Portside

With the election breakthrough by a rank-and-file caucus, the UAW is set for a landmark test of how union reformers, both at the very top and in the ranks, will be able to turn the course of a major industrial union.

Iranian American screen polymath Payman Maadi (who made such an impact in films such as Asghar Farhadi’s A Separation) is Samad, a cop waging an apparently unwinnable war on drugs in the Iranian capital. Having rounded up a vast community of addicts living and dying within a hellscape of giant concrete pipes, Samad and his deputy, Hamid (Houman Kiai), treat their captives like cattle, stripping and humiliating them, herding them from one overcrowded prison space to the next.

Activists known as “salts” have been a key to recent successful organizing campaigns. And they say they’re just getting started.

Socialists from many organizations took jobs in NYC transit in the 1980s. A new paper examines: What were the strategies that guided them? What did they accomplish? What caused the collapse of their union reform project? What are lessons for today?

Alon Shaya believes food can help people connect; sharing a meal is a powerful tool against the rising hate against Jewish people and everyone else. “Through cooking, you can share these stories with the goal of stopping prejudice and ending hate."

Despite the ravages of deindustrialization, the United Auto Workers remain the US’s most important industrial union. Members recently elected a new leadership promising democracy, militancy, and an end to corruption. But change isn’t coming easy to the UAW.

Amazon's remake of Penny Marshall's classic movie is an exploration of sexuality, friendship, and baseball. It deserves more than just a four-episode wrap-up.

While the law requires employers and consultants to disclose their union-avoidance agreements, it provides an important exception when the consultant is merely providing the employer with “advice”.

Ukrainian refugee poet Oksana Maksymchuk depicts life in exile as “an endless cellar/that’s now her mind.”

In Jakarta, women take to the roads out of desperation. Drivers for ride-hailing platforms have a tough gig. For women in Indonesia, gender norms can mean they’re demeaned, and still carry responsibility for the household when they get home.