labor

AFL-CIO’s Trumka Looks to Remake U.S. Labor Movement

Peter Wallsten The Washington Post
In an interview taped for C-SPAN’s “Newsmakers” program, Richard Trumka said he was seeking a more formal alliance with key elements of the Democratic Party’s liberal base, including civil rights organizations and women’s rights groups. The hope, he said, is to broaden union membership beyond the traditional realm of workplace-based organizing. The full interview is scheduled to air on C-SPAN Sunday at 10 a.m. and 6 p.m.

labor

Low Wage Workers Turning to Voters for Pay Raises

Wesley Lowery Los Angeles Times
When organizing drives prove unsuccessful, some groups of low-wage workers are using ballot initiatives to take their case to the voters. And they've been winning.

Is It Time For Just Cause?

Rand Wilson and Steve Early CounterPunch
What legislative goal might inspire all workers—union and non-union alike? Due process rights at work could be the answer. The United States is alone among industrialized countries in allowing at-will employees (i.e. most of the 88.7 % without a union contract) to be terminated for arbitrary reasons. As a result of past labor movement lobbying, Germany, France, Japan, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and South Africa all require employers to demonstrate they have “just cause”

Home Is Where the Fight Is

Alexandra Bradbury Labor Notes
You don't have to look far to see the connection between workplace and housing struggles. People lose their homes or get evicted from rentals because of unemployment, underemployment, low wages, or health care bills. Organizing works: activists consistently force the banks and mortgage lenders to back off specific homes.

labor

Future of Unions: New Models of Worker Representation

Jackie Tortora AFL-CIO
The AFL-CIO, along with its affiliate unions, community partners and allies, are embarking on a deep evaluation of the future for working people and the labor movement and exploring innovations for the future of worker organizing. "The basic system of worker representation is failing to meet the needs of America’s working men and women by every critical measure," said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka.

labor

AFL-CIO Executive Council Backs Keystone XL Pipeline

Steven Greenhouse The New York Times
"The A.F.L.-C.I.O., the nation’s largest federation of unions, has issued an apparent endorsement of the Keystone XL oil pipeline," writes Steven Greenhouse in the NY Times. Following the NY Times' article, Portside gives you the federation's official statement followed by the official AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Department's unequivocal interpretation of the AFL-CIO Executive Council's decision.

Big Labor's Lock 'Em Up Mentality

James Ridgeway and Jean Casella Mother Jones
How otherwise progressive unions stand in the way of a more humane correctional system.
Subscribe to Labor