Portside

As labor unions across much of the world struggle to increase their membership, how do workers get their employers to raise wages and assure safe conditions? That’s the question some of the world’s most innovative worker groups are asking. And they’re hopeful they have found a solution.

Mark Rosenthal died July 15, 2017. He was a rank and file trade unionist who helped change the face of the New York City labor movement in the late 1990's and beyond. He was a founding member of the Committee for Real Change in DC 37, AFSCME and President of Local 983. Steven Greenhouse's article in The New York Times in 1998 is the best obituary Mark could have.

Mark Rosenthal died July 15, 2017. He was a rank and file trade unionist who helped change the face of the New York City labor movement in the late 1990's and beyond. He was a founding member of the Committee for real Change in DC 37, AFSCME and former Local 983 President. Steven Greenhouse's article in The New York Times September 30, 1998 is a fitting tribute to Mark Rosenthal

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.

Four years ago a few hundred workers went on strike to demand a minimum hourly wage of $15. On Tuesday, in 340 cities across the U.S., thousands went on strike and protested under the Fight for 15 banner.

The Fight for 15 has grown into one of the nation’s largest progressive movements, alongside movements by undocumented immigrants, Black Lives Matter and environmental activists fighting global warming. Beginning with fast-food workers four years ago, the Fight for 15 now includes other groups, including childcare workers, home-care aides, airport workers and adjunct professors.

UAW members, prevented from working for four months, question the company’s claimed concerns over ‘stark economic realities’ in the aviation industry.

A decision for the plaintiffs in Friedrichs would tell the nation’s 6.2 million unionized state, city, county and school district employees that they can enjoy the benefits offered by their unions without having to pay for them. By some estimates, between 1 million and 2 million workers could be expected to stop paying union fees, at a cost to public-sector unions of $500 million to $1 billion a year.

With 1.3 million U.S. employees—more than the population of Vermont and Wyoming combined—Walmart is by far the nation’s largest private-sector employer. It’s also one of the nation’s most aggressive anti-union companies, with a long history of trying to squelch unionization efforts. “People are scared to vote for a union because they’re scared their store will be closed,” said Barbara Gertz, an overnight Walmart stocker in Denver.

If the unionization effort succeeds, it will be a big PR boost for the ailing labor movement. It will show that unions, which have focused in recent years on organizing low-wage workers, can also attract hip, highly educated workers, many of them Ivy League graduates. But if Gawker staffers reject the union, it will be an embarrassing blow to labor, especially because so much of the Gawker debate has been out in the open.