Brett Voorhies (USW) is president of the Indiana State AFL-CIO, a federation of more than 400 local unions representing nearly 300,000 working Hoosiers.

When [Vice President] Mike Pence returns to Indiana on Thursday, he’ll find Hoosiers in the grips of a crisis unlike anything we’ve witnessed in generations. Cases of the coronavirus are climbing, our health care system is being overwhelmed and countless working people are being forced to choose between our health and a paycheck.

We need more than a photo-op. We need help, and we need it now.

The U.S. economy lost 20.5 million jobs in April, taking payroll employment back to levels last seen in spring 2011 when the economy was recovering from the Great Recession, and the unemployment rate jumped by a historic amount to 14.7%, according to figures released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The unemployment rate for white males is 12.4%, the largest for white men in the post-World War II era and the first time it has been in double digits since that era. 

Welcome to our regular feature, a look at what the various AFL-CIO unions and other working family organizations are doing across the country and beyond. The labor movement is big and active—here's a look at the broad range of activities we're engaged in this week.

Happy Asian Pacific American Heritage Month! Let’s uplift Asian American and Pacific Islander workers this month⁠—those who are on the front lines of  COVID-19 and those who are on the front lines of our families and communities.

The United States now has more than a million reported coronavirus cases, by far the most of any country in the world. The health of our nation, physically and economically, depends on the safety of our workers.