In response to the company's "blatant disregard of its workers' right to form a union," the AFL-CIO on Thursday endorsed a nationwide boycott of Palermo's Pizza. The boycott extends to private-label brand frozen pizza produced by Palermo's, including Costco's Kirkland brand. Workers at the Milwaukee-based frozen pizza manufacturer have been on strike since June 1 to protest unfair labor practices. After the workers requested that Palermo's recognize their union and bargain with them over serious workplace problems, the company fired more than 75 workers. Many workers at Palermo's face serious health hazards, have no sick days and make little more than the minimum wage.

As American Airlines continues to do everything in its power to deny passenger service agents a voice in the workplace, CWA highlights a few numbers that help to put the company's actions into perspective -- for instance, the $27,000 average annual salary for home-based reservation agents, who are electronically monitored every minute of their shifts. But the bankrupt airline still was able to pay its CEO more than $4 million last year.

Earlier this year, CWA Local 7803 member Mike Tulloch tended to the myriad details of setting up the local’s annual golf tournament fundraiser for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. At the same time, Cristina Pena, a student at the University of Southern California, carried on the active life of a young college woman—a life that would have been impossible without the efforts of Tulloch, the local and all of CWA. Since naming the foundation its “charity of choice” in 1990, CWA locals have raised nearly $7 million to fight pediatric AIDS. Photo: Cristina Pena, with her boyfriend and cousin, is a survivor of pediatric AIDS.

In 2003, as Transportation Security Administration (TSA) workers at several airports were readying to vote on joining AFGE, the Bush administration, citing so-called “national security” concerns, terminated the screeners’ collective bargaining rights. Now, after a nearly 10-year battle, AFGE and the TSA have reached their first-ever labor contract that covers the TSA’s 45,000 workers.