The AFL-CIO has released a new Executive PayWatch website, linking the compensation schemes for top executives at financial companies and the sub-prime mortgage crisis. The website also unveils a comprehensive database of brand new CEO pay figures.

The CEO of a Standard & Poor’s 500 company averaged $14.2 million in total compensation in 2007. By comparison, the median pay for workers rose only 3.5 percent to $36,140 in 2007, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Well, it is time to post my first blog piece. There are a billion directions that this could go, and, trust me, I’ve spent time analyzing each one. I plan to give a quick introduction, hoping to illustrate my innate passion and unyielding commitment to working families before focusing more on what I know best -- work stoppages, negotiations and first contract fights. Here goes nothing . . .

I graduated high school at 17, lacking the finances to go to a four-year college. Not deterred, I enrolled in junior college and worked several jobs. I tutored English as a second language and learning-disabled adults out of the campus Learning Center. I also worked as a classroom aide in developmental courses, and spent nights at the campus bookstore. I would tell students that achievement was not out of reach, as long as their effort was unyielding.

I tutored a woman in her 50s named Linda, who suffered a brain injury that affected her short-term memory, focus and basic cognitive functions. She was always in the center. Afterwards she worked all night cleaning offices to make ends meet and eliminate medical bills.