Portside

The proposal from outside the White House has the potential to upend our entire system of labor relations.

The National Labor Relations Act still functions, just barely, for Starbucks workers. Employees at fast-food franchises face even worse odds under federal labor law.

Recent union contract gains against a backdrop of decades of union decline, worsening wealth inequality and broken labor laws.

Since workers at a Buffalo Starbucks started the first successful campaign to form a union at a company-run store, experts say the chain’s aggressive union-busting is shining a harsh light on the shortcomings of the National Labor Relations Act.

Pending cases could boost the potency of worker strikes, expand the scope of labor law protections, and make other changes that bolster worker and union power.

The bill would have prohibited both public and private sector employees from being required to either join a union or pay union dues as a condition of their employment.

Banks across the country have been targeted by union organizers. The Communication Workers of America union has been working for a decade to establish a foothold among workers such as tellers and personal bankers.

By organizing today’s “unorganizable” Southern workers, the Union of Southern Service Workers seeks to follow in their footsteps of downtrodden workers excluded from the New Deal's National Labor Relations Act of 1935 who fought for recognition.

Amid the upsurge of successful union representation elections overseen by the National Labor Relations Board, workers are still struggling to secure their first contracts—and real change in the workplace.

The union push comes as public opinion about organized labor is the most positive in decades. A Gallup poll last year found that 68% of Americans approve of unions, the highest share since 1965.