Last August, Jobs with Justice took action in solidarity with hundreds of student guestworkers from around the world who halted production during a factory sit-in at the Hershey Chocolate Company’s packing plant in Pennsylvania.  The State Department on Monday announced that CETUSA (the company that worked to recruit the students) was now banned from the J-1 visa program -- sending a clear message to all companies participating in the program:  "A cultural program for foreign students will not be exploited to recruit cheap labor!"  This piece originally appeared on the JWJ blog.

A report issued by the Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics last week shows that union membership increased by 49,000 from 2010 to 2011. The private sector led the way with a union membership increase of 110,000 employees, while the public sector saw a 61,000 decline, mainly due to government cutbacks.  This is a cross posting from the International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers.

At the end of November 2011, Cooper Tire & Rubber locked out 1,050 workers in Findlay, Ohio.  United Steelworkers International President Leo Gerard writes in his latest blog about how when Cooper Tire was losing money in 2008, these employees gave up $31 million in concessions to help their employer stay alive.  Cooper has since rebounded, raking in $300 million in profits -- and handing corporate executives millions in raises and bonuses.  

Kawana Lloyd filed this story on the annual Health Action 2012 conference in D.C. for her union's webpage -- and we're reposting to help spread the word.  She starts the article off with a very poignant and direct quote of Dr. L. Toni Lewis, the SEIU Healthcare Division Chair: "It's fitting during this week when we remember Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., to remember his passion in demanding that every man, woman and child have the right to live free of illness and to reach his or her potential."

 When I saw this article come through earlier this week from Brother Todd Farally, I bookmarked it -- and put it in my read later folder. I just couldn't get to it when it first hit on Wed of this past week. And I have to tell you, I am kind of glad I waited for a moment of downtime to really read it slowly and appreciate its message. 

Todd is a Tinknocker out of Philadelphia, and for as long as I can remember, he's been present in the online union activist community. But it was this article that he put together that made stop a minute to realize that THIS ... THIS is the stuff we need to get out there: Stories of our solidarity -- not only when we are organizing, but all the time.

We need more of these stories ... and we all have them.

Today marks the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the "Bread and Roses" strike, during which 25,000 workers at the mills of the American Woolen Company in Lawrence, Massachusetts, walked off the job when the company cut their pay after the state legislature passed a law shortening the length of their work week.  The workers -- primarily immigrant women and children -- stayed off the job for months, enduring beatings from police and the Massachusetts militia.  This piece originally appeared on the AFL-CIO Blog.

Labor historian Berry Craig examines GOP presidential hopeful Rick Santorum's anti-labor record. 

On Wednesday, President Obama appointed three new members to the National Labor Relations Board and in doing so took a strong stand for workers around the county.  This piece originally appeared on the SEIU Blog.

Sy Slavin, Director of the Kentucky Labor Institute, discusses the recent study done by economist Jim Stanford on the impact of tax cuts to business investment and its impact on Canadian employment.  "The whole furor over corporate tax cuts as a policy in stimulating business investments and thus creating jobs," Slavin writes, "has been proven false."  

Berry Craig shares with us what Russ Stilwell, Vice President of the Indiana State AFL-CIO's Executive Board, had to say at the 29th biennial convention of the Kentucky State AFL-CIO in Louisville about the fight ahead in Indiana over "right to work" legislation.  

  As many already know, UnionReview.com has spent more time at the Facebook page (Facebook.com/unionreview) than at the site itself. This was for a few reasons: 1) I found myself busier than usual this year and 2) I found that there was more interactivity by way of quick posts to the Facebook page.

Now, that said, I am planning to re-vamp the site in 2012 with the help of some friends. My goal is to make the site as relevant as the social media networks it is connected to. So, please stand by for that. 

In the moment, I wanted to take a second to gather all the stories from the last year that posted to UR and get them handy for you to review, pass along, comment, etc. 

Until we get back from the holidays, we wish you a very happy and healthy for you, your families and your co-workers and extended families. 

Colt Firearms has never operated in the U.S. anywhere but Connecticut in 175 years.  Three months before negotiating a new contract, they say they'll build a plant in the "Right-to-Work" state of Florida and freeze Connecticut jobs.  This piece is via We Party Patriots.

On August 1, American Crystal Sugar Company locked out 1,300 workers in North Dakota, Minnesota, and Iowa, and continues to refuse to negotiate.  While the company reported record profits during its annual meeting last week, families of locked-out workers are losing $1,000 to $2,300 per month.  There are links in this piece (via the MN AFL-CIO) to ways you can show your solidarity with these workers.

This is a cross-posting from the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a community-based organization of mainly Latino, Mayan Indian, and Haitian immigrants working in low-wage jobs throughout the state of Florida.  Workers and activists continue to demand that Publix, a Florida grocery store, engage in ethical purchasing practices and safeguard fair and safe working conditions in its supply chain.

Healthcare and social-assistance workers are among the most vulnerable in the country to violence on the job. According to the American Nurses Association, nearly a half-million nurses a year report being the victims of violent crimes in the workplace.  This is Elenita Congco's heart wrenching story.  Reposted from the SEIU Blog.