The U.S. jobless rate worsened to 9.6 percent in August from 9.5 percent in July, with 54,000 jobs lost, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data out today. The private sector created only 67,000 jobs in August, far below the 150,000 jobs a month needed to keep up with the population and extremely far below the hundreds of thousands of new jobs needed each month to return to pre-recession employment levels. Government employment fell by 121,000, largely reflecting the loss of 114,000 temporary workers hired for U.S. Census 2010. Click the headline to read more>>

Corporations that lead the way in creating fair working environments prosper—but too many employers and governments around the world are abusing workers’ rights, according to the findings of several reports released in time for Labor Day. You can check out all the reports on our Labor Day 2010 webpage here. Click the headline to read more>>

The elections this year come down to a choice between leaders who will stand with working people or those whose right-wing agenda will choke off economic recovery and put corporations back in the driver’s seat. With that said, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka outlined plans for an aggressive and massive mobilization of working people this Labor Day weekend and for the fall election. During a press conference this morning at the AFL-CIO, Trumka also announced the federation will run TV and radio ads Labor Day weekend in key markets around Major League Baseball games, NASCAR, and college football games. Click headline to read more>>

The Pima Area Labor Federation (PALF), southern Arizona subsidiary of the AFL-CIO, is a coalition of affiliated labor unions in our region that work collectively to make Pima County a safe and economically viable place to work and raise a family. Our commitment to the middle-class is to improve the lives and increase the power of working families, bring fairness and dignity to the the Pima area workplace, and do our part to secure social equity on a local level.

Here at the PALF, we give political voice to workers in our area by endorsing labor-friendly candidates that understand the strength and necessity of a strong and vibrant middle-class. We fight for a public policy agenda favorable to working families at all levels of government, and we educate our members on issues and policies that effect them directly. We have assembled a progressive coalition for social and economic justice, and we continue to build upon this by forming alliances with forward-thinking groups and reaching out into our great community. In these trying economic times, our goal is to continue our work in maintaining the strong safety net in place for all our existing affiliate members and to speak out effectively and creatively on behalf of all workers living in and contributing to the Pima County community.