Tidbits - July 13, 2017 - Reader Comments: Trump's Revisionist History; Ransacking the Public Sector; Chile then, Venezuela Today; Beatriz at Dinner; Model Labor Resolution Against Cuban Blockade; New Book on Baseball's Radicals; and more...

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Reader Comments: Trump's Revisionist History - Poland; Ransacking the Public Sector; Democracy in Chains; Paul Robeson; Chile then, Venezuela Today; Beatriz at Dinner; San Francisco Labor Against Cuban Blockade - Example for labor; Painters Union Calls for Release of Two Union Members from ICE Detention; New Book on Baseball's Radicals; Reality Winner Defense Launched; Global Platform for the Right to the City; National Screening: Arc of Justice-July 20th; and more...

labor

Massive Rolling Strikes Shut Down Quebec

Sonia Singh Labor Notes
After provincial bargaining stalled, 400,000 public sector workers across Quebec walked out in October and November on rolling one-day strikes.

labor

De Blasio Pushes a 9-Year Contract for Teachers

Steven Greenhouse The New York Times
Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration is pushing for what would be the longest-ever contract with the teachers’ union: a nine-year deal that would let the city stretch out potentially huge retroactive pay increases. A nine-year deal for teachers would actually date to Nov. 1, 2009, when the union’s contract expired. But it would extend for another four and a half years — after Mr. de Blasio, a Democrat, would face re-election in 2017.

labor

This Stormy Weather is Headed Our Way

Barry Dunning Working Life
A decision in favour of Pamela Harris in the Harris v. Quinn case before the U.S. Supreme Court would seriously impact the quality of care provided to tens of thousands of seniors and people with disabilities who use state-supported home care services. It would do this by ruling the collective agreement covering more than 27,000 workers unconstitutional. More broadly, a ruling that the current system is unconstitutional threatens the future of collective bargaining.

labor

Public Sector Workers Fighting Back

Public sector workers have been scapegoated as a cause of our poor economy, and neoliberal reforms have targeted public sector unions. But public sector workers are fighting back. Teachers in Lee, Massachusetts rejected merit pay as a protest against education reforms; other unions have begun to flip the script, putting the blame on the 1% and calling for taxing the rich.

labor

Most Wisconsin School Unions Survive Elections

Associated Press Gazette Xtra
Scores of school worker unions mustered enough member votes in this year's re-certification elections to go on representing the employees in wage negotiations, according to data state labor relations officials released Thursday.

labor

Irish Doctors Strike to Protest Work Hours Amid Austerity

Eamon Quinn The Wall Street Journal
There is a growing impatience with austerity among public-sector workers, as the government prepares a budget for 2014 that will inflict a seventh year of spending cuts and tax increases. Irish governments have sought to control costs in response to the country's worst-ever property and banking crisis that started over five years ago. The country is obliged by its bailout with the European Union and International Monetary Fund to public sector spending and jobs cuts.

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

Greeks Take to Streets Again Amid General Strike Over Job Cut Plans

Helena Smith The Guardian
Commentators questioned the wisdom of inflicting further austerity on a nation where more than 1.3 million are out of work, salaries have been cut by an average 25%, and poverty has been imposed on more than a third of the entire population.
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