Portside

28 Mexican citizens returning to their homeland perished in a fireball over Central California. Woody Guthrie's poetry protested their anonymity. Who were they?

On the state level, labor has consistently found itself on the defensive against increased intrusions on labor rights. But amending the Civil Rights Act to protect the right to organize could help set the stage for national labor law reform.

The summit, billed as “Organizing Resistance Against Teach for America and its Role in Privatization,” is being organized by a committee of scholars, parents, activists, and current corps members. Its mission is to challenge the organization’s centrality in the corporate-backed, market-driven, testing-oriented movement in urban education.

Bert and Ernie Outed; Commie Camp Profiled; The Blind Will Get Their Books; Chipotle Rejects GMO Ingredients; Race and Class in Evidence At the Zimmerman Trial; Kansas Takes a Sharp Turn to the Right

"Union struggles reflect on all jobs," said Jane Smith, 30, a data scientist from San Francisco. "Unions won the struggle for a 40-hour workweek, and we are all benefiting from that still. Unions also fight for higher wages, which translate to higher wages for all Americans." The BART strike is a symptom of "the income and wealth inequality that is plaguing our nation," she said. "I can't believe that people are missing the point."

30,000 California Prisoners on Hunger Strike

How a poor New Jersey town and its teacher's unions turned around its schools.

As long as workers could wrest gains from capitalism, the system was safe. But with production offshored, that bargain blew up.