In Tuesday’s live Web chat, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka talked about what we need to do to fix our economy in both the short term and the long term—and touched on a vital, too-infrequently discussed issue: the need to end the stranglehold neoliberal economic thinking has on our politics.

AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler joined Vice President Joe Biden and other leaders at yesterday’s meeting of the White House Middle Class Task Force. The topic: restoring our crippled manufacturing sector. The White House Middle Class Task Force issued a report yesterday detailing the challenges facing manufacturing, and Shuler delivered a message to the White House that fixing manufacturing must be a priority in building a stronger economy.

    Peggy Shorey         Pride At Work (P@W), the AFL-CIO’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) constituency group, has selected longtime activist Peggy Shorey as its new executive director. Shorey has been an organizer and community leader in Connecticut for the past 17 years.

    Utility Workers President Michael Langford, right, and U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu at the climate change summit in Copenhagen.         Utility Workers (UWUA) Secretary-Treasurer Gary Ruffner and Bob Baugh, executive director of the AFL-CIO Industrial Union Council, write about a meeting with U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu. Ruffner, UWUA President Michael Langford and Baugh are attending climate change talks in Copenhagen, Denmark, where 40 U.S. union members are part of a 400-member global union movement delegation led by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). Read our previous blogs on the climate change talks here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

       In a great live Web discussion yesterday, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka answered a wide range of questions on the nation’s economic crisis, setting out a vision for short-term job creation and long-term progress toward a fairer economy.

    Seth Michaels is posting live from Washington, D.C.

    Seth Michaels is posting live from Washington, D.C.

      At 4 p.m. EST today, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka will host a live conversation and answer your questions about the jobs crisis and the way forward. More than 5,500 people have voted already on more than 150 questions working people submitted for Trumka, on subjects like green jobs, training, trade and addressing unemployment in distressed areas. There’s still time for you to vote here on what questions you’d like Trumka to answer.

      When our banking system was in crisis last year, Congress acted with lightning speed to bail out banks—but although Wall Street and the banksters have seen a recovery, working families are still facing a crisis of disappearing jobs.

      When our banking system was in crisis last year, Congress acted with lightning speed to bail out banks—but although Wall Street and the banksters have seen a recovery, working families are still facing a crisis of disappearing jobs.