Portside

Fast food workers plan another nationwide strike on December 4. Ricky Eisenberg provides some background on the campaign.

Hundreds of Los Angeles teachers have been put on leave and in limbo. It’s been called “teacher jail,” and it’s not far off from the “rubber rooms” New York City tabloids have made famous. In both places, the tactic is used to scapegoat teachers and unions.

Twenty years after the first living-wage law was passed in Baltimore, the campaign’s lead organizer warns that the model has been watered down.

Wal-Mart, Target, Macy's, Radio Shack and other retailers are requiring their low-paid workers to report. Why? There is nothing essential about buying gewgaws, gizmos and garments from these mass marketers of consumer excess that warrant them forcing their employees to give up their family meals on this one day of Thanksgiving.

Madison teachers recertify their union. Governor Scott Walker's anti-labor legislation requires 51percent of voters to vote for their union every year.

Labor unions issue statements on Ferguson.

Just in time for Black Friday and the holiday shopping season, the measure —aimed at giving retail staffers more predictable schedules and access to extra hours —will make the worker-friendly city even friendlier.

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We need your help to keep going. We don't intend to stand still. In the next year, we will improve and expand Portside, making it easier to use, to search and to share. Early next year we will initiate a new daily post, dealing with books, films, poetry, food -- with a left slant. We plan to add music, sports and health. Even with volunteer effort and modern technology, Portside costs money. We need your financial contributions to guarantee that we survive and grow.

More than 500 teachers union members and supporters gathered late Thursday afternoon at Mariachi Plaza in Boyle Heights to rally for their contract demands. United Teachers Los Angeles is putting forward an agenda on staffing levels, classroom conditions and policies aimed at improving academic results.