Portside

While new labor contracts cover only 140,000 unionized employees at the Big Three carmakers, they could lift pay standards for the nearly 1 million people who work in the U.S. auto industry and may also spur wage gains through the broader labor market. The deals come after a decade without raises for senior workers and lower wages and benefits for new hires--which almost completely eliminated the wage premium autoworkers once enjoyed over the average American worker.

Netflix offers its employees as much as one year of paid time off to new mothers and fathers.

The conflict over fast track is fundamental. Organized labor wants to kill the legislation. Obama wants to sign it. The rough outlines of the bill would enable Congress to make its preferences known and receive updates while trade negotiations are under way in exchange for a clean vote -- no amendments -- on a final trade agreement.

The U.S. Department of Labor said this week that it’s examining two worker deaths at warehouses operated by the world’s largest online retailer.

Platinum strike by South African workers strike is having an effect on the economy. Members of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union have been on strike for 18 months.

One detail Deutsche Bank didn’t account for when it opened The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas casino: a labor dispute that has reached from Nevada into the bank’s dealings with the Federal Reserve in Washington.