Portside

The OECD should be in the business of helping people build democratic institutions that give them economic and political voice—guardians of equality and democracy. The alternative to addressing wage stagnation and the status of working people in the global economy is not more of the same elite dominated globalization. The alternative is an escalating crisis where the false promises of authoritarianism and racism threaten to overwhelm the democratic ideal.

In the words of Illinois Network of Charter Schools president Andrew Broy, “Chicago has become the epicenter of charter union organizing in the country.”

In their claim against GEO, plaintiffs argue that the company violated the TVPA through it’s “Housing Unit Sanitation” policy which dictated that six detainees be randomly selected in each “pod” every day and forced to complete maintenance tasks without pay, under threat of solitary confinement.

A group of young professionals, who initially organized to protest the treatment of Tamils in Sri Lanka, went on to form the Young Tamil Nadu Movement to highlighting problems such as caste oppression, minority rights and gender inequality in the workplace. They have since established the Forum for Information Technology Employees with chapters in nine cities including Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Delhi.

"Oil industry company Halliburton has been branded “obscene” for advertising unpaid UK internships, which critics say give an unfair advantage to people from privileged backgrounds."

“The Trump administration’s rhetoric on immigration and its approach to enforcement have made immigrant communities obviously fearful in a new way,” says Laura Huizar, a staff attorney with the National Employment Law Project. “This is going to prevent a lot people from filing wage complaints that they otherwise would have.”

As organizers we have an obligation to review our prognostications and do some self-criticism when we are way off on our turnout calls. That was the case with our predictions for participation in the 2017 May Day immigrant rights protests.

The May 26 attacks on the MAX light rail train hit close to home for many local union members.

What is at stake for workers?

Thanks to grassroots organizing, the CLC, for the first time, took a clear position of solidarity with a Palestinian-led human rights campaign. The convention also showed progress on Indigenous rights, racism, queer or trans rights, mental health, and environmental justice. The potential of that progress, however, is limited by a "business-as-usual" approach by too many union leaders. What matters now is how union members act on the progress made.