On April 16, 1199SEIU members working at four nursing homes owned by Alaris Health gathered together in North Bergen, NJ, with one goal in mind—to lay the groundwork for winning union contracts that will protect and improve their job standards in 2014 and beyond. The union’s current contracts at Alaris facilities expired on March 31.

The world’s working people have lost one of their great defenders.

Basil Paterson, who dedicated his life to the struggle for civil and labor rights, died on April 16 at Mt. Sinai Medical Center in New York City. He was 87. His wife, Portia, his sons, Daniel and David, and five grandchildren survive him.

Nearly 200 caregivers and community supporters picketed in St. Petersburg and Miami on April 10th to protest Greystone Healthcare Management’s practice of understaffing its nursing homes and underpaying its workers.

During the recent three-day strike by 1199SEIU members at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Vondalette Jones, a support associate who has worked at Hopkins for 28 years, made her own creative sign—and accompanying monologue—to explain the impact of poverty wages paid by the so-called #1 hospital in the U.S.

Labor unions in the U.S. are at a crossroads and workers of color—particularly women, and immigrants— figure prominently in how well they move forward. Big labor, now down to representing only about one in every 10 American workers, knows this. But incorporating immigrants and non-union and unemployed workers will also mean addressing their community issues, too—like mass incarceration and immigration reform.

The 1,400 nurses and caregivers at Prince George’s County Hospital Center, Laurel Regional Hospital and other health care facilities in Prince George’s County, MD have filed charges of unfair labor practices against Dimensions Healthcare System and will picket three of the system’s facilities on April 16.