Portside

The Economic Institute reports "2014 Continues a 35-Year Trend of Broad-based Wage Stagnation." Those at the top are the only ones to have a real increase in pay.

The GDL union, which represents about one in 10 of railway operator Deutsche Bahn's nearly 200,000 workers, wants a 5-percent pay rise and a reduction in the working week to 37 hours from 39. It is also fighting for the right to negotiate on behalf of other employees including train stewards.

Last week actor Alec Baldwin sent out tweets bemoaning the "Fight fir $15" protests in New York City that he claimed made his life inconvenient. New York Times columnist Rachel Swarns responds to Baldwin.

United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA), the second largest teachers union in the country, has reached a tentative agreement with LA Unified, according to an announcement issued by UTLA late last night. The new contract would includes a 10 percent raise over two years, likely bringing to an end the threat of a strike that has been in the air since the summer.

Poor wages, precarious jobs, absence of benefits, no social security and denial of union rights are the patterns of the global fast food industry which relies on the labor of millions of workers employed by a few giant coporations operating under the names of different brands.

Under Trumka, labor has sought to extend its power by alliances, cooperating with African-American groups, immigrant groups, environmental groups and others as well as car wash workers and day laborers seeking to organizers. He points to the wave of Fight for $15 protests scheduled for April 15 as an example of a new way workers are flexing their muscles.

Low-wage workers cannot live on their current wages. The current movement for $15 an hour is motivated by that fact.

The Living Wage Foundation, which campaigns for companies to pay an enhanced income ensuring a basic standard of living (currently set at £7.85 an hour or £9.15 inside London), called on England’s Premier League (soccer) to pay a ‘living wage’ to full-time, permanent staff.

Teachers sue to join union without paying for political activities. Unions claim new suit is attempt to weaken them in the name of protecting teacher rights. The firm behind a case that could limit teacher job protections is now taking on issues with union dues. Another in the endless string of anti-union, anti-teacher lawsuits that pretend to protect worker rights.

As union elections near, elected officials can generally say things that employers cannot communicate without risking labor law violations. Neither companies nor unions, for instance, can create an “atmosphere of confusion or fear of reprisals” under election procedures. So long as politicians are not conspiring with either party to do that--a difficult fact to prove in itself--no such standard applies to elected leaders like Mayor Summey.