It could be an urban metropolis, a small town, a suburban community or a rural hamlet, but you'll know it when you get there. Workers walk a little taller because they make a living wage and get decent benefits. Families seem a little happier because parents have enough time left over from work to take their kids to a movie or a ball game.
Politicians tip their hats when they walk by a union hall.
And everyone from the biggest to the smallest business owner respects workers and the jobs they do. American workers and their families are hurting as they haven't since the Great Depression. Layoffs, downsizing and outsourcing have become the code words of a society more concerned with piling up wealth for a privileged few, rather than raising living standards for everyone. It sets out eight steps toward rebuilding our movement from the bottom up. Any AFL-CIO Central Labor Council willing to make a serious commitment can join the Union Cities Program.