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Back in the Big Labor Fold

Harold Meyerson Talking Union, a DSA labor blog
Today, the AFL-CIO is seeking to arrest labor's decline through its Working America affiliate, which is a groundbreaking effort at large-scale community organizing, and has some as yet undefined alliance with such other progressive groups as the Sierra Club and the NAACP.

labor

Judge Grants Bay Area Transit Strike Reprieve

By Sudhin Thanawala Sacramento Bee
Negotiations between BART and Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555 and Service Employees International Union Local 1021 began months ago, but the two sides remained tens of millions of dollars apart on wages, pensions and health care benefits last week.

The Workers Defense Project, a Union in Spirit

Steven Greenhouse The New York Times
The Workers Defense Project, founded in 2002, has emerged as one of the nation's most creative organizations for immigrant workers. Its focus is the Texas construction industry, which employs more than 600,000 workers. It is one of 225 worker centers nationwide, aiding immigrant workers. Workers Centers show what is possible, and may help infuse new life into the labor movement.

labor

UFCW to Rejoin AFL-CIO

Associated Press The Washington Post
The 1.3 million member United Food and Commercial Workers Union will rejoin the AFL-CIO after an 8 year hiatus with the Change to Win labor federation. The UFCW will become the AFL-CIO's largest private sector affiliate and bring the labor federation's membership to about 13 million.

labor

Labor union 'raids' on rise as rivals seek to boost membership, Clout

Alana Semuels Los Angeles Times
In the face of a steadily declining labor movement, unions are increasingly battling one another, devoting resources to gaining members from rivals rather than focusing on the 88.2% of the workforce that is not unionized. Recent "raids"have been especially big with tens of thousands of members at stake. They've become easier to carry off because many unions don't just represent one profession anymore, and can rationalize expanding into rival turf.

Fast Food Strikes Catch Fire

David Moberg In These Times
The fast food strikes are part of a broader movement by low-wage workers for higher pay and union representation that has caught fire over the past year. Targets include a range of employers, including Wal-Mart, federal subcontractors, warehouses, retail stores and car washes. This low-wage service and retail worker movement has tapped into a vein of discontent. But it has also created hopes for change through the fledgling campaign’s remarkable successes.

labor

Who Should Fund Alt-Labor?

Josh Eidelson The Nation
As the AFL-CIO prepares for its upcoming national convention, the issue of non-traditional workers' organizations looms heavy on the agenda. As so-called alternative labor organizations - a.k.a. "alt-labor" - have multiplied, the question of funding organizations and activities without a traditional negotiated dues check-off system is being debated.

labor

Labor Braces for Impact of Obamacare

Don McIntosh Talking Union, a DSA labor blog
The Affordable Care Act may create serious problems for workers covered by negotiated health insurance plans.

What Dr. King didn't Say - Misremembering the March on Washington

Moshe Z. Marvit Washington Monthly
The March on Washington grew out of a clear understanding of the problems facing African Americans, and presented a discrete list of demands, including a comprehensive and effective civil rights law that would guarantee access to public accommodations, "decent housing, adequate and integrated education, and the right to vote." Also a "massive federal program to train and place all unemployed workers - Negro and white - on meaningful and dignified jobs at decent wages"

Outsourcing, Union Busting, Murder: Who Could Ask for More in a Novel?

Eleanor J Bader, Truthout Book Review Truthout
The sixth in Timothy Sheard's well-established series of Lenny Moss mysteries. In it, hero Moss, a tireless, working-class college dropout, articulates a solid message about worker solidarity and union militancy that is both refreshing and inspiring.
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