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Machinists Union Local Set to Vote on Boeing Contract

Maria La Ganga and W.J. Hennigan Los Angeles Times
Machinists, firefighters, Teamsters and other union members crowded into Meeting Hall B of the IAM's Seattle offices Thursday afternoon, just 13 hours before voting was scheduled to begin. They waved signs urging "Vote No," "Stop the War on Workers" and "Don't Sell Your Soul!"

Low-Wage Movement Strikes Fast Food Processing at Taylor Farms

Brian Tierney CounterPunch
Taylor Farms workers want more than a living wage. They want respect and dignity in the workplace. Instead, they endure unsafe working conditions and the company’s routine termination of workers who are injured on the job - So on a windy Thursday before Christmas, Teamster members in the region joined Taylor Farms workers and community allies in an Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) strike against the company.

The Life of a Fast-Food Worker

Sasha Abramsky The New Yorker
Across the country, for the past several months, workers have been walking out of McDonalds, K.F.C.s and other fast-food companies, calling for a fifteen-dollar hourly wage. Fast-food companies say that this is unrealistic. Raise the hourly wage to fifteen dollars per hour, they argue, and local franchises, many of them operating with small profit margins, will either fail or have to lay off employees.

South Korea: Rail Workers, Repression and Resistance

Eric Lee Open Democracy
An almost unreported strike in South Korea, which has just come to an end, epitomises how a `free' market can be incompatible with the liberty of workers to defend their own security.

All I Want for Christmas is a Union that Fights Climate Change

Gary Engler Dissident Voice
Two pieces on the labor movement and climate change. First, an article by Gary Engler, who argues, "There is nothing more important than a healthy environment. Without that, all the other fundamentals — food, housing, education, family, leisure, pensions etc. — are at risk." Second, a link to a video interview of Sean Sweeney, by Laura Flanders.

Teachers Group Revealed as Funder Behind Pro Walsh PAC

Wesley Lowery The Boston Globe
The American Federation of Teachers was the donor behind One Boston, a PAC that paid for a $480,000 television commercial supporting Mayor-elect Martin J. Walsh during the final days of the Boston mayoral race.

IAM Disrtict 751 Urges Rejection of Boeing Offer

IAM District 751
If you have not already heard, we want to let you know that the International is forcing a vote on Boeing’s latest proposal on January 3, 2014. Due to the massive takeaways, your District 751 leadership is united with a recommendation that you reject this proposal. You need to look at the facts of the economic destruction you would have to live under for the next 11 years, without any opportunity to change any provisions of the contract.

In No One We Trust

Joseph E. Stiglitz The New York Times
Rising inequality means rising distrust: A study published last year by the National Academy of Sciences suggests that the upper classes are more likely to engage in what has traditionally been considered unethical behavior. . . Economic inequality, political inequality, and an inequality-promoting legal system all mutually reinforce one another. . . As always, it is the poor and the unconnected who suffer most from this, and who are the most repeatedly deceived.

The Battle for Seattle

Zach Cunnigham Talking Union, a DSA labor blog
Raising the floor for our lowest-paid workers is an absolute necessity, and continued victories in this area should be a priority for workers everywhere. However, these victories are not enough by themselves. For community-labor coalitions to reach their full potential, they must go beyond the political agenda that Richard Trumka outlined prior to the AFL-CIO’s convention. They must also be able to defend the gains that unionized workers have already won.

The Battle of Belo Monte

Marcelo Leite, Dimmi Amora, Morris Kachani et al Folha de S. Paulo
In the Brazilian state of Pará, an army of 25,000 workers is building the world’s 3rd largest hydroelectric plant, a controversial construction project –because of the dam’s low efficiency, its environmental impact and its effects on the Indians, riverbank-dwellers and the inhabitants of Altamira. Folha’s reporters spent 3 weeks in the region to put together the most comprehensive coverage –with 24 videos, 55 pictures, and 18 infographics (see links for full graphics).