Portside

There is nothing new about Northern factories moving to the south for lower labor costs, but starting in the 1960s, higher value manufacturing made the shift and had a more profound impact on the economy, reducing the economic divide. Meanwhile, the political divide between North and South has deepened, and the South has attempted to impose on the rest of the nation its opposition to worker and minority rightst-hrough the vehicle of a Southernized Republican Party.

Eight years after accepting a drastic two-tier system of wages and benefits—and nearly a decade since the first tier got a raise—the United Auto Workers are bargaining with the Big 3 automakers.

While there are clear correlations between structural racism in the criminal justice system and economic and social justice, each area is also a clear and present danger to life and health, as well as an infringement on the human rights of those affected and on American democracy. As nurses, we are dedicated to preventing all forms of illness, protecting health, and alleviating human suffering.

While it has become clear in the past three or four decades that electoral politics is a blunt instrument for radical change against the global strength of the corporate market, it is equally clear that the full realisation of people’s transformative capacities will be enhanced if those organising and sharing these capacities gain support from state bodies, local and national, through legislation, redistribution and measures.

The University of California, New York State, and Washington, DC move to increase the minimum wage. This continues a trend that is taking place across the country.

The fight to control the working day remains one of our most important labor struggles.

Unite Here Local 8 and Space Needle management have been through 11 federal mediation sessions over the last three years. Now management will implement pay raises contained in its last offer.

Unions have discovered that there are other ways to deal with workers who are not on their membership rolls. For example, for the first half of last year, AFSCME set out to organize as full members 50,000 of the fair share payers or other non-members in workplaces where they had contracts. They organized 90,000.

A special convention of Cosatu -- the Congress of South African Trade Unions -- concluded a special convention rejecting an appeal by the expelled metal workers union to rejoin the federation. The future of former Cosatu President Zwelinzima Vavi was also debated. Although the Federation's unity was preserved and its political orientation was, deep divisions remain.

The American Federation of Teachers executive council voted overwhelmingly to endorse Hillary Clinton in the Democratic Party primary for President of the United States on Saturday, July 11. The union has more than 1.6 million members. President Randi Weingarten said "Hillary Clinton is a tested leader who shares our values.