Portside

How otherwise progressive unions stand in the way of a more humane correctional system.

Foxconn has announced that workers will be able to vote for union representatives at their factories. The plan, according to news reports, is to allow workers to elect “junior workers” to represent them in a union leadership structure historically dominated by management and officials.

The life and work of Jon Fromer; Readers comments on Movements Making Noise; Eslanda Robeson; Roots of Poverty; Gangster Bankers; Climate Rally; The Rise of the Permanent Temp Economy; three NYC events - Film Screening - Nothing But A Man; Book Party for Henry Foner; China in Revolt: A Roundtable; video announcement - Building On-The-Job Organizing Networks

The American labor movement is once again facing a most controversial issue - the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. While labor leaders weigh the pros and cons of building KXL, they should keep in mind that the pipeline is as much a threat to our economy as it is to our planet. After a year of extreme weather - at an extreme cost to the economy - this age old jobs vs. environment debate is emerging as a false choice.

Not only have leaders from Ecuador to Venezuela delivered huge social gains - they keep winning elections too

Emad Burnat, Palestinian director of Oscar nominated "5 Broken Cameras" was held by immigration at LAX as he landed to attend Oscars. He, his wife & 8-yr old son were placed in a holding area and told they didn't have the proper invitation on them to attend the Oscars. "It's nothing I'm not already used to," Emad late said "When you live under occupation, with no rights, this is a daily occurrence." - from Michael Moore (on Twitter)

The Supreme Court will decide whether to strike a key part of the Voting Rights Act, which conservatives say is outdated and unfair to the South. As many as 5 million votes may have been lost in 2012 had the U.S. Department of Justice not been able to use Section 5 to block voter suppression initiatives in Texas, South Carolina and Florida.

"In Brazil and India, machines are already starting to do primary care, because there’s no labor to do it,” says Robert Kocher, an internist, “They may be better than doctors. . ." The rising costs of health care, an aging population in the United States and other nations, are spurring investments into the development of sophisticated machines that will be able to perform tasks now done by highly skilled workers. What may be the impact on the healthcare workforce?