Majority of Workers at Chattanooga VW Plant have Signed Union Cards, UAW Says

Associated Press Chattanooga Times Free Press
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.

Tidbits - September 12, 2013

Portside
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%

America’s 200-Year-Long Battle for Workplace Democracy

David Moberg In These Times
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?

Organize the South or Die

MaryBe McMIllan, N.C. State AFL-CIO Facing South
We can change the South and by doing so, we can change the nation.

Walmart Workers Protest over Minimum Wage in 15 US Cities

Karen McVeigh The Guardian
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)

GOP Dreads Prospects of Autoworkers Union Driving South

Erik Schelzig, The Associated Press Seattle Times
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.

Tidbits - September 5, 2013

Portside
Reader Comments: NBC Nightly News Report - Grassroots Opposition to Military Action Against Syria; AFL-CIO and ILWU; March on Washington; 40th anniversary of Chile coup; Announcements: No one should die for fashion - Sept 6-New York; Veterans For Peace Speak Out-New York-Sept 9; #femfuture Retreat-Oct. 20 - 22 - Rhinebeck, NY - Scholarships Available; Sept 21st: Draw the Line against Keystone XL; Chilean posters-1970-73 Exhibit-New York-Sept. 23; STOP WARS - Yard sign

labor

Black Workers, the Public Sector and the Future of Labor Unions

Bill Fletcher, Jr. Law at the Margins
The current crisis facing the public sector, a major location of African American workers, along with the crisis facing organized labor, should present a moment to reconsider old assumptions. A multi-union effort to organize Southern public sector workers could be something close to a game-changer on several levels, not the least being the potential impact on Southern politics and Southern unionization. And, as the saying goes, as goes the South, so goes the USA.

labor

Among the Poorest Paid, a New Labor Revival

Ned Resnikoff MSNBC
Should the trend of de-unionization continue, it is not unreasonable to wonder whether there will be any American labor movement to speak of in twenty years or so. But that may change. Over the past several months, a new kind of labor activism has emerged from some of America’s poorest-paying and least-unionized industries. Fast food workers have stood near the forefront of the movement, waging a nationwide strike campaign which began in December with about 200 New York-
Subscribe to Labor