Archive | Portside

September 3, 2016

Black Workers, Unions, and Inequality

Cherrie Bucknor Center for Economic and Policy Research

This paper finds that Black union workers of today are very different from Black union workers of the past. In particular, Black union workers today are more likely to be female, older, have more years of formal education, be immigrants, and work in the public sector. Black union workers also enjoy higher wages, and better access to health insurance and retirement benefits than their non-union peers.

September 3, 2016

Protests Against 'Colonial' PROMESA Debt Plan Rock Puerto Rico

teleSUR

PROMESA has already brought changes to Puerto Rico, including slashing the minimum wage to just US$4.25 for people under 25 amid high levels of poverty and unemployment. Funding for pensions, education, and healthcare is also facing cuts, while basic services are at risk of privatization.

September 3, 2016

Fred Hellerman, Last of the Weavers Folk Group, Dies at 89

William Grimes The New York Times

“We really got together for the fun of it, singing in Pete’s basement on Macdougal Street,” Mr. Hellerman told The New York Times in 1980. “We sang for unions, at picket lines and at hootenannies, but we had no anticipation of getting jobs. Even Pete, the most accomplished of us, could not get jobs on his own, so we couldn’t expect anyone to pay for four of us.”

September 3, 2016

The Failed Turkish Coup: Winners and Losers Throughout the Region

Conn Hallinan Dispatches From the Edge

President Recip Tayyip Erdoğan has effectively used Turkey’s failed coup to isolate his internal opposition and consolidate his personal power. In the wake of the coup, the Kurds have suffered setbacks in Turkey and throughout the region. But there is also evidence of some shifts in regional alliances that may impact the deadly civil wars in Syria and Yemen, if the outside powers fueling the two conflicts can agree on negotiated solutions to these unwinnable wars.

September 2, 2016