Portside

In the tumultuous 1970s, women and people of color streamed into unions, strikes swept the country — and employers launched a fierce counter-attack.

It’s actually illegal for teachers to strike in West Virginia. They’re doing it anyway. Thousands of public school teachers across West Virginia went on strike this week in protest over their pay and benefits, affecting more than 277,000 students.

Some companies are now using monitoring techniques—referred to as “people analytics”—to learn as much as they can about you, from your communication patterns to what types of websites you visit to how often you use the bathroom.

Leaders from the women’s and civil-rights movements, labor unions, environmental-justice groups, the religious community and others announced plans to mobilize in Foley Square on Feb. 24 during a massive, nationwide day of action. The Working People’s Day of Action, convened by the workers’-rights organization Jobs With Justice, will include events in dozens of cities across the country, according to the New York State AFL-CIO.

Power depends on correlation of strength. The bourgeoisie and its minions use the judicial power to suit their interests as if this was a monarchy, with no oversight by society. They trampled on the Constitution in order to reach their goals. The working class has only one space where it can exert its political power: mobilization on the streets.

Congress must decide whether to rescue these funds with low-cost loans, force them to cut benefit payments or let the funds go bankrupt and wipe out retirees’ entire pensions.

Despite campaign rhetoric, the Trump presidency has consistently attacked workers and worker rights.

The United Auto Workers won a union contract covering nearly 150 cafeteria workers at four Airbnb facilities. It’s the latest development in a unionization trend among tech companies’ sub-contracted staff. Share Better, a group backed by Unite Here, the hotel industry, housing groups and elected officials, said Thursday that the new Airbnb effort doesn’t go far enough.

Teachers and public employees have been demonstrating for weeks, including a massive all-day protest at the Capitol on Friday, asking lawmakers to fully fund the Public Employees Insurance Agency and increase pay.

The Uganda transport workers strategy for organising informal economy workers was based on understanding that these workers are often already organised, not within unions, but through credit and savings cooperatives, self-help groups, community-based organisations and associations.