labor

Two Roads Forward: The AFL-CIO's New Agenda

Nelson Lichtenstein Dissent Magazine (Winter 2014)
The AFL–CIO is a multifaceted institution composed of scores of autonomous unions, so President Richard Trumka’s leadership can hardly turn around this cumbersome vessel all that quickly. But the new emphasis is clear: the unions should ally with progressive partners and devote more energy to make the kind of changes in social policy that can benefit millions of poorly paid and insecure workers.

labor

Crushing Labor Unions and the Middle Class: Is this the American Way?

DIANE RAVITCH Diane Ravitch's Blog
Inequality across much of Europe has widened, but it is still quite modest when compared with the vast income gap in the United States.The question is whether relative equity can hold as workplace institutions that for decades protected European employees’ standard of living give way to a more lightly regulated, American-style approach, where the government hardly interferes in the job market and organized labor has little say.

labor

Labor Embraces the New America

Harold Meyerson The Washington Post
“We are a small part of the 150 million Americans who work for a living,” AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said in his keynote address Monday at the labor federation's convention in Los Angeles. “We cannot win economic justice only for ourselves, for union members alone. It would not be right and it’s not possible. All working people will rise together, or we will keep falling together.”

Tidbits - August 8, 2013

Portside
Reader Comments- Wisconsin Crackdown; Labor Collective Bargaining; Detroit & Pensions; Early Human Settlements show War has Deep Evolutionary Roots; Honduras; Shorts: Child of Disappeared Political Prisoners Found in Argentina; Murder of Philippines Labor Leaders; Announcements - Call Mr. Robeson - Berkeley-Aug 11; Conference Honoring Jerry Tucker - St.Louis Oct 11-13; Organizing 2.0 Fall Internship - NYC Portside announcements about Quote & Toon of the Day, REWIND

labor

NLRB Poster Rule Likely Dead After Second Federal Court of Appeals Ruling

Amanda Becker Reuters
The decision on Friday by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a 2011 rule that required employers to post, physically or electronically, a notice describing workers' rights under the National Labor Relations Act. It was the second time in as many months that a federal appeals court has rejected the rule, after the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals said last month the poster rule violated employers' free speech rights.

labor

Labor's Plan B

Abby Rapoport The American Prospect
Faced with the very real threat of extinction, unions have largely put collective bargaining on the back burner, and instead must try to remind American workers of the basic concept of worker solidarity. “We start from the point of view that, because so few people are in unions these days, very few people have personal experience with collective power,” explains Karen Nussbaum, the executive director of Working America.

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With Big Changes, Can Labor Grow Again?

Melissa Maynard Stateline
Union leaders are exploring new forms of organization. One such form is the “minority” or “pre-majority” union. Under that framework, workers could sign up members and bargain on behalf of a smaller group until they reached the 50 percent threshold and went through the traditional certification process. This article explores a number of non-traditional avenues for unions.

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Kansas Casts Eye On Teachers Unions

Brad Cooper The Kansas City Star
The battle over teachers unions has marched its way across the country. Ohio. Michigan. Wisconsin. Idaho. And now it’s in Kansas, greeted by Republican Gov. Sam Brownback and his conservative allies in the Legislature.
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