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Populism and the Left: Does UKIP Matter? Can Democracy Be Saved?

Jeremy Gilbert New Left Project
There is no way of addressing the various popular desires which neoliberalism failed to fulfil without a radical programme of democratic reform. Only if publics are genuinely enabled to engage in meaningful, open-ended collective decision-making in a range of spheres can the justifiable sense that things are being done being done to them by people they did not authorise to do them actually be assuaged.

End of the line for Chino’s storied union

Olivier Uyttebrouck Albuquerque Journal
The southern New Mexico mining town of Santa Rita no longer exists, even as a ghost town, except in the memories of Terry Humble and others who lived there. In September, another vestige of Santa Rita disappeared when workers at the Chino Mine voted 236-83 to decertify a 72-year-old union celebrated for its heroic struggle to improve the lives of Hispanic miners and immortalized by the 1954 movie “Salt of the Earth.”

Tidbits - October 2, 2014

Portside
Reader Comments - Ten Points Towards a Two-State Solution; Students Walk Out Suburban Denver Schools; Indiana Autoworkers and Two-Tier Contracts; Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism; War on Drugs Damages Black Social Mobility; Freelancer Economy; Transformative Utopias and Human Rights; Climate Change Rally; Banned Books; Texas Schoolbooks; ISIS, Iraq and Syria; Freedom University Georgia; Immigrants; Cuba Training World's Doctors

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AFL-CIO President Trumka Says Labor Must Confront Racism

Richard L. Trumka AFL-CIO
"… the question of unity brings up a hard subject, a subject all of us know about but few want to- acknowledge -- race. Because the reality is that while a young man named Michael Brown died just a short distance from us in Ferguson, from gunshot wounds from a police officer, other young men of color have died and will die in similar circumstances, in communities all across this country. … Because the reality is we still have racism in America."

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The Worst Paying Fastest-Growing Job in America

Claire Zillman Fortune
Historical discrimination, demographics, and public funding have left home care workers at the very bottom of the American work hierarchy. The wages these workers earn are painfully low: the median salary for a personal care aide is $19,910 annually, or $9.57 an hour; a home health aide earns $20,820 or $10.01 per hour. On the Bureau of Labor Statistic's list of 30 fastest-growing jobs, personal and home care aides are the worst paid.

At Least Some Unions Step Up for Big Climate March!

Abby Scher Truthout
"Sadly, there is no greater incentive than profit. No corporation has given anything without a fight. No union has made gains without a fight, and if this global crisis that affects all mankind is defined as an economic war with winners and losers - I stand ready with my brothers and sisters to march and to fight for worldwide energy democracy and to demand climate protection for the human race." Chris Erikson, head of IBEW Local 3

Happy Labor Day, Mom

William Greider The Nation
Impatient hedge-fund billionaires do not attempt to conceal their contempt for the rest of us. They are used to making money—fast. Witness what they have done to large segments of the overall economy. Education does not thrive in those conditions, because there is no standard of perfection in any schoolhouse that can survive brutal suppression of uniformity imposed by clumsy testing. A successful school not only makes room for dissent. It constantly nourishes it.

Friday Nite Videos -- August 1, 2014 (Solidarity 2014)

Portside
What is Labor Day about? Dignity. Equality. Solidarity. These five videos talk about those ideals in 2014. Dolly Parton: 9 to 5. The Wage Gap. Walmart: Standing Up Together. Race / Off. Forward Together: A Week of Action. Documentary: The One Percent. Watch, and strengthen your resolve to dream and struggle for another year. -- moderator

Making a Living on a Living Planet

Joe Uehlein Portside
Today the American labor movement -- like the rest of American society and like labor movements throughout the world -- is being forced to grapple with global warming, climate chaos, and climate protection strategies. The future of labor’s growth and vitality will depend on its ability to play a central role in the movement to build a sustainable future for the planet and its people.
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