Media Bits & Bytes - Summer Beach Reading Edition

Portside
US Army Blocks Access to Guardian Website, Americans Get More Leisure Time, Whether They Want It or Not; Ed Snowden Tries to Cool It to Stop Snooping; Paula Deen Hires DC's Real Fixer Queen; Big Tech And Gay Rights Arm-in-Arm; Fire Island Gets Switched to the Slow Lane on the Broadband Highway

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Brazil Update and Labor's Declining Share of National Income

Yana Marull and Bruce Bartlett
Brazilian President met with national union leaders to discuss their demands in an effort to avoid a July 11th general strike. Unions are seeking a reduced work day, stronger pensions, and increased resources directed to health and education. Also, new research reveals that workers' declining share of national income, due to technology-related productivity increases, is an international problem. Two articles are presented below.

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UAW's King Wants to Import German Labor Model to U.S.

Gabe Nelson and Amy Wilson Automotive News
UAW President Bob King, seeking to extend the union's base into auto plants across the South, has endorsed a German-style labor structure for a range of U.S. factories -- not just ones owned by German automakers such as Volkswagen AG but also Detroit Big 3 plants with existing UAW contracts and nonunion assembly plants in the South.

Fletcher Calls for Urgency and New Approaches to Organizing in Book Talk

Keith Quinnell AFL-CIO
Many in the labor movement recognize some of the problems that working people face, however there isn't enough urgency and there isn't a recognition that fundamental change is necessary. The opposition sees this as a tremendous moment to eliminate unions as a viable force for working people.

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Do private-sector unions still have a future in the U.S.?

Brad Plumer The Washington Post
Brad Plumer's blog post summarizes a long and interesting essay in the latest issue of "Democracy" that analyzes the decline, and long-term outlook, of private-sector unions in the United States. He highlights 3 factors: Taft-Hartley was the beginning of the end for unions in the private sector; labor’s recent attempts to launch new organizing drives aren’t working; and organized labor tends to expand only at rare points in history.

Can Unions Prevent Austerity from Killing Off the Middle Class?

By Gregory N. Heires The New Crossroads
If the September convention lives up to the spirit of today’s internal debate and AFL-CIO pursues policies recommended by the white paper, it stands to be the most significant convention since the 1995, when John J. Sweeny and his backers ousted the old guard Cold War warriors.

Reform Rekindled

Mark Brenner Labor Notes
Changes are happening. Despite the challenges, more unionists are taking on the job of reform, pushed by the desire to save their unions and keep employers from implementing their unfettered agenda. In the process they are bucking the conventional wisdom that workers should live with less than previous generations.

Tidbits - June 6, 2013

Portside
Reader Comments: Alice Walker Open Letter to Alicia Keys; Mideast; Israel; Palestine; Turkey; Bradley Manning; Electoral Strategy; Working Class, Racism; Trade Unions; Labor Movement; North Carolina Civil Rights Today; Fluoridation; Chinese Investment in the U.S.; Announcements - Left Forum, June 7 - 9; Iraqi Workers After the War - new video; Ruby Dee Documentary - June 26; Commie Camp - new film on Camp Kinderland - additional show - June 29

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How Unions Avert Tragedies, Save Lives

A building collapse in Philadelphia kills 6 - a non-union contractor with a shady history faces scrutiny - see 2 articles below. The factory collapse in Bangladesh that killed more than 1,100 workers is another glaring example of workers without union protection at the mercy of greedy employers and corrupt politicians. But this cycle can finally be broken if demands for change start to focus on workers’ right to form trade unions - see opinion column below.
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