Portside

Union interest is growing in the gaming industry

On the heels of an unprecedented 24-day labor strike late last year, around 20 journalists at the 117-year-old Fort Worth Star-Telegram have ratified the only union contract at a Texas newspaper.

Ninety-one percent of the graduate and professional student workers who participated in Monday's election voted to form a union.

Profound legal and political changes enacted in 2019 have undermined the monopoly of corrupt protection unions and opened the way for a transformation of Mexico’s labor relations regime.

At the height of the coronavirus pandemic, the American working class faced a paradox: workers were told they were “essential” and touted as “heroes,” yet they were often treated as sacrificial lambs.

First, employers want to take away the union’s statutory right to receive advance notice of any significant changes that might affect employees. Second, they want to take away the union’s legal right to bargain to agreement or impasse before the employer puts the change into effect.

The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Glacier Northwest v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 174 on Jan. 10. Justices Alito and Thomas might want to use this case to narrow what is considered “protected activity”. That would follow the pattern of the 2018 Janus v. AFSCME decision, which was preceded by another case where Alito disputed the 1977 precedent that public-sector unions may charge nonmembers fees for the costs of representing them.

A group of video game testers at Microsoft have formed the tech giant's first union, and Microsoft has signed off on it, according to Communications Workers of America, which represents the employees.

Howard Brown Health Center is well known as an LGBTQ-focused health provider and a stalwart Chicago progressive institution. Workers say that on the heels of their recent unionization, management is laying off 60 workers.

Momentum for unions and unionization efforts in art museums, art institutions, and art schools continued in 2022, as workers bargained for better conditions, held strikes, and even ratified contracts.