Do your part in getting friends and family out to vote for pro-working family candidates this Tuesday. Sign up for the Workers' Voice Friends and Neighbors (FAN) online social phone bank tool that is available in key battleground states. 

Start phone banking here: http://go.aflcio.org/Phone-Bank.

If you're in New Jersey and need assistance locating Hurricane Sandy resources, here are some links to get you started:

NJ 2-1-1 Hurricane Response and Recovery

http://www.nj211.org/hurricane.cfm

"The Role of Government During Natural Disasters" is a cross-post from the IAFF Frontline Blog by Rich Duffy of the Fire Fighters (IAFF).

The devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy across the mid-Atlantic and Northeast is a great example of why we need a centralized federal government that can respond to states and communities in need of disaster relief.  Hurricane Sandy also underscores a very important issue for Americans, and that is what role the federal government should play in during a disaster (man-made or natural).

The AFL-CIO has filed a friend of the court brief in a case before the U.S. Supreme Court in which an employer is attempting to avoid paying its workers back wages. The case centers on a Pennsylvania nurse, Laura Symczyk, Genesis Healthcare Corp. and methods employers are using to get around paying wages due under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

The National Employment Law Project (NELP) has a new disaster unemployment insurance (DUA) fact sheet for those affected by Hurricane Sandy in the hardest hit counties in New Jersey, New York and Connecticut.  

Read the rest of NELP's DUA fact sheet on its blog. 

In addition, Union Plus Disaster Relief Grants of $500 are available to help participants in the Union Plus Credit Card, Insurance or Mortgage programs who are facing financial hardship because of recent severe weather. Visit www.unionplus.org/sandy.  

Hotel workers, broadcast technicians, TV and theater employees are just some of the workers who’ve recently joined AFL-CIO unions.

The 705 workers at Levy Restaurants at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., the new home of the Brooklyn Nets, won union recognition with UNITE HERE Local 1 through a majority sign-up agreement in which an employer agrees to recognize the worker’s choice of a union when a majority of workers sign union authorization cards. 

After you vote Nov. 6 (if you haven't voted already), join us on the AFL-CIO Now blog for live coverage and an interactive chat on Election Day, starting at 9 a.m. ET. We'll be providing updates from the states, info on voter protection and the inside scoop on what we're hearing from America's workers and union members. Bookmark www.aflcio.org/Election2012Live or sign up for an email reminder below. 

Ladies and gentleman, meet the tax-dodging gazillionaires behind Fix the Debt, a billionaire-funded group of millionaire CEOs trying to take away your retirement security and raise your effective tax rate while lowering their own tax liability.

Fix the Debt bills itself as a “non-partisan movement to put America on a better fiscal and economic path.” However, the group touts a non-specific tax plan that members are calling “Simpson-Bowles Plus,” a plan that cuts Social Security and Medicare benefits, guts tax credits and benefits that many working families rely on, widens tax incentives for corporations to offshore jobs and lowers tax rates for corporations and the wealthy. Basically, it’s a wish list for millionaire CEOs!

In an article on CNN.com, President Obama made his closing argument for the 2012 election by laying out his vision for the country in his second term.

What is your vision for the future of the country? Log in and comment below. 

Menards, the third-largest home improvement chain in the United States, encourages its employees to take a so-called "economics" course online that contains staunchly anti-Obama content and, while it doesn't endorse Mitt Romney, it talks in positive terms of policies similar to those the Republican presidential candidate has proposed.