Portside

Drawing from research in labor and economic history, this post evaluates the validity of each of these claims; overall, while it’s likely that automation will benefit socially aware individuals, it’s less likely to reduce the gender gap in employment.

Their is a connection between mass incarceration and mass deportations. The broken prison system is linked to the conditions in detention centers and the overall mass criminalization of communities of color. The labor movement is a movement of second chances and firmly believes the criminal justice system in the United States needs to offer people another chance to contribute to and be full members of our society.

Unlike a traditional union, which contractors typically cannot form, the new Independent Drivers Guild will not be able to bargain over a contract with Uber. The drivers will be able to appeal decisions by Uber to bar them from its platform, and can have guild officials represent them in their appeals. Also, they will be able to buy discounted legal services, discounted life and disability insurance and discounted roadside help for problems they encounter while driving.

Unlike a traditional union, which contractors cannot form, the new Independent Drivers Guild will not be able to bargain over a contract that would stipulate fares, benefits and protections. But with Guild representation, drivers will be able to appeal decisions by Uber to bar them from its platform. Also, they will be able to buy discounted legal services, discounted life and disability insurance and discounted roadside help for problems they encounter while driving.

Since 1900 life expectancy at birth has risen from 47 to 79, nearly doubling the average American lifespan. But death rates of U.S. whites aged 45 to 54 increased by 8% from 1999-2013- all among whites with a high school education or less. But efforts to explain the numbers have confused or obscured race and class, creating much misunderstanding. As Jack Metzgar argues, there are no simple answers in describing trends for white workers without college degrees.

The leaders of two of the nation’s biggest, most powerful labor unions — the Service Employees International Union and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees — are completing a plan that calls for unusually close cooperation in political campaigning, organizing and bargaining in states and cities across the United States.

Proposed cuts would have slashed members' pension checks by 50% or more.

A new union federation in South Africa is being formed through the leadership of unions and individuals expelled from Cosatu with the aim of organizing the unorganized -- Cosatu denounced the move as divisive and as leading away from the struggle for jobs and against monopoly capital.

Trump's voters are better off economically compared with most Americans. The definition of "working class" and similar terms is fuzzy, and narratives like these risk obscuring an important and perhaps counterintuitive fact about Trump's voters: The median household income of a Trump voter so far in the primaries is about $72,000, based on estimates derived from exit polls and Census Bureau data. That's well above the national median household income of about $56,000.

The actions by the Verizon workers show that it is possible to fight back against the power of employers to dictate the terms of the employment relationship. They remind us that the supremacy of big corporations, like technological changes and market forces, are not inevitable but reflect political and managerial choices. It appears workers are finally finding a way to counter the corporate strategies that have defined—and held back—the U.S. economy in recent decades.