We’re giving up Styrofoam cups here at our building in Washington, D.C. Also doing an energy audit and taking a few other steps as a start toward making our building a green one—just some of the actions the AFL-CIO announced this week, in time for Earth Day.

Back in 1999, there was surprise over the “Teamsters and Turtles” alliance during protests against the World Trade Organization meetings in Seattle.

Can’t sleep? You’re not alone. An unbelievable nine of 10 U.S. workers are losing sleep over their financial worries, according to a new study released this week.

No wonder. It seems some 30 percent of working families with children earn less than the cost of the basic elements of a decent, no-frills living standard in the area where they live, according to new data by the nonprofit Economic Policy Institute (EPI).

Looks like the dictum, “Work hard and get ahead,” is another myth gone bust, along with the other pretty bubbles that make up the American Dream.

A new three-year study deflates the notion of social mobility in the United States. Because the gap between the wealthiest and poorest is larger in the United States than in 30 other developed nations, our ability to improve our economic status is less than that of the United Kingdom.

AFL-CIO blog writer James Parks talked with Colombian trade unionists who traveled here last week to urge Congress not to pass the U.S.-Colombian Free Trade Agreement. As James relates below, Colombian trade unionists do not want Congress to reward that nation with a trade deal in a climate of fear and death that they and their union compatriots face daily.