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>>

Ed Sills, director of communications for the Texas AFL-CIO, recently went back to school—high school. He spent a day observing a veteran union organizer get students involved in a hands-on educational experience on the crucial role of unions in their working lives.  “We’ll just let these two ladies clean the bathroom because that’s a woman’s job,” declared Lee Medley, president of the Galveston County AFL-CIO, with a sly glance toward the men.  Read more...