Portside

No girls allowed; Everyday Islamophobia; Pope protests; The Adelson primary; Refugee hell; Judaism without Zionism

The UAW and Fiat Chrysler reached a tentative agreement Tuesday night that puts more money in workers' pockets and invests $5.3 billion to update plants. The investment is part of the automaker's five-year product plan and involves shifting the geography of where many Chrysler, Dodge, Ram and Fiat vehicles are made.

A new book, "Gender and Leadership in Unions," offers historical and comparative insights on gender, political consciousness, intersectionality and the future of the labor movement. The book is based on a collaborative research project of scholars and union members in both countries.

Olvidados serves as powerful indictment of the military personnel who were responsible for thousands of deaths and disappearances of political dissidents in Latin America during Operation Condor, estimated at 30,000 forced disappearances, 50,000 deaths, and 400,000 arrests. Beginning in 1975 the political campaign of repression spanned across Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Brazil, Uruguay, and Paraguay—carried out by the right-wing military dictatorships, backed by the CIA.

Mythology has hidden the true history of how and why the great grape strike started, especially its connection to some of the most radical movements in the country's labor history. After 50 years that silence is lifting. Dawn Mabalon, a history professor at San Francisco State University, has documented the radical career of Larry Itliong, who headed the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC), one of the two organizations that carried out the 1965 strike.

Thousands are still imprisoned on federal drug charges who, without presidential clemency, will most likely die behind bars. In 2013, 98,200 people (more than half the federal prison population) were in prison for drug offenses such as trafficking and possession. Within the federal prison system, the overall imprisonment rate for Black women is more than twice that of white women. Latinas are also imprisoned at a higher rate than their white counterparts.

Nike has radically transformed its feminist credentials globally. Few organizations carry as much global power and authority on the economic needs of young poor women as the Nike Foundation, which was founded in 2004 and is led by CEO Maria Eitel, former special media assistant for President George H.W Bush [1]. Under Eitel’s leadership, Nike has turned into a global ‘adolescent girls expert', whose campaigns are endorsed by international women’s rights groups.

The controversy over UC’s use of thousands of contract workers who earn low wages with few, if any, benefits has taken center stage in Sacramento, where legislation that would end such practices cleared the Legislature earlier this month.

Environmental organizations in the U.S. are staffed nearly entirely by whites with little representation by people of color, contributing to a perception that communities of color are not interested in environmental issues. But a poll released this summer surveying 1,200 Latino voters across the country challenged this notion, finding that there is, in fact, broad concern for the environment among Latino voters.