A court ruling that California's teacher tenure law is unconstitutional has stirred a heated debate. Four commentators, including Diane Ravitch, discuss the pros and cons in the New York Times' "Room for Debate" column.
If the U.S. Supreme Court rules in favor of a lawsuit filed by the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, every state in the country would essentially turn into an anti-union "right to work" state, which would be a significant blow to public sector unions' collective bargaining efforts and also complicate thousands of existing contracts between organized workers and municipalities, cities, counties, and states across the country.
Last year workers at the Resorts World casino in Queens, New York, won a major wage increase as a result of unionization and an arbitration decision. Five workers talk about how their lives have changed as a result.
If members run the local... what exactly is the union rep's job? We asked four experienced staffers how they approach their day-to-day tasks while keeping the rank and file in the driver’s seat.
Corporate interests have taken credit for reducing private-sector unions to a fraction of their former strength, and for eroding public-sector collective bargaining, especially since the 2010 “Tea Party midterms.” A resurgence in low-wage worker organizing, sparked by growing inequality in the United States, promises to help defend the rights—and paychecks—of vulnerable workers. But corporations and their paid shills aim to snuff out the movement before it catches fire.
The teachers agreement agreement, which was passed with more than 77 percent of the roughly 90,000 votes cast and includes billions of dollars in back pay, is likely to set the standard for several other municipal unions that, like the teachers’ union, were left without contracts in the final years of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s administration.
Teacher unions must unite with parents, students and the community to improve our schools—to demand social justice and democracy so that we have strong public schools, healthy communities, and a vibrant democracy.
Walmart workers and supporters in the labor movement say they plan a new series of protests over wages and conditions at America's largest private employer, in which they will target the firm's family-friendly ethic ahead of its annual shareholders meeting next week. Hundreds of mothers who work at stores across the US plan a number of strikes in 20 cities nationwide. Others will travel to Walmart headquarters in advance of the upcoming shareholders' meeting next week.
There is a climate of frustration and anger among workers that is very different from the initial enthusiastic reception of the 2009 announcement that Brazil would host the World Cup.
"Workers increasingly serve businesses that do not officially 'employ' the worker — a distinction that hampers organizing, erodes labor standards and dilutes accountability," said Catherine Ruckelshaus, general counsel for the National Employment Law Project, which advocates on behalf of low-wage workers. A recent Federal Reserve study showed that nearly 7.5 million people who are working part time — contract workers included — would rather have full-time jobs.
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