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Review: Iranian Film "About Elly" -- A Middle Class Enjoying Itself Is Engulfed In Change

Stephen Holden The New York Times
Director Ashgar Farhadi achieved international recognition with the complex and brilliant film A Separation. About Elly was made earlier, won Best Picture at Tribeca in 2009, and has taken six years to work its way back to the U.S. If possible, and now in the midst of the nuclear deal, this devastating film is better and more relevant. Farhadi depicts the strains between strict Islamic traditions and modernism within Iran's affluent, sophisticated middle classss.

Growers Move to Gut California's Farm Labor Law

David Bacon Capital and Main
Hundreds marched to the Los Angeles City Council last October, to support a resolution supporting a farm worker union fight. Hardly anyone had heard of the company involved. Gerawan Farming, one of the country's largest growers, with 5,000 people picking grapes and peaches, is challenging the California law that makes farm workers' union rights enforceable. Lining up behind Gerawan are national anti-union think tanks. A local struggle now has much higher stakes.

Reparations and a Conversation about America's Redemption

Allie Yee The Institute for Southern Studies
Students, faculty and community members packed into a basement classroom at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina recently for a panel discussion on reparations and the moral debt the U.S. owes African Americans for centuries of discrimination, exploitation and oppression.

Workers Making Nike and Adidas Shoes in Vietnam: Strike!

The Guardian
Guardian is WRONG! Just after media reports, Vietnamese General Confederation of Labor (VGCL) affiliated union members successfully ended the strike. Vietnam unions play an official role to formulate, vote and implement labor policy and other policies via Communist Party, National Assembly, regional/local government and state agencies as well as negotiate workplace contracts. This successful strike resulted in improved interpretations of social insurance policy.

Will the Senate Kill the Iran Deal and Take Us Into Another War?

US Labor Against the War
The GOP (with aid from some hawkish Democrats) is intent on killing any possibility of a final agreement with Iran on its nuclear program. They hope to put together a veto-proof majority to pass the Nuclear Agreement Review Act - S.615, introduced by Senators Bob Corker (R-TN) and Robert Menendez (D-NJ), that will torpedo any agreement reached with Iran. Take Action Now!

Reclaiming Football for the Working Class

Andy Clark Working-Class Perspectives
The Living Wage Foundation, which campaigns for companies to pay an enhanced income ensuring a basic standard of living (currently set at £7.85 an hour or £9.15 inside London), called on England’s Premier League (soccer) to pay a ‘living wage’ to full-time, permanent staff.

Teachers sue to join union without paying for political activities

Howard Blume Los Angeles Times
Teachers sue to join union without paying for political activities. Unions claim new suit is attempt to weaken them in the name of protecting teacher rights. The firm behind a case that could limit teacher job protections is now taking on issues with union dues. Another in the endless string of anti-union, anti-teacher lawsuits that pretend to protect worker rights.