This is a cross-post from the Georgia AFL-CIO.

Attempting to capture the excitement of union members leading up to the runoff election in Georgia, Jimmy Hyde, Georgia AFL-CIO state director, spoke about the enthusiasm he sees on a daily basis while working on the campaign. Hyde describes what he sees as opportunities the labor movement has to enact real change.

The labor movement is coming together in a way I never saw before. I have a long history of working on political campaigns in Georgia, but never saw the kind of enthusiasm that our members now have about doing our program....Union members are excited about sending out local union mail, phone banking and handing out worksite leaflets, and that is why we are going to win on December 2nd.

The smoke from the fires raging in Southern California was so thick it nearly blocked out the sun at 2 p.m. last Saturday in Orange County.

The AFL-CIO’s Community Services Network is joining with its partners at United Way in Southern California to help survivors of the devastating wildfires in that area. So far, the fires have destroyed nearly 1,000 homes and apartments and burned 42,000 acres, or 65 square miles, forcing mass evacuations.

The United Way recently launched the Southern California Fire Fund to help support agencies provide services in the areas destroyed by the fires and develop strategies to address the long-term needs of the communities affected.

AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker, a member of United Way’s national board, says:

Union members respond when their neighbors are in need. Not only are we there as first responders, but we help restore communities through our generosity and hard work. That’s why we support the United Way’s Southern California Fire Fund—it’s a step towards helping rebuild neighborhoods that were devastated by the recent wildfires.

Our own Damon Silvers, AFL-CIO associate general counsel, is one of three members appointed to the Congressional Oversight Panel, an entity mandated by Congress as part of the initial Wall Street bailout bill passed in October. The panel is charged with reporting on the Treasury Department's effort to stabilize our nation's financial system and make recommendations to improve it.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) appointed Silvers, along with Harvard professor Elizabeth Warren, best known for her work on bankruptcy issues, and New York Superintendent of Banks, Richard Neiman. House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) have not yet made their two appointments to the panel.

The panel must report to Congress every 30 days and issue final recommendations by Jan. 20, 2009 (otherwise known as the day President-elect Barack Obama is inaugurated).

Members of the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee (CNA/NNOC) joined several thousand LGBT, civil rights, labor, community and religious activists in San Francisco in recent days in a demonstration calling for marriage equality.

Along with the San Francisco rally, tens of thousands of people took part in rallies backing equal marriage rights for all and protesting the Nov. 4 passage of Prop. 8 in California, which bans lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) couples from the right to marry.

According to the Los Angeles Times, civil rights groups, religious organizations and local governments have filed six lawsuits asking the California Supreme Court to declare the measure an illegal constitutional revision.