Portside

In this article Kristof acknowledges he was wrong about unions - As unions wane in American life, it’s also increasingly clear that they were doing a lot of good in sustaining middle class life — especially the private-sector unions that are now dwindling. "To understand the rising inequality, you have to understand the devastation in the labor movement,” says Jake Rosenfeld, a labor expert at the University of Washington and the author of “What Unions No Longer Do.”

IATSE is taking on Live Nation, the nation's biggest concert promoter because of its use of labor contractors who pay low wages and fail to ensure workplace safety standards. The union argues that the promoter, not the subcontractor is responsible,workers conditions -- an argument consistent with the NLRB ruling that McDonald's not its franchises were responsible for the conditions.

Republican Governor Bruce Raynor launches ferocious attack on organized labor in Illinois. The Governor has aimed his attack against both public and private sector workers. This goes beyond Wisconsin Governor Walker whose attack was mainly aimed at public sector employees.

The bloody history of mine workers in West Virginia is truly as dark as any dungeon, but the recent indictment of a mine owner suggests that maybe the tide has turned.

Karen Friedman, executive vice president and policy director at the nonprofit Pension Rights Center in Washington, is highly critical of the new law while acknowledging that pension reforms are needed. “We are not saying don’t fix multiemployer [plans],” Friedman said. But an act that allows plans to cut retiree pensions is “such a departure from current law,” she said. “It’s just such a buzz saw on retiree pensions.”

There is nothing new about Republican opposition to teachers unions, but in recent years, it has become increasingly clear that some Democrats have turned against them as well. In the following post we hear from a union leader, Bob Peterson, the president of the Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association, about how he thinks teachers union must change to keep alive public education.

"...owners said they would suspend the unloading of container and other cargo ships on Thursday, Monday and the weekend because of what they called "a strike with pay." The move followed a similar two-day limit on work last weekend that angered many port workers. They saw it as a ploy to punish them and increase pressure to settle on a new labor contract after nine months of negotiations, which continue with the aid of a federal mediator."

A powerful few benefit by dividing the Nigerian people along ethnic, religious and sectarian lines for political gain. Massive unemployment --particularly in Northern Nigeria -- has fed the insurgency; while Nigerian workers – bus and okada (motorcycle taxi) drivers, market stall holders, hawkers, teachers, commuters and others – are especially vulnerable to Boko Haram’s attacks.

Ann Wayt was fired in 2012, shortly after Affinity nurses voted to join National Nurses Organizing Committee-Ohio (NNOC-Ohio), a state affiliate of NNU. A lawsuit was filed and a jury awarded her more than $2 million in damages.

Ann Wayt, a veteran registered nurse, was awarded more than $2 million in damages by a jury. She was fired in 2012, shortly after Affinity nurses voted to join National Nurses Organizing Committee-Ohio, a state affiliate of the National Nurses United.