Brazil to Give Culture Stipend to Workers

Agence France Presse ArtDaily.org (The First Art Newspaper on the Web)
Brazil to give $25 monthly culture stipend to workers to go to movies, read books or visit museums

A Loss for Netanyahu

Uri Avnery The Progressive
Israel has not gone crazy.It has not moved to the right. The fascists have not taken over the Knesset. Binyamin Netanyahu has not been strengthened. Far from it.Israel has moved to the center.

California Unions Grow, Bucking U.S. Trend

Alana Semuels Los Angeles Times
Latino workers, demanding respect in a precarious job environment, helped boost the state's unionized workforce by 100,000 in 2012.

As Union Membership Declines, So Do Wages - Despite Job Growth

The Bureau of Labor Statistics said the total number of union members fell by 400,000 last year, to 14.3 million, even though the nation's overall employment rose by 2.4 million - the unionization rate to its lowest level in close to a century. among full-time workers, union members had median weekly earnings of $943 last year (about $49,000 annually), compared with $742 (about $38,600 annually), for comparable nonunion workers.