Portside

At a recent Washington meeting I heard a chilling phrase: Obama had “no good options” in Syria. Obama’s good option would be to reread his administration’s official National Security Strategy, which sagely argues that “[a]s we did after World War II, we must pursue a rules-based international system that can advance our own interests by serving mutual interests.”

Last night David Cameron’s government lost a House of Commons vote on a measure designed to approve—-in principle-—military action in Iraq pending a report from UN weapons inspectors. This was the first defeat of a government motion related to military action in modern times. The UK Parliament voted—-what about US Congress?

Since the first such strike in New York City last year, the expansion of low-wage jobs and the accompanying decline of well-paying union jobs have become a big topic in the media and on the street. The strikes have legitimated walking off the job as a tactic for workers, even those without a union. In addition, some fast food and retail workers have won tangible gains as a result of their strikes.

Students today “hook up” no more than their parents did in college. It seems college students are talking more than acting—at least when it comes to sex.

This article outlines some of the basics of U.S. bankruptcy law and how it relates to worker rights. I will review the current law and some history, and then go into detail about how bankruptcy affects unions. I then offer some ideas of what workers and unions can do to protect themselves under bankruptcy.

This is a year for commemorations, and it is ironic it is also when the U.S. Supreme court gutted the Voting Rights Act, a key component of the movement for human rights. The challenge facing any piece of major legislation goes beyond the movement necessary for passage. There must be recognition of the need for vigilance which requires dedicated education and expectation that guaranteed fairness for all is a human right that must permanently prevail.

Momentum builds against rush to war against Syria and further escalation in the Mideast. 162 members of Congress send letter to Obama demanding that Congress be called back into session, for full debate and congressional vote before any new war is launched. Western intervention will only spread the killing, which is gravest threat to the people of Iraq. New evidence that U.S. derailed UN probe.

The problem over the last thirty or forty years is the declining bargaining power for workers. And the question is, how do we reconstruct bargaining power for workers?" That's what organizers of today's strike are out to do. Workers say they've already achieved some incremental store-specific victories - it's too soon to say if they'll succeed. But they're already drawing near-unparalleled attention from local and national media, and the rest of the labor movement.

The message of the march still resonated in 1965, when Congress passed the Voting Rights Act, Medicare and Medicaid, key features of President Lyndon B. Johnson's proposal to bring "an end to poverty and racial injustice." The march was so successful that we often forget that it occurred in a political environment not so different from our own. As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the march, however, its central achievements are more imperiled than ever.