Portside

The United Auto Workers announced their fourth straight year of increasing membership. The union added that the two-percent membership increase for 2013 does not include several thousand workers who have voted in favor of union representation, but do not yet have contracts with their employers.

Across this full history, the overblown promise of private coverage pushed public programs to the categorical margins. As a result, working Americans enjoy less security—in international or historical terms—against the risks of retirement or illness. The private welfare state, in this sense, is a little like a private school or a private jet—not just a different way of delivering the goods, but a reliable and deliberate mechanism for sustaining inequality.

Tunisia has taken the most hopeful direction after its Arab Spring. But none of the entrants in the forthcoming election seems to have the valid and drastic economic plans that will be needed to fulfil the aspirations of Tunisians.

The claims that Venezuela has a deficient democracy and that current protests represent mainstream sentiment are belied by the facts. The antigovernment protests are being carried out by people in the wealthier segments of society who seek to reverse the gains of the democratic process that have benefited the vast majority of the people.

We should've seen the McCutcheon decision's blow coming. But we must still fight to get big money out of politics

Saadiyat Island is across a narrow sea channel from Abu Dhabi. Many luxury villas are being built as well famous museums like the Guggenheim and the Louvre. Unfortunately many of the construction workers are poorly paid and forced to live in poor facilities.

The Progressive magazine and the Center for Media and Democracy, both based in Madison, Wisconsin, team up to fight corporate abuse and the influence of money in politics.