Tidbits - August 7, 2014

Portside
Reader Comments - Gaza War - Israel, Palestine, the Jewish community and Zionism; Why Is Washington Risking War With Russia?; Labor - Kellogg Lockout and Coal Miners Anger; The Whitewashing of James Brown; Criminal Prosecution for Environmental Crimes; Bill Gates and the testing industry; Teacher Tenure (video); Celebrate the Life of Vito Marcantonio - Aug 9; 9th annual Dissident Arts Festival - Aug 16 - both in New York Today in History

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Atlantic City Workers Stunned As Casino Economy Begins to Crash

Bruce Vail In These Times
Atlantic City needs to diversify its economy away from casinos if it wants to continue attracting large numbers of visitors, union leaders argue in response to announcements of closures. New solutions are needed for workers and the wider community to prevent Atlantic City from again going into decline.

A Bill to Get the Labor Movement Back on Offense

George Zornick The Nation
Representatives Keith Ellison and John Lewis plan to introduce a bill Wednesday that would make labor organizing a basic freedom no different than freedom from racial discrimination. The legislation would amend the National Labor Relations Act to include protections found under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act to include labor organizing as a fundamental right.

Poor Parents Need Work-Life Balance Too

Michelle Chen The Nation
The “Schedules that Work” bill (introduced by Representatives George Miller and Rosa DeLauro and Senators Tom Harkin and Elizabeth Warren) is the proletarian answer to the workplace “flex” policies that are common in corporate offices. After all, poor parents need flexibility more than anyone, as they cope with the chaos of economic hardship and work unstable jobs with few benefits..

Immigrant America: The Worst Job In New York

Milking cows is a dirty, monotonous job, and as we found out in our latest episode of Immigrant America, it's not a job many unemployed Americans are willing to do. But the government doesn't give dairy farms a way to recruit foreign workers legally. We went to upstate New York to try to understand the cat and mouse game between dairy farms and immigration authorities. 

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When the Union’s the Enemy: An Interview with Cleo Silvers

Andrew Elrod Jacobin
In the auto plants of 1970s Detroit, where an all-white management and union leadership confronted a darkening workforce, grievances often assumed a racial edge. Of all the rank-and-file caucuses that formed in this tumultuous period, perhaps none was more militant than the League of Revolutionary Black Workers.

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Yes Offers Best Chance for a Fairer Scotland

Steven Smellie Morning Star
An independent Scotland would give us the opportunity to construct a social solidarity that would say we are not prepared to let reaction destroy our economy, our jobs and our community. My choice is based not on nationalism but on how best to push forward the interests of my class.

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Scott Walker Suspected of Coordinating with Outside Groups

By Matea Gold and Tom Hamburger The Washington Post
Wisconsin prosecutors have alleged that Gov. Scott Walker was part of a wide-ranging “criminal scheme” to coordinate the activities of conservative groups that spent millions to help him and other Republicans fend off recall efforts.
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