Portside

There is a growing impatience with austerity among public-sector workers, as the government prepares a budget for 2014 that will inflict a seventh year of spending cuts and tax increases. Irish governments have sought to control costs in response to the country's worst-ever property and banking crisis that started over five years ago. The country is obliged by its bailout with the European Union and International Monetary Fund to public sector spending and jobs cuts.

New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority refused to change its plans to spend $34 million on Chinese steel to repair the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge.

More and more unions are turning to one-day or other short-term strikes to add punch to contract campaigns. Walmart, fast food, and other non-union workers have also used the tactic to demand changes in wages, working conditions, and safety, and to protest discharges.

Home Care workers in the state of Vermont have overwhelmingly voted to be represented by AFSCME.