Portside

Anti-union laws don’t help the economy, don’t create jobs and don’t end ‘compulsory union membership’. They can only kill off unions

Anti-union laws don’t help the economy, don’t create jobs and don’t end ‘compulsory union membership’. They can only kill off unions

Last week SEIU and adjunct professors launched a national campaign calling for $15,000 per course.

Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback wants to make a decades-long bet that pension-fund returns will exceed current interest rates for taxable municipal bonds. “The use of pension bonds impugns an issuer more than a downgrade, because it shows they’re willing to saddle future generations with risk in order to make current budget discussions easier,” says Matt Fabian, a partner at Concord, MA-based research firm Municipal Market Analytics.

So far 3,800 workers are off the job. Non-striking refinery locals are getting 24-hour contract extensions each day. But the unions says, if need be, it will bring more sites out. It's the first national refinery strike since 1980. Back then workers at all represented refineries went out together, and stayed out for three months before they got a deal.

Trumka’s ambition to create connections between union members and non-union workers is still far from completely realized. Some say those links barely exist, even in blueprint form. Yet, his analysis points to an economy that is hurting all working people. This translates into a focus on immigration reform, ending mass incarceration and challenging inequality.

Oil workers belonging to the United Steel Workers of America put-up picket lines in Northern California, Texas, Kentucky and Washington State this week. It has been 35 years since Tony Mazzocchi helped lead a strike against big oil.

The court case could pose a major threat to public-sector unions whose clout grew in the 1970s after the high court upheld laws requiring all employees who benefit from collective bargaining to contribute to the union. Although teachers and other public workers may refuse to pay dues used to support a union's political activities, they can still be forced to pay a so-called "fair share" fee that covers operation costs.

Despite resistance, domestic workers in Lebanon held a founding conference for a new union. Seven women, from four countries, began organizing the union in 2012. The Ministry of Labor has tried to block the union but the workers have persisted and made history.

The Portside moderators send our heartfelt thanks to our Portside Labor readers, for coming through in response to our annual appeal! This year all Portside readers responded with the largest amount in contributions ever - nearly $19,000.