Portside

Several local unions have moved to oust police unions, despite the federation's approach that collective bargaining can be used for police reform.

Jane McAlevey, a longtime labor organizer and strategist, argues that systematic grassroots organizing is the key to repairing today’s ravaged democracy.

Front-line workers are staging job action after job action in their quest for protection from the coronavirus

A coalition of unions representing more than 80,000 workers has authorized a walkout that would begin in October—and used Labor Day to pressure management.

Senator Elizabeth Warren from Massachusetts connected all the dots to point to the both all-encompassing and systemic nature of the issues facing American workers at the National Forum on Wages and Working People.

“The Jewish Labor Committee is standing to say, there is no place in the United States for Anti-Semitism, racism, and Islamophobia,” Stuart Appelbum, President of the JLC said, adding, “America must remain a place of refuge.”

The Supreme Court’s ruling was expected to diminish union membership. But so far, many unions have actually increased their numbers since the verdict. Conservative groups are working to reverse that trend in the long run.

Medicaid authorities have launched a new attack on unions serving home healthcare workers. Make no mistake: This is nothing but another step in a 40-year attack on public employee unions.

Instead of being sufficiently innovative, says Seattle SEIU Local 775 David Rolf, most labor leaders have been “reinvesting and doubling down on our American system of enterprise-based collective bargaining since the union movement started to shrink in the early 1950s.” The result: “Through decades . . . we’ve seen unions grow weaker and weaker every year while continuing to repeat the same strategic directions.”

Leaders must also know when it’s time for a new person to take the helm. To keep new blood flowing through the labor movement, older leaders have to make room for their successors, RoseAnn DeMoro, executive director of National Nurses United, said. “You have to get out of the way. You can’t just talk about it,” she said. “If you’re a leader, a strong leader, you step down and open that up to someone you believe reflects where this union needs to be.”