Portside

In the picking of the strawberry crops - many workers are needed and in the name of immigration reform the growers are seeing their dream - a huge cheap source of labor. Congress is debating bills that would expand the number of recruited workers many times over, possibly even reaching the 500,000 worker peak of the bracero program in the mid-1950s.

Polish workers have taken to the streets of Warsaw in mass protests against the pro-market government's labor policies. Prime Minister Donald Tusk's popularity has plunged as Poland's once robust economy has weakened.

Huge victory for organizing workers. A Majority of workers at the Volkswagen assembly plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee have signed cards with the United Auto Workers (UAW) declaring that they want a union. Union representation at Volkswagen would signal a sea change in labor relations among foreign automakers who have resisted unions at their plants in the South.

Reader Comments - Syria, chemical weapons, Israel; American Jews Speakout Against AIPAC; Organized Labor's Decline; Pensions; Mexican unions; Announcements - Sept. 16 in New York - Iraqi Workers in Turbulent Middle East - Pres of Iraqi Oil Workers Union speaks; Protest Alexandria Center for Life Science; FAIR celebrates release of new book Dollarocracy; Demand a Robin Hood Tax - New York - Sept. 17 - Restore and Expand Vital Public Services for the 99%

In this latest battle over appointments to the NLRB, class divisions emerged starkly. “There’s an open conspiracy among corporate law firms, federal judges—many of whom used to be in the same firms—the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and the Republican Party—particularly its senators,” says Larry Cohen, president of the Communications Workers of America. This [NLRB debate ultimately] is a question of which side are you on?

We can change the South and by doing so, we can change the nation.

In twelve weeks, on the busiest shopping day of the year, Walmart workers will mount what may be the biggest-ever US strike against the retail giant

In 15 cities today, Walmart workers and their supporters are staging their biggest day of action since the groundbreaking "Black Friday" strike in November. They are demanding that Walmart reinstate 20 workers they say were fired for taking part in a June strike, and they are calling on Walmart to end its poverty-level wage scale and pay a living wage. (Mike Hall, AFL-CIO Now)

Discussions between the United Auto Workers union and a Tennessee Volkswagen plant have raised fears among Southern politicians that union representation would deter businesses - and badly needed jobs - from coming to their respective states.