labor

Strikes Win Staffing Protections at University of California

Liz Perlman and Seth Newton Patel Labor Notes
New leadership, a Membership Action Team organizing plan, and a 22 month contract campaign that included two strikes, produce a strong bargaining agreement covering 22,000 hospital and campus workers at the University of California. The new contract offers protections against subcontracting, limits on temporary workers, wage increases, and "strong benefits," among other items.

Tidbits - May 8, 2014

Portside
Cecily McMillan Trial Update - Sentencing May 19; Reader Comments-Neanderthal Intelligence; Artificial Intelligence, Algorithms, Bitcoins; Charter Schools - their massive fraud; What's a Union For; Paul Robeson Jr.; Cesar Chavez film; Food - Toxic?; Announcements - Building Up the Peace Movement From the Grassroots - New York-May 12; May 15 strike - Low Pay is Not OK; Help save the Haymarket Monument; The Charley Richardson Guide to Kicking Ass for the Working Class

labor

Los Angeles Airport Service Companies to Face Labor Peace Requirement

Dan Weikel Los Angeles Times
Andrew Gross Gaitan, director of the Service Employees International Union's airports division, which supports the measure, said unionized companies could develop labor peace agreements with the unions representing their workers or any other organization or employee committee. Non-unionized companies elsewhere have reached such agreements, he said. Mayor Eric Garcetti, who received $198,000 in contributions from SEIU in the last election, backs the proposal.

What's a Union For?

Carla Murphy ColorLines
For many young workers facing a bleaker present and future than many current pensioners, advancing non-workplace issues affecting low-income and working class people of color makes the difference between joining up or observing from a distance. Some unions get that. The support Constance Malcolm, 40, received from her union exemplifies this trend, which is known as social justice unionism.

The Hedge Fund That Ate Chicago

Les Leopold Alternet
Why does a millionaire mayor and a billionaire hedge fund CEO team up to attack public pensions? Because that's where the money is.

labor

May Day Around the World and Crisis in U.S. - Three Reports

(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.

Breaking the Law? Northwestern Football Coach Pressures Players Not to Unionize

Dave Zirin The Nation
It takes an enormous amount of chutzpah for Fitzgerald to so strenuously oppose the efforts of his players to have a seat at the table when he is making $2.2 million per year and received a $2.5 million loan from the school upon signing his most recent contract. Yet Fitzgerald's stance is not only distasteful. It may be illegal.

Tidbits - April 24, 2014

Portside
Reader Comments - 2014 Moral Freedom Summer Organizer Fellowship (Correction); Jews Speak Out against censorship bans; Auto Parts Strike; Carl Bloice remembered; Charlie Chaplin Legacy; Chris Christie; Announcements - Harlem Celebrates-Duke Ellington's 115th; May Day Rally in New York; Third Annual NYC Film Festival - Global Labor Solidarity; Cuba travel; Volunteer opportunities in El Salvador

An Emerging Solidarity: Worker Cooperatives, Unions, and the New Union Cooperative Model in the United States

Rob Witherell International Journal of Labour Research
The current issue of the "International Journal of Labour Research," which is published by the ILO, is concerned with the relationship of unions and worker cooperatives. It is titled, "Trade Unions and Worker Cooperatives: Where are We at?" Rob Witherell, of the United Steel Workers Union has an article in this issue, " An Emerging Solidarity: Worker Cooperatives, Unions, and the New Union Cooperative Model in the United States".
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