The national Republican party has selected Indiana Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels to respond to President Obama’s State of the Union address next week–sending a clear signal the party is making attacks on working people a top priority in the 2012 elections. Daniels is a key backer of right to work for less (RTW) legislation which state Republican lawmakers, in a stunning display of arrogance, have repeatedly tried to ram through, while thumbing their noses at working Hoosiers–not to mention democracy. Read more >>>

First, multimillionaire Mitt Romney told a group of jobless workers he’s also “unemployed.” Next, Romney thought there was no problem in stating publicly that he likes to “fire people.” Now, the Republican presidential wannabee proved yet again how out of touch he is with mainstream Americans by showing the extent to which he’s a member of the elite 1 percent. In South Carolina yesterday, Romney admitted he pays “around” a 15 percent tax rate, while earning $374,000 a year in speaker’s fees alone—an income he described as “not very much.” Read more >>>

Viewers in Austin, Texas, and Pittsburgh are getting the first public look at a new AFL-CIO television spot, “Work Connects Us All: America’s Unions.” The evocative ad features members of many unions, from virtually every industry, and is part of a broad campaign that aims to “fly above the tactics and controversies of the day” and connects with people around the values associated with work, according to AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler. Read more >>>

This information came from Don Siegel of IBEW, which he recently sent to his members, I have taken the liberty to edit it to be more inclusive to the entire labor movement.

We need to organize a new generation of workers into unions. While we tend to believe that this new generation is indifferent to unions we also know that they know very little about unions.

Mr. Siegel found this link to a video about a protest against the CEO of Whole Foods who recently wrote an op ed in the Wall Street Journal about health care reform. Needless to say the CEO, John Mackey, didn’t think that the health care reform that was being proposed was worth consideration and went on to say among other things that health care is not a right but rather a privilege.

This link will take you to a 6 minute video that I think is worth your time for two reasons. Number one it takes John Mackey to task for his public denunciation of the cu rrent health care reform proposal and number two and much more importantly please take notice of the age of most of the protesters. They are certainly not from my generation and we should take some comfort in that. This group could teach some of us some new things about civil disobedience not to mention the raw courage it takes to expose your self publicly for a cause you believe in. I encourage you to watch the whole video and consider that this is the generation that we need to bring into our union.

They may not know much about unions but they sure know how to engage in concerted activity. They are creative, committed, energetic and determined when they find something that they can believe in. They are an example of what the labor movement can become if we can connect with their passions. The challenge is ours to reach out to a new generation of union members and I hope that this video shows that they are ready, if we are willing to take the time to listen to their concerns and explain how unions can be a part of the solution.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APs76Cd6fbI