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Baja Labor Leaders Learned Tactics from Their Efforts in U.S.

Richard Marosi Los Angeles Times
A major agricultural labor action is entering its second week in Mexico, where such walkouts are rare. But workers report that they gained experience in the US - via the Coalition of Immokalee Workers in Florida, or with the UFW on the west coast - and those lessons helped inspire workers to organize and fight for their rights in Mexico.

UNITE HERE’s New Pro-Rahm Emanuel Ads Gush “Rahm Love” for “Mayor 1%”

MICAH UETRICHT Working In These Times
Of the numerous problems Rahm Emanuel is facing in his campaign for reelection as Chicago's mayor, two in particular stand out. One, Emanuel is widely perceived as anti-worker and anti-union while being a close ally to the city's financial elites. (He used to work as an investment banker, after all.) Two, he's widely acknowledged as being a jerk. The hospitality workers union UNITE HERE Local 1 has a solution: an ad campaign with workers emphasizing "Rahm Love."

Cesar Chavez, the UFW, and Why Unions are Needed

Duane E. Campbell Talking Union
The movement led by Cesar Chavez , Dolores Huerta and others created a union and reduced the oppression of farm workers for a time. Then the corporations and the Right Wing forces adapted their strategies of oppression. The assault on the UFW and the current reconquest of power in the fields are examples of strategic racism, that is a system of racial oppression created and enforced because it benefits the over class -- in this case corporate agriculture.

Adjuncts Struggle to Unionize at a Liberal College

Michelle M. Tokarczyk Working Class Perspectives
Adjuncts make up about 70% of the American professoriate. Adjuncts usually make $20,000–$25,000 a year, often by teaching courses at various institutions each semester. They have no job security, and frequently receive no health or retirement benefits. But they have begun fighting to improve their lot. SEIU is organizing in several states.

Mexican Farmworkers Strike over Low Wages, Blocking Harvest

Richard Marosi Los Angeles Times
Thousands of farmworkers went on strike in Mexico to protest low wages. The strike, the first of its kind in decades, had a wide impact, as workers blocked highways and stopped the harvest at the height of the season. Workers not only want higher wages, but their own independent union.

A Climate Protection Guide to Organized Labor

Joe Uehlein Labor Network for Sustainability
Crucial to winning labor support for climate protection is the idea of a “just transition.” The burden of policies that are necessary for society—like protecting the environment—shouldn’t be borne by a small minority who happen to be victimized by their side effects. Climate protection advocates should insist from the outset that part of any transition away from fossil fuels includes protection for impacted communities.