Portside

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.

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.

Labor unions issue statements on Ferguson.

We need your help. We don't intend to stand still. The Left has a big role to play in the battles ahead -- including forging a vision of a society in which there is more, not less, democracy, equality and economic security. It's a diverse and vibrant Left, and it is the mission of Portside to promote it. In the next year, we will improve and expand Portside, making it easier to use, to search and to share. We need your contributions to guarantee 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.

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.

Legislation by Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn and the Illinois Legislature, would have made deep cuts to employees retirement benefits. The so-called "pension reform law" was ruled unconstitutional by a Illinois Circuit Judge today.

At its peak in August 1917 the IWW had a membership of more than 150,000. Nine months later, the union was in total disarray. This sad state of affairs was, of course, partly the result of a calculated decision by the federal government to destroy the IWW. But only partly. Eric Chester's book looks at some the inner-conflicts within the organization that contributed to its demise.

Protests are intensifying against the Jobs Act, the labor market reforms drawn up by Prime Minister Matteo Renzi (Democratic Party, PD). After a series of protests tow major unions have called for a one day general strike in both private and public sectors on December 5.