Portside

As another International Women's Day rolls around March 8, women workers are still facing down infuriatingly familiar challenges—including the persistence of workplace sexual harassment, especially for those of us working low-wage jobs.

It is time to raise the sub-minimum wage. The tipped wage of restaurant workers has been stuck at $2.13 an hour since 1991. A proposed bill in Congress would raise the minimum wage to $10.10 by 2016 and the sub-minimum wage to $7.10 by 2019.

"Moral Mondays" movement spreads in South as a coalition of the NAACP, other activist organizations, including unions, rallied Monday in Tallahassee, one day ahead of the opening of Florida's 2014 legislative session.

Though the unions held themselves up as civil rights advocates, white workers often saw their black counterparts as a threat because they competed for the same jobs. In response, black workers formed coalitions to change unions from within. The Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, for example, was founded in 1972. One union stood out when it came to opportunity and access for black workers: the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters with its significant black membership.

The agreement calls for an immediate 4.5% pay increase as a signing bonus and then across-the-board 3% raises annually through 2016, plus an additional 2% each year for many employees within certain longevity and pay categories, according to UC. The lower-wage workers will not have to pay any increases for some health insurance coverage.