Tobacco farm workers, joined by supporters, rallied in North Carolina for justice on the job.

Katrina Blomdahl, AFL-CIO Voice@Work communications specialist, describes a rally backing the nearly 25,000 tobacco farm workers in North Carolina and their efforts to win justice on the job.

Nearly 400 tobacco farm workers and community and religious leaders from more than a dozen faith groups on Sunday marched at the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. corporate headquarters with the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC)—the largest-ever FLOC event in the state.

Dressed in bright red T-shirts and carrying signs saying “End Oppression in the Tobacco Fields” and “Hasta la Victoria,” the energized crowd rallied behind a fundamental request: For R.J. Reynolds CEO Susan Ivey to meet with the workers to learn about the horrendous conditions suffered not only by tobacco farm workers in North Carolina, but across the southern United States and in Mexico.

Eileen Toback, AFL-CIO political organizer in the Voice@Work campaign, updates us on what's at stake for working families in the November elections in Virginia, where state Senate races are expected to be decided by just a few hundred votes.

Joyce Putnam, a member of Office and Professional Employees (OPEIU) Local 2, is one the superstar activists working on Virginia’s Labor 2007 program. As a working mother, she understands why it is so important to elect representatives who advocate for working families.

By Doug Cunningham

Labor is mourning the loss of Cheryl Johnson, President of the Michigan Nurses Association and United American Nurses, an affiliate of the AFL-CIO. She was one of the few women ever to serve on the AFL-CIO’s Executive Council. For more than 30 years Johnson worked in nursing and led at the local, state and national level in her union. She was inducted into the Michigan Nurses Hall of Fame in 2006.

By Jesse Russell

The US Senate has approved a plan that would increase the fees placed on companies who bring in skilled workers from other countries. The measure would bump the fee to $3,500. Meanwhile, the European Union has stepped closer to issuing a “blue card” which would make it easier for professionals from countries outside of the EU to accelerate through the visa process. The money raised from the new increased fees in the US would be used for math, science, and engineering scholarships.

By Jesse Russell

New York City municipal employees are fighting for the right to live outside of the city. Teachers, firefighters, and police officers already have that right and they want to join them as housing costs continue to rise. A rally was held by AFSCME district Council 37 on the steps of City Hall Monday. A bill currently in front of the city council would allow workers to live in surrounding counties, but they would have to pay New York City taxes.

Should there be a nationwide freeze of capital punishment? One of the country’s leading organizations of lawyers thinks so. Jesse Russell reports:

By Jesse Russell

Opponents of the death penalty welcomed a report on Sunday as the American Bar Association called for a nationwide freeze to executions. The ABA issued a report detailing many problems with the practice of capital punishment. Those problems include issues with DNA evidence collection, misidentification by witnesses, and racial disparity. While the organization has not taken a specific position on capital punishment, it has said that before states that still practice the death penalty take another life they should first review procedures.

By Doug Cunningham

Seven years. That’s how long Amtrak workers have worked without a contract. Now nine of the unions representing them have rejected arbitration, the clock is ticking on a possible strike. Because Amtrak workers are covered under the National Railway Labor Act there must be a 30-day cooling off period and in that time a presidential emergency board could be created to recommend a way to resolve the labor dispute. The board has 30 days to do that, followed by another 30 day cooling off period. So if a strike happens it won’t be until early 2008. Among the issues on the table for Amtrak workers are back pay to 2000, when the last contract expired, healthcare and changes in work rules that Amtrak wants. Congress could impose a settlement. That would be a test of labor’s political strength in a Congress that went Democratic thanks to labor’s huge political effort in 2006.

Time Magazine showcases the heroic efforts of the firefighters who have been battling the California wildfires for the past nine days, with a cover that features union member Rob Sandberg, a Redlands (Calif.) fire captain and member of Fire Fighters (IAFF) Local 1354.

Sandberg, who helped battle the fires on San Bernardino Mountain, is one of the hundreds of firefighters who have been working tirelessly throughout the disaster.

Firefighters at the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, members of Fire Fighters (IAFF) Local 2881, and members of dozens of other locals of the California Professional Firefighters (CPF/IAFF, along with firefighters from neighboring states, are still battling the fires that stretched from Santa Barbara County in the north to San Diego and the Mexican border in the south.

It's still dark when union volunteers are at plant gates, greeting Kentucky union members with info on the state's upcoming key elections.

Rachele Huennekens, AFL-CIO Media Outreach fellow, is blogging and leafleting her way through the eighth day of a 10-day bus tour through Kentucky, where former Lt. Gov. Steve Beshear (D) is challenging Gov. Ernie Fletcher (R), who has canceled bargaining rights for state employees and taken other anti-worker stands. Dozens of local labor leaders and union volunteers are taking part in the Bluegrass Express tour, which over the weekend made stops at many diverse worksites.

On Friday, Kentucky State AFL-CIO President Bill Londrigan, AFL-CIO field representative Don Slaiman, Labor 2007 zone coordinator Eddie Bowling and I were joined by United Steelworkers (USW) Local 14300 President Ben Suttles and USW Vice President Gary Smith. Together, we distributed leaflets at the Jackson/MSC steel plant in Barbourville in southeastern Kentucky. Next, we visited the nearby Seal Technologies plant and then made our way to Lexington, where we distributed leaflets to Brenda Lynn, SEIU Local 541 vice president, to pass on to members of her local union who are employed at the famous Keeneland horse race track.