Portside

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is pushing for 400,000 new visas for foreign workers, a demand that has been met with fierce resistance by labor unions and which could help derail an agreement between the two sides over an immigration reform bill being developed in Congress.

Just cause” protection is helpful because one of the main reasons private sector workers shy away from organizing is their fear of being fired.

Labor is in trouble which is not news to our readers. Michael Hirsch describes some of the obvious problems and some ways forward. He believes unions should have more of them against us approach. This was something Occupy Wall Street did very successfully. For a short period of time they changed the dialogue away from austerity to the needs of working period. Other ideas include community and union based electoral campaigns, workers papers, international organizing.

Thomas Perez, reported to be President Barack Obama's choice to lead the Dept. of Labor, stands to be a target of conservatives because of his unapologetic civil rights advocacy.