Portside

(1) Workers around the world hold May Day protests and celebrations. (2) The strength of social democracy in Canada translates to an amazing contrast between the living standards of US workers and their compatriots to the north. (3) As voters in some major US cities choose left leadership, the rising tide of inequality presents major contradictions.

As ‘employee’ and ‘employer’ become hazy categories, experiments in worker advocacy are replacing unions as we’ve known them.

An offstage drama that has been playing out in New york City has highlighted the difficult economics of opera in the 21st century, which have forced several companies in the United States to close or scale back. In the city, a spate of recent emails between labor and management at the Metropolitan Opera and a review of the opera house’s financial statements have pulled back the curtain a bit on life at the Met, one of the most important opera houses in the world.

The United Auto Workers announced their fourth straight year of increasing membership. The union added that the two-percent membership increase for 2013 does not include several thousand workers who have voted in favor of union representation, but do not yet have contracts with their employers.

Adjunct professors make $18,000 to $30,000 for the equivalent of full-time work; compared to tenure track professors, who earn $68,000 to $116,000 (plus benefits), according to the American Association of University Professors. Only three in 10 professors are tenured today, down from six in 10 in the 1970s. Recently, frustrations over the plight of adjuncts have boiled over in congressional hearings, online petitions and a two-day walkout at the University of Illinois.