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NYC: The Power and Politics of Norman Seabrook's Correction Officers' Benevolent Association

Will Bredderman and Jillian Jorgensen Observer
Politicians are eager to distance themselves after correction officers' union leader Norman Seabrook became the best-connected figure to fall in a corruption investigation by U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara. Seabrook was arrested on fraud charges, accused of accepting a $60,000 bribe—reportedly delivered by Jona Rechnitz, a donor of New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio at the center of a gift-for-favors scandal —in exchange for investing union money into a risky hedge fund.

U.S. Appeals Court Upholds 'Quickie' Union Election Rules

Daniel Wiessner Reuters
The Texas-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected claims by Associated Builders and Contractors Inc and a Texas chapter that the so-called "quickie" election rules violated employers' free speech rights and would lead to union harassment of workers.

"We Will Not Sit on the Sidelines": John Legend’s Proposal for Ending Mass Incarceration

John Legend Vox
In the past, unions sometimes shied away from knocking down systematic injustices, especially with regard to race. Not anymore. This is not the labor movement from last century. We will not sit on the sidelines. #FREEAMERICA is committed to joining others who are on the ground, doing the work to fix our broken criminal justice system. We are committed to standing with workers who are already in our schools standing between young people and the criminal justice system.

B&H Workers Train to Win

Sonia Singh Labor Notes
To accommodate workers’ tight schedules, “we had to be creative,” said Rodríguez. Trainings took place after work, often in the nearby Laundry Worker Center office, with small groups of six to eight workers, sometimes running from 8 p.m. to 3 a.m.

The Free-Spirited Journey of A Taxi Union Organizer

Sonny Singh Asian American Writer's Workshop
From sufism to reggae, from construction work to driving taxis, it has been a colorful ride for one of the co-founders of a taxi drivers union in New York.

Washington, D.C. Lawmakers Approve $15 Minimum Wage, Joining N.Y., Calif.

Aaron C. Davis The Washington Post
The District’s move is the latest in a series of unexpected and rapid-fire victories for the $15-minimum-wage movement. What began as an audacious push by fast-food workers just a few years ago is evolving into a new labor standard, with state lawmakers in California and New York agreeing to implement a $15 minimum wage by 2022 and legislatures in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Jersey weighing similar measures.

NLRB Curbs Justification for Permanent Replacements

Mark Gruenberg Workday Minnesota
The decision is extremely important. Especially since the 1981 PATCO air traffic controllers strike – when President Ronald Reagan fired all the controllers, who struck over safety issues, and permanently replaced them – employers routinely fire striking workers and bring in “permanent replacements,” or threaten to, sometimes even before a strike begins.

Norway's Unions Confront Neoliberalism: A Country Report from a Meeting of Left Trade Unionists in European

Asbjørn Wahl The Bullet
In the public sector, neoliberal, market oriented reforms have been the order of the day in Norway ever since the 1980s – regardless of what kind of government we have had. Increased control from above and increased demand for loyalty to management have contributed to undermining working conditions and workers’ control of their own work. Resistance against this development is slowly emerging.