Portside

The fight for democracy must infuse every union’s mission. If it does not, then the very survival of both democracy and the union movement will be imperiled.

On Thursday the Municipal Labor Council voted to shunt up to 250,000 city retirees into a for-profit Medicare Advantage plan.

The shrinking of unions effectively redistributes income from low- and middle-income workers to affluent investors.

‘Non Una di Meno talks about striking from consumption, from housework, or even dressing a certain way when it is not really possible to refrain from work. And one can also strike from gender as such.'

Nearly 500 workers represented by the United Public Workers AFSCME, Local 646, AFL-CIO have been on strike since Feb. 22, 2023, seeking a new contract with better wages.

As Starbucks Workers United expands from shop to shop, workers face an onslaught of union-busting tactics. But union fever is spreading rapidly as workers at over 400 locations have filed petitions for union elections, with more planning to do so. 

"The bosses acted as if women were unqualified to do anything except type, file, staple papers, collate, alphabetize and make photocopies and coffee,” said Ellen Cassedy, founder of 9 to 5, the national association of women office workers.

Nothing in the NLRA, however, requires a union to agree to a no-strike clause. Moreover, because a no-strike clause is a mandatory subject of bargaining, the union may strike to keep it out of the contract.

Largely ignored is the positive role veterans from working-class backgrounds have played in key labor and political struggles since the mid-20th century.

Mine workers at the Warrior Met coal mine in Alabama who walked off the job in April 2021 just decided to end their strike and go back to work.