Labor leaders say frustration over stagnating wages, declining health and retirement benefits, and soaring chief executive salaries has shifted the political landscape in labor’s favor.

Labor unions, delighted to have a friend in the White House, plan to push for legislation that would make it easier for workers to unionize.

The Service Employees International Union, the nation’s fastest-growing and most politically powerful union, said it was setting up an ethics commission after scandals at several of its largest locals.

After waging an aggressive public relations campaign against Wal-Mart for three years, the company’s union-backed critics, who once vowed never to let up, are lowering their pitchforks.

The Service Employees International Union, one of the country’s biggest unions, will call upon people to attend protests against buyout firms in July in 100 cities in 25 countries.