Portside

On May 1, 2017 millions of immigrant workers will engage in public resistance to the Trump administration. In some places that resistance will include labor strikes and boycotts. Millions will march in cities and towns all across the country. We pledge to support these protests and will urge our organizations' leaders and members to participate in whatever way we can.

New York State's constitution mandates that every 20 years a referendum be held on whether to hold a constitutional convention. Some government reform groups are advocating a "yes" vote, but so too are right-wing groups that want to eliminate worker rights and social service protections. Unions are therefore urging a "no" vote this November, just as they did in 1997.

The building trade unions are basically pro-Trump. They like his positions on infrastructure including his position on building the Keystone Pipeline. His withdrawing from the Trans-Pacific Partnership is viewed favorably. Many of the public service unions are very much opposed to what they they perceive as his anti-worker agenda.

The wage gap between men and women in the U.S. shrunk drastically in the 1980s and early 1990s, as women joined the workforce in increasing numbers and earned degrees at higher rates, but the gap has remained relatively stagnant since the mid- to late 1990s. There's one major detriment to financial equality that women can't seem to shake: motherhood.

The attack on public sector unions intensifies. Public sector unions must now form audacious, coalitions and alliances with private sector unions, and those secular and spiritual organizations.

For five weeks teachers in Argentina have been on strike almost continuously, using the days they do go to school to explain to students and parents the reasons for their conflict with the national government.

National Labor Relations Board judge sides with union Communications Workers said group was anti-union tactic

We need to radically change the way we see our history otherwise we end up with incorrect assumptions that permeate the way we think. U.S. immigration policy historically had injustice built into it creating untold human suffering. Moreover, it is difficult to separate immigration policy from foreign policy. No one wants to leave their homes unless it is a refugee situation.

Noreen Farrell, director of the anti-sex discrimination law firm Equal Rights Advocates, said Trump went "on the attack against workers and taxpayers." "We have an executive order that essentially forces women to pay to keep companies in business that discriminate against them, with their own tax dollars," said Farrell. "It's an outrage."

Chris Brooks of Labor Notes interviews Susan Williams, an educator who has worked at the Highlander Center for 28 years about popular education, organizing and movement history. Popular education is "based on the belief that people can do more than they think they can."