Portside

A National Labor Relations Board hearing officer has ruled that Teach for America teachers should be included in the union at a Detroit charter school chain.

Verizon in 2005 was nearly 70 percent union. Today it's about 27 percent. "We cannot allow them to do what they are doing--and neither can the public," said newly elected CWA President Chris Shelton on the town hall call. "Because if they get away with it with us, they'll get away with it with everybody else, and there will be no more middle class in this country."

People say that the restaurant industry in Portland is incestuous – that everyone’s worked with everyone else – but that’s because people keep switching jobs in search of the mythical balance of tips to hours to number of shifts to physical demand.

Netflix offers its employees as much as one year of paid time off to new mothers and fathers.

The UAW is back in bargaining with the Big 3 Automakers. Will they end the two-tier wage and benefit system they agreed to 8 years ago? And if they do, can they end it by raising up the bottom tier, rather than taking cuts for the top tier?

Why Are Urban Teachers Being Trained to be Robots? As my students entered the room, I was supposed to say: "In seats, zero talking, page 6, questions, 1-4." But I don't even talk to my dog like that. Constant narration of what the students are doing is also key to the NNN teaching style. "Noel is is finishing question 3. Marjorie is sitting silently. Alfredo is on page 6."

Before winning over AFL-CIO, she hopes to gain backing of individual unions.

The policy shortens the timespan from when the board approves a union's request for a workplace organizing election to when that election is held to as little as 11 days. Previously, the process often took one to two months. The board formally announced the rule in December and it went into effect April 14.

When farmworkers migrate, they carry with them their organizing experience and transnational networks—and a powerful potential for cross-pollinating fights. Recent struggles in Baja California, Washington State, Vermont and Ontario all demonstrate the power of those connections.

"This ruling that overturns city pension cuts and protects the life savings of city workers is a win for all Chicago," AFSCME Council 31 executive director Roberta Lynch said. "All city residents can be reassured that the Constitution--our state's highest law--means what it says and will be respected, while city employees and retirees can be assured that their modest retirement income is protected."