%, its highest level since 1983, and payroll employment declined by 663,000 jobs, an average of over 30,000 jobs lost every work day in March.

Speak up for Health Care for All!
President Obama, Congressional and business leaders and millions of working Americans are committed to real health care reform.  To maintain momentum, advocates are pushing the issue in Washington, D.C., in the media and in cities and towns across the country. Your voice is critical. Click here to take the AFL-CIO 2009 Health Care for America Survey. (Individual survey responses are kept completely confidential, but we'll share the tallied results with leaders at all levels of government and the media - and you can choose whether to make your health care story public.)  Ellison, Klobuchar Introduce Legislation to Combat Predatory Lending Congressman Keith Ellison (D-Minneapolis) and Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) introduced important legislation to combat mortgage lending abuses. The Homeowner Fairness Act is comprehensive housing reform legislation that proposes tough new national standards based on the successes of the Minnesota mortgage lending law, backed by the Minnesota AFL-CIO, that passed in 2007.

Help Wanted
MNA is hiring an organizer who will report to the union's Director of Field Operations. See the posting at www.mnnurses.org .

Fare for All Express now in Minneapolis
The traveling grocery store has added Minneapolis to their monthly distributions. Save up to 50% on your monthly grocery bill and go to the Mpls. Labor Centre (312 Central Ave.) on Friday, April 10th between 3 and 5 PM. Questions? Call the Working Partnerships office at 612-379-8130.

Explore working life through the 'Untold Stories' series
"Untold Stories," the award-winning labor history series sponsored by The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library, kicks off this year on Tuesday, April 21, at 7 p.m., with speaker Jeremy Brecher and "Meeting Today's Crisis: What We Can Learn from Labor's History" at Macalester College, Weyerhaeuser Chapel, 1600 Grand Avenue, St. Paul. Brecher is a historian whose books include Strike! Globalization from Below, and, co-edited with Brendan Smith and Jill Cutler, In the Name of Democracy: American War Crimes in Iraq and Beyond. He has received five regional Emmy Awards for his documentary film work.

Seeking judges...
Judges are needed for this year's Minnesota History Day event on May 2, 2009 at the University of Minnesota. Help judge papers, live performances and exhibits that have a labor connection or theme and then award prizes donated by the Labor Review, Union Advocate, AFL-CIO and LES. Last year 25,000 students in grades 6 through 12 from all over Minnesota participated in History Day. Also, typically highlighted are some of the participants at the Minneapolis and St Paul Regional Labor Federations meetings in May. If interested, contact Lynne Larkin-Wright at 651-222-3787, ext. 16 or llwright@stpaulunions.org.