Sen. John McCain took his campaign to Seattle and Bellevue, Wash., this week, and, as usual, he was confronted with AFL-CIO union members asking him for answers about the economy.

Union members in Washington State want to know what McCain’s role was in awarding a major military contract to a foreign company in March, costing good union jobs to the Seattle area and elsewhere. Workers in Washington are protesting the decision to outsource the building of an air tanker for the U.S. Air Force.

According to Time, McCain had a key role in the decision to send the air tanker contract overseas, and some of his current advisers, previously, were lobbyists for the European aviation company that won the contract. McCain also has a consistent record of voting for bad trade agreements that hurt workers.

Robert Masciola, deputy director of the AFL-CIO Center for Strategic Research, describes this week's Pulte shareholder meeting in the Detroit area.

Some 100 activists gathered on May 15 in Birmingham, Mich., at the annual shareholder meeting of Pulte Homes, with a straightforward message: Pulte must be held accountable for the conditions on its job sites!

Dissatisfied homeowners and workers were joined at the rally by supporters from the Detroit union movement, including many members of the Sheet Metal Workers (SMWIA) and the Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT), along with members of the Detroit Metropolitan Interfaith Committee on Worker Issues and community supporters. Saundra Williams, president of the Metropolitan Detroit AFL-CIO, emceed the rally.

Two new reports show today’s young workers are being squeezed by high costs of living and low or stagnant wages and they want the government to do more to solve this nation’s economic mess.

The Economic State of Young America by Demos presents a statistical study of the economic condition of young workers, and The Progressive Generation: How Young Adults Think About the Economy by the Center for American Progress (CAP) analyzes public polling of young workers. Click here for a copy of the Demos report and here for the CAP report.

Barbara Easterling

Barbara Easterling, who in 1995 became the first female AFL-CIO officer when she was elected secretary-treasurer, has spent her life helping others. This week, she received two major accolades in recognition of her years of charitable work.

Last night, the United Way honored her with the Joseph Beirne Award for Community Service. Easterling, secretary-treasurer of the Communications Workers of America (CWA), stepped down from the United Way board last night, after serving on it for the past decade.

Earlier this week, the Faith & Politics Institute honored Easterling at its annual St. Joseph’s Day breakfast, calling her “a model of working people’s charitable commitment to human dignity in our communities and in the world.” The Faith & Politics Institute is a nonpartisan, interfaith organization to help public officials stay in touch with their deeper calling to public service. St. Joseph is the patron saint of the worker, and the institute's annual breakfast was founded to raise awareness of the spiritual and moral issues that affect economic life in America.

The House yesterday voted (256–166) a measure to help long-term jobless workers who face difficult times finding new work in the sputtering Bush economy with an extra 13 weeks to 26 weeks of unemployment insurance (UI) benefits. The UI extension was added to a supplemental spending bill to fund the war in Iraq.

Some 200,000 jobless workers a month exhaust their UI benefits without finding a new job and about 3.5 million unemployed workers will lose jobless benefits this year. The legislation would provide an additional 13 weeks of UI benefits for jobless workers in every state and an additional 13 weeks to those in states with high unemployment rates (more than 6 percent).

Poll after poll shows that most Americans believe this country is on the wrong track, going in the wrong direction. We’re worried about a failing health care system, stumbling economy, stagnant wages, disappearing jobs and an endless war.

How do we “Turn Around America?” Jesse from California says the first step in the right direction starts with each and every one of us. In his entry to the AFL-CIO’s Turn Around America Online Video Competition,” Jesse says:

America’s headed in the wrong direction, and things must change. And as it always has, it must start with me.

Click on the video to see his full entry.

You still have time to enter the contest—the deadline is May 20.

This week, while embarking on a national media tour, Sen. John McCain was asked directly about whether he’d privatize Social Security. Unfortunately, the presumptive Republican nominee didn’t offer any straight talk.

In an appearance on television’s "Live with Regis and Kelly," McCain offered confusing, vague remarks that don’t tell us where he really stands on retirement security. He denied that his plan meant privatization—and, in nearly the same sentence, backed private accounts. His comments aren’t consistent with his record and with other statements made during the campaign.

It leads to a clear question: Where does McCain stand on Social Security and the issues that matter to seniors?

John McCain paid a visit to Portland, Ore., this week. As usual, AFL-CIO union members came out to try to speak to the presumptive Republican presidential nominee about important issues—and, as usual, they were turned away.

In fact, McCain campaign aides were so unhappy to be confronted that they threatened these union members with arrest if they approached the room in which McCain was holding an event.

Tom Chamberlain, president of the Oregon AFL-CIO, says McCain has shown he’s not willing to listen to working families:

Sen. McCain had an unprecedented opportunity today to show that he is as concerned about working folks as he is about his wealthy friends. Instead, he reaffirmed that he doesn’t share the priorities of working folks and he is not the candidate to turn around America.

Several thousand Detroit-area school kids will get a sneak peak at the 70th annual AFL-CIO Union Industries Show tomorrow when, before the doors open to the public, they get a preview of the more than 300 exhibits and interactive games at the Cobo Center.

The 2008 America@Work show, sponsored by AFL-CIO Union Label and Service Trades Department (UL&STD), runs through Sunday. It spotlights the skills and services of union workers throughout America and the Made-in-the-USA products they produce. The displays feature the latest technology and union craftsmanship.

Alan Kistler, who held union cards as a hotel elevator operator, copy boy, cub reporter and steel mill laborer shoveling molten steel and spent 13 years as the director of the AFL-CIO's Organization and Field Services, died May 10 at his home in Silver Spring, Md. He was 87.

Said AFL-CIO President John Sweeney:

All of us in the union movement mourn the death of Alan Kistler, one of the most respected, creative, and best-loved leaders in our movement for more than a half-century.