All but one of the 22 CWA members at Brooklyn Cablevision who were fired in January are back on the job. Through email, Facebook, petitions and rallies, more than 100,000 people showed their support for the workers, who have been trying for the last year to negotiate a fair contract after an organizing victory in early 2012. When 22 workers asked to speak to a manager about the bargaining situation, they were summarily fired.

The AFL-CIO has materials available to help union locals prepare to mark Workers Memorial Day on April 28, which honors workers who have been hurt and killed on the job.

Sick and tired of the "union thug" stereotype? The fact is, union members do important and difficult jobs all over the United States, and now there's an AFL-CIO web page highlighting your hard work and the many ways unions give back to their communities. Too many people don't know, says AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler, "That innovative work by union members fuels today’s green technology. And that union members supply a great deal of the man- and woman-power, as well as the funding for community service programs, from running food drives to disaster recovery and winning health care benefits for people who don’t belong to unions."

From the outside in a former coal mining town, it's an enormous, long blue box. Inside, "hundreds of people in orange vests are pushing trolleys around a space the size of nine football pitches, glancing at their handheld computers for directions on where to walk next and what to pick up. They do not dawdle – the devices in their hands are also measuring their productivity in real time. Before they can go home or go to the canteen for their 30-minute break, they must walk through a set of airport-style security scanners to prove they are not stealing anything. They also walk past a life-sized cardboard image of a cheery blonde woman in an orange vest. 'This is the best job I have ever had!' says a speech bubble near her head."