Portside

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.

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.

State banks and power stations shut and public transport halted in some states as public sector workers take industrial action.

Many of the concerns progressives have about OR were outlined in a petition released by the Bernie Delegates Network on Tuesday entitled, "Support and Improve 'Our Revolution.'" One particularly important one was the omission of anything about the essentially neocon foreign and Defense policy that dominates establishment politics. Another is whether OR will support only Democrats or whether it will also support third party candidates.

To honor working-class women on this Labor Day weekend, Julie Demoff-Larson's poem addresses a hidden aspect of "necessary durability" women had to bring to their work.

Designs, software, and patented ideas, which are at the core of Apple's business model, are a perfect vehicle for tax avoidance.

"I've been very blessed to be in this position and make the kind of money I do, and I have to help these people. I have to help these communities"

Even a good job creation/infrastructure bill must include "targeted" language to ensure that funds flow into black communities, and community residents have access to those jobs.

My proposed solution to the EpiPen mess follows this line of thought: essentially, bust the damn patent. Or, at least, the US government should threaten to bust the patent, and we should then watch the price fall faster than you can jab yourself in the thigh with an adrenaline-filled pen.