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Stealing Labor

Anita Sinha ColorLines
We acknowledge that many workers do not get what they have earned. Interlaced with vulnerability and structural racism, the rampant rate of wage theft is one of the lesser known labor violations that far too many low-wage workers endure.

10 Things to Know About Revolutionary Cuba's Literacy Program

Daniel Alan Bey teleSUR
"To educate is to give man the keys to the world, which are independence and love, and to give him strength to journey on his own, light of step, a spontaneous and free being." - Jose Marti, Cuban independence leader, 1853-1895.

Time to End 40 Years of Class Discrimination on Abortion

Katie Klabusich Truthout
As the Hyde Amendment turns 40 in September, activists and legislators are seeking to permanently end the prohibition on federal funds from covering abortion care. According to sexual and reproductive health rights nonprofit group the Guttmacher Institute, between 18 percent and 35 percent of people insured by the federal Medicaid program who have experienced an unwanted pregnancy have been forced against their will to carry that pregnancy to term under Hyde.

Is Trump an Aberration? The Dark History of the “Nation of Immigrants”

Aviva Chomsky TomDispatch
Liberal Americans like to think of Donald Trump as an aberration and believe that his idea of building a great wall along the U.S.-Mexico border to prevent immigrants from entering the country goes against American values. After all, as Hillary Clinton says, “We are a nation of immigrants.” In certain ways, in terms of the grim history of this country, they couldn’t be more wrong.

A Union Is Brewing at Virginia Lipton Factory

Chris Brooks Labor Notes
Lipton brings tea from around the world through the Port of Virginia. At its single 20-acre plant in nearby Suffolk, 200 workers roast, blend, package, and warehouse it, producing over 6 billion bags a year. For years on end, these workers have been “drafted”—the company’s term for forced overtime—into working 13 straight days out of every 14.

People with Mental Illness are 16 Times More Likely to Be Killed During a Police Encounter

Amy Goodman, John Snook
Before this year, we basically weren’t even able to really provide a very effective number of how many people with mental illness were killed by law enforcement officers. We know, across the country, that people with a mental illness are languishing in jails and emergency rooms, because we simply don’t have enough hospital beds for them.

Trump's Tax Plan: Who Benefits?

Citizens for Tax Justice
The analysis shows the wealthiest top 1 percent of taxpayers’ share of the tax cut would be 44 percent. Apparently Donald Trump just can't get enough tax breaks.

A Victory and A More Substantial Defeat for the Cruel Sham Known as "Right to Try"

Orac Respectful Insolence
These laws explicitly remove patient protections. Doctors recommending right-to-try can’t be sued for malpractice or disciplined by their state medical boards, seemingly no matter how inappropriate or incompetently executed such a request might be. Nor can drug manufacturers be sued. Basically, these laws tell terminally ill patients: Good luck. You’re on your own.