Portside

When workers feel collectively trapped in poorly performing unions that do not properly represent them, the most union-minded among them often believe that changing unions is their only hope. If switching to another union is not a viable option because of AFL rules or incumbent union manipulation of Labor Board procedures, the result will be more workplace anger, frustration, and resentment.

300 years ago, on the 3rd of May 1715, a rare solar eclipse occurred over England. It was an opportunity too good to miss for those promoting new astronomical theories – and their own careers.

Illinois de-institutionalized nearly 35,000 people in the 1960s and 1970s and never fully invested in a community-based mental health treatment system and affordable housing.

The key to understanding the rise in inequality is not technology or globalization. It is the power of the moneyed interests to shape the underlying rules of the market.

April 26th marked the 29th anniversary of the Chernobyl catastrophe, the worst nuclear disaster in history. And, according to a new Greenpeace report, preventing further major releases of radioactivity into the environment seems to be a race against time. There are more than 1.5 million tons of radioactive dust inside the ruins. And a collapse of the sarcophagus and other structures, which could lead to their release into the environment, cannot be ruled out.

Last month, when Pope Francis described Ottoman Turkey’s slaughter of between 1 and 1.5 million Armenians during World War I as “the first genocide of the 20th century,” the Turkish government predictably denounced his characterization. However, those who assert the first genocide in the 20th century was carried out by Germany against the Herero and Nama peoples of Namibia (South-West Africa) have also raised concerns about the Pope’s statement.

On nearly all indicators of mortality, survival and life expectancy, the United States ranks at or near the bottom among high-income countries. Pick almost any measure of social cohesion over the last four decades and you will find the United States took a wrong turn along the way. The bloated incarceration rates and rock-bottom life expectancy, the unraveling families and the stagnant college graduation rates amount to an existential threat to the nation’s future.

In its expansive report, the AFL-CIO reports 4,585 U.S. workers were killed on the job and 50,000 died from occupational diseases in 2013. U.S. workers suffer from 7.6 million to 11.4 million injuries each year. Workplace violence continues to be the second leading cause of job fatalities, with women workers suffering 70% of the lost-time injuries related to workplace violence. Latino workers continue to be at increased risk of job fatalities.

A petition drive has been launched in San Francisco rename Justin Herman Plaza after the renowned poet, Maya Angelou. Presently, the plaza honors Justin Herman, who was head of the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency during the period when it displaced thousands of low-income residents from the South of Market and Fillmore districts. This latter displacement, which critics attacked as “Negro Removal,” is one of the most shameful episodes in San Francisco history.

"I learned how to fight the long shifts, the bashed fingers," writes poet David Salner of his mining experiences, but he also sees the beauty of sorrow. An appropriate lyric for May Day.