The 4th of July is a time of gathering with the family and friends but it is also an opportunity to celebrate what makes America great.

The commitment of public service workers like us is one of those distinct things that make our country unique. We drive the buses that get the children to school safely. We staff the public hospitals that provide vital health care. We drive the snow plows in the dead of winter. We are the men and women that put their life on the line in state prisons and county jails. We are AFSCME and, as you can see in this video, we make America happen.

And yet this commitment to America should also entail the desire of making it a better place to live in, a society where everyone has access to health care, enjoys retirement security and workers are free to join a union and bargain for a better future for their families.

As the political landscape shifts and the goal of taking back the White House for working families comes within reach, think about how you can help make this dream reality. Your commitment is the first step so that we can celebrate many more independence days in a country that is more fair and just… for everyone.

When it comes to the families of union activists, the fruit doesn’t often fall far from the tree. That’s especially true of Davida Russell, a bus driver and president of Local 744 of the Ohio Association of Public School Employees (OAPSE)/AFSCME Local 4. In the 1970’s Russell’s mom was a bus driver, too.

Last year, Russell enrolled at the George Meany Center’s National Labor College to pursue a bachelor’s degree, which she received this summer. As she learned more about the labor movement and how unions have made a difference in people’s lives, she recalled her own childhood experiences riding her mom’s bus through Cleveland, attending union meetings and watching her mom lead the fight when her co-workers at the Cuyahoga County Board of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities got tired of being mistreated and decided to form a union.

Russell’s memories became the foundation for a book – “The Birth of a Union: The Legacy of Noridean McDonald” – which is scheduled for publication in July. Russell considers the work a tribute to her mom. We consider it one more example of the deep roots that support all working families.

Whether it’s inspecting highways, plowing snow, directing traffic, driving buses, or designing roads and bridges, AFSCME transportation workers keep America moving.

If only the Bush administration would see things the same way.

Over the last few years, transportation workers across the country have endured corporate takeaways, shrunken paychecks and terminated pensions. The present administration, which has never met a job it didn’t want to privatize or send abroad, has sat idly by as corporations do what they please.

It is time to tell the government and the privateers that enough is enough. In the spirit of solidarity with our sisters and brothers of the International Association of Machinists, thousands of union members and representatives will gather today at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. for a “Transportation Day of Action.” Presidential candidates and labor leaders including President McEntee and Secretary-Treasurer Lucy will be speaking.

AFSCME alone represents nearly 140,000 transportation workers. We have an opportunity to show them and thousands of others in the transportation sector our support. Let’s make sure their message is heard in the White House and in the halls of Congress.

In the effort to make ends meet, many working families have learned an unforgettable lesson: Credit cards can be a double-edged sword when the convenience they provide turns into a nightmare of hidden fees and punitive rates. Union members, however, enjoy a distinct advantage with exclusive products such as the Union Plus Credit Card, known to AFSCME members as the AFSCME Advantage card.

Union Plus recently earned praise from Gerri Detweiler, a highly-respected consumer educator and credit expert, who called it a “good guy” example of “a card with strong protections for cardholders.” The card is available from Union Privilege, an organization providing union members and their families with valuable consumer benefits.

As Detweiler claimed, “Union Plus should be the standard, not the exception” when it comes to credit cards. Read more of what she had to say at the financial website CreditBloggers.com.

Four years ago today, President George W. Bush gave his “Mission Accomplished” speech from the deck of the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln and declared that major combat operations in Iraq had ended. As we enter the fifth year of this conflict, our troops are still in harm’s way and there’s no end in sight.

Four years later, more than 3,700 American soldiers have lost their lives in the military operations overseas – 3,328 in Iraq, and 378 in Afghanistan – and thousands more have been wounded. As yet another year passes after Bush’s political stunt, an American soldier in Afghanistan has stirred up a national debate by asking a good question: why don’t we lower the flag to half-staff when a soldier dies at war?

When the men and women in the U.S. armed forces make the ultimate sacrifice for our country, we should honor their service. Please sign the petition to ask Congress to amend the U.S. Flag Code to fly the flag at half-staff for one day when an American service member dies in combat.

Big Brother is not only watching. He is governing this country.

Rather than spend this National Library Week focused on the role of libraries in nurturing intellectual freedom and promoting opportunity for all, we are forced to reflect on the serial disrespect the Bush administration has shown librarians trying to protect their patrons’ privacy.

As Senate testimony last week made clear, under powers granted by the Patriot Act, the federal government can—and does—spy on the reading habits of ordinary Americans. Meanwhile, librarians across America are being forced to hand over our confidential records, only to be gagged from ever speaking about it under threat of criminal prosecution.

Shielding governmental treachery by criminalizing dissent is a classic tactic of despots and dictators used throughout history. In his latest blog on Huffington Post, President McEntee excoriates this administration for treating our civil liberties like an expendable luxury rather than the bedrock principle of our democracy.

If there’s one economic figure that under the Bush administration has continued to rise year after year, it’s corporate profits. Meanwhile, salaries remain stagnant. Don’t you think it’s time to take a hard look at how the national income pie is cut and who gets the biggest slice? (Pssst! Here’s a clue: It’s not working families!)

According to the latest report from the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, the U.S. national income paid to wage and salary workers fell from 52.4 percent in 2005 to 51.6 percent last year. At the same time, corporations raked in the highest amount of profits on record, hitting 13.8 percent in 2006.

The report also brings up some interesting facts about federal spending. Of the nearly $2.7 trillion spent by the government in FY 2006, some 21 percent of the budget ($557 billion) went to defense, homeland security and security-related activities. In contrast, social safety net programs like child care assistance and unemployment insurance made up just 9 percent ($250 billion) of the federal budget. Talk about misplaced priorities…

Working families contribute like no other group to the country’s economic well-being. As noted by the AFL-CIO blog, an average worker’s salary is only 15 percent higher than in 1980, despite a 67 percent increase in productivity. Isn’t it time we enjoyed more of the wealth we create?

April 15-21 is National Library Week, a time we come together to celebrate the contributions of libraries, librarians and library workers in our nation’s schools, campuses and communities. As America’s largest union for library workers, this is always a special week for AFSCME. But this year, we’re prouder than a peacock to take this occasion to highlight the achievement of one of our own, Susan Patron.

Patron was a longtime senior librarian at Los Angeles Public Library and member of AFSCME Local 2626 (Council 36). She is also an accomplished author of children’s books. AFSCME ran a full-page advertisement in the April 15 New York Times Book Review to mark National Library Week and to honor Patron for winning this year’s prestigious John Newbery Medal, the highest honor in children’s literature, for her book, “The Higher Power of Lucky.” What an achievement!

Libraries and librarians are more relevant than ever, providing a 24/7 information delivery service. Despite ongoing funding challenges, libraries today are enjoying a golden age in which public, school, college and university library use is on the rise. More than 2 billion items were checked out last year, and librarians serve nearly 1.8 billion visitors annually.

So hats off to sister Patron—and all of the 20,000 dedicated library workers of AFSCME. Our libraries work because you do.

On April 4, 1968 Dr. Martin Luther King lost his life in Memphis, Tenn., where he had gone to support African-American sanitation workers striking for recognition of their AFSCME Local 1733 union. Forty years later, Dr King’s legacy of social justice is carried on by the men and women of AFSCME as they fight for a better life for working families.

This is why our union is helping raise funds to build the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial, a four-acre tribute to be built on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Scheduled for completion in 2008, the project will stand adjacent to the FDR Memorial and in a direct line between the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials.

The International Union has already donated $100,000 to help build this dream. We now invite all AFSCME affiliates, members, friends and supporters to contribute to this initiative.

To find out how you can make your own tax-deductible donation, visit the special section of our website or download the contribution form (PDF).

It’s no mystery that public employees are regularly targeted by hired guns hell-bent on portraying a negative image of these hard working Americans and the jobs they perform. AFSCME Council 4 in Connecticut has produced a television commercial designed to dispel those notions and send a clear message that public employees are “Proud to Serve You.”

“Proponents of privatization may paint a negative picture of public service workers, but the fact is that the people we represent are hard working, dedicated and efficient. This commercial reflects that spirit,” Council 4 Executive Director Sal Luciano told The Herald of New Britain, Conn.