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University of Connecticut Graduate Assistants Vote To Form Union

Christine Stuart CT News Junkie
The 2,135 graduate assistants will become the largest union on the campus, followed by the faculty with about 1,700 members, and the staff union which has about 1,600 members. About 85 percent of UConn’s employees are unionized. “The university has been, and will continue to be, neutral with regard to this effort,” Stephanie Reitz, a spokeswoman for the university, said. “Individual graduate students are free to make their own decision."

University of Connecticut Graduate Assistants Vote To Form Union

Christine Stuart CT News Junkie
The 2,135 graduate assistants will become the largest union on the campus, followed by the faculty with about 1,700 members, and the staff union which has about 1,600 members. About 85 percent of UConn’s employees are unionized. “The university has been, and will continue to be, neutral with regard to this effort,” Stephanie Reitz, a spokeswoman for the university, said. “Individual graduate students are free to make their own decision.

The Pay of Corporate Executives and Financial Professionals as Evidence of Rents in Top 1 Percent Incomes

Josh Bivens and Lawrence Mishel Economic Policy Institute
This working paper was prepared for a forum on the top one percent to be published in the Summer 2013 issue of the Journal of Economic Perspectives. It is an analysis of the pay of the top 1 percent, specifically CEO's and top financial professionals as a form of "rent." In other words, the pay is not related to the talent or the productive effort of these individuals and if it were cut through taxation, there would be no harm to the economy.

Why Passengers Cheered a Vermont Bus Strike

Ellen David Friedman Labor Notes
The bus drivers' strike in Burlington, Vermont succeeded through a powerful combination of workers organizing on the job and organized community solidarity, the roots of which go back to at least 2009.

`Jobs vs. the Environment': How to Counter This Divisive Big Lie

Jeremy Brecher The Nation
We can, and must, create common ground between the labor and climate movements. To paraphrase Abraham Lincoln, if God had intended some people to fight just for the environment and others to fight just for the economy, he would have made some people who could live without money and others who could live without water and air. There are not two groups of people, environmentalists and workers. We all need a livelihood and we all need a livable planet to live on.

How Billionaires Use the Government as a Tool to Destroy Companies They've Bet Against

Les Leopold comments_image 35 COMMENTS Alternet
This is the heart of the new financialism and it is happening all over the country. If this were just one isolated case, we could probably live with it. It might even lead to a new law that would outlaw Ackman's outrageous behavior. But this kind of de-creative destruction is now a central feature of our new financialized economy. It is now routine for big-time investors to make bets against companies and then try to bring those companies down using a variety of tactics.

Teacher boycott of standardized test in Seattle spreads

Valerie Strauss The Washington Post
A boycott of Washington state’s mandated standardized test by teachers at a Seattle school is spreading to other schools and winning support across the country, including from the two largest teachers’ unions, parents, students, researchers and educators.

Nonprofit Spends Big on Politics Despite IRS

Michael Beckel Center for Public Integrity
A cadre of wealthy business executives and conservative groups tried to sell California voters on new campaign finance reforms.Couched in lofty rhetoric about the importance of cutting off money from special interests to politicians and other regulations favored by reformers, their proposal sought to ban the practice of using payroll deductions for political expenditures — a popular method of union fundraising: The story of the American Fund and Proposition 32.

Egypt Aflame Over Protests

Carl Finamore CounterPunch
Late this evening, President Mohammad Morsi declared Emergency Law in three provinces around the Suez Canal that are ablaze in protests. He frankly conceded the government was losing control. ... there is absolutely no doubt that both the military and the Muslim Brotherhood government were caught completely off guard by angry, increasingly intense protests, immediately following what were already massive anti-government actions in Tahrir Square and elsewhere.