Skip to main content

Washington, D.C. Lawmakers Approve $15 Minimum Wage, Joining N.Y., Calif.

Aaron C. Davis The Washington Post
The District’s move is the latest in a series of unexpected and rapid-fire victories for the $15-minimum-wage movement. What began as an audacious push by fast-food workers just a few years ago is evolving into a new labor standard, with state lawmakers in California and New York agreeing to implement a $15 minimum wage by 2022 and legislatures in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Jersey weighing similar measures.

Movement Against Antibiotic-Treated Meat

Emily Balsamo Euromonitor International
The movement against antibiotic use in meat and poultry in the United States is growing, with more and more producers pledging to forego the use of antibiotics in some capacity. As of 2016, it is estimated that only about 5-8% of meat is produced completely without the use of antibiotics, though the demand for and growth of the meat type is expected to dramatically change the landscape of the overall market.

The Real Housewives of Jane Austen

Sophie Gilbert The Atlantic
Why do reality television’s most popular stars so uncannily resemble the heroines of the 19th-century writer’s work?

Requiem for Cambodia

Charlotte Muse Sand Hill Review
How many devils does it take to make hell? The poet Charlotte Muse brings a requiem for the horror of Cambodia.

NLRB Curbs Justification for Permanent Replacements

Mark Gruenberg Workday Magazine
The decision is extremely important. Especially since the 1981 PATCO air traffic controllers strike – when President Ronald Reagan fired all the controllers, who struck over safety issues, and permanently replaced them – employers routinely fire striking workers and bring in “permanent replacements,” or threaten to, sometimes even before a strike begins.

Norway's Unions Confront Neoliberalism: A Country Report from a Meeting of Left Trade Unionists in European

Asbjørn Wahl Socialist Project
In the public sector, neoliberal, market oriented reforms have been the order of the day in Norway ever since the 1980s – regardless of what kind of government we have had. Increased control from above and increased demand for loyalty to management have contributed to undermining working conditions and workers’ control of their own work. Resistance against this development is slowly emerging.

In Syria, Keeping the Faith

Elizabeth Shakman Hurd Boston Review
In Burning Country, journalist Robin Yassin-Kassab and human rights activist Leila Al-Shami make plain that no matter how long the Syrian war rages or how distant a political settlement may appear, the world owes it to the Syrian people to hear their stories and support their cause. The book portrays the opposition as a movement of protest against Bashar al-Assad's brutal regime, something missed abroad amid the factionalism and power politics driving the conflict.

The Noise of Time

Leslie Rieder Christian Science Monitor
The Noise of Time, the new novel by Julian Barnes, is a fictionalized portrait of Dmitri Shostakovich, perhaps the most famous Russian composer of the Soviet era. Leslie Rieder, in this review, gives us a peek into the "utterly fascinating" tale Barnes has woven.