Portside

The presidency of Donald Trump has ushered in a fresh wave of withering attacks on public employees at the federal level. Just days after taking the oath of office, Trump imposed a federal hiring freeze. And a new bill moving through Congress would eviscerate civil-service protections, making it easier to fire career government employees without due process. The president's proposed fiscal year 2018 budget is so austere that it would, according to the Washington Post

A Black-run worker’s organization in French Guiana is leading mass protests against the French government, demanding higher wages and protesting the poor quality of social services.

The South's manufacturing renaissance comes with a heavy price.

No candidate has ever run for the presidency promising to raise the retirement age, end formal employment protection and greatly expand outsourcing. Nobody would ever get elected saying these things. The only way to remove the labor rights that we fought for over the last 100 years was through a coup such as the one in Brazil that forced Dilma Rousseff out of office. Workers have responded by strikes, demonstrations and massive rallies.

Gold's Gym's personal trainers set to become first U.S. fitness professionals to form a labor union.

Study after study after study demonstrate that independent, remote workers are more productive, satisfied, and engaged than their office-bound colleagues. Recent surveys find that workers, freed from the constraints of office life, report higher levels of satisfaction and greater productivity. These results aren’t surprising since remote work eliminates the wasted time of commuting and the stress of constant exposure to office politics, interruptions and meetings.

In his first book, Seattle-based union organizer Jonathan Rosenblum recounts the personal stories of clergy, activists and airport workers who mounted the first successful campaign for a $15 minimum wage in the U.S. Here is an interview with Rosenblum.

Well, I think that the auto companies typically complain every time they're required to make either their cars safer, or in this case safer for the environment, by having better fuel efficiencies, and they will complain bitterly how expensive if it is. But we have to realize that General Motors, has been making billions of dollars a year, and that's with the introduction of the electric car, with higher efficiencies mandated by the Obama administration.

Thoughts that huge tax cuts to high-income households will offset a downturn in automobile sales, cuts in public spending, rising college tuition or a dismantling of the health sector are irrational. If theFed raises interests rates, it will threaten a more fragile economy than appears at the moment. The drive to be “normal” in a world that is clearly not normal, may put us in danger of a downturn that will be difficult to recover from.

Trump is visiting Ypsilanti, Michigan on Wednesday. In an unprecedented move, "Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and General Motors told workers they will transport them to and from Trump's rally, provide lunch and cover their pay for the day if they miss a shift at their plant. Ford will do the same, but will not cover their pay." These companies have never before brought workers to a rally for a President and given them the day off. Some UAW Local Presidents opposed this.