Portside

The nation's largest labor unions are ready and willing to help fight global warming, but are cautioning environmentalists that workers need new clean-energy jobs before existing industries are shut down.

Boston area part-time faculty are taking steps to organize. Service Employees International Union successfully unionized adjunct faculty at Tufts University last month.

The breakthrough came after the worker deaths in Walnut Creek on Saturday. By Sunday, union leaders said they were ready to make concessions. By Monday, both sides agreed to sit down and a deal was struck in time to get limited train service running for the Tuesday morning commute.

Jeff Crosby and Bill Fletcher Jr. analyze the September AFL-CIO Convention, stating, "This convention marked a long overdue strategic shift. The shift is to speak for the whole working class." Peter Olney responds, suggesting the federation may just be avoiding the hard questions they need to address.