PORTSIDELABOR List

Interview with Michael Lebowitz & Readers Comment

Portside labor — 2013-05-24T19:15:25-04:00

Interview with Michael Lebowitz & Readers Comment

May 24, 2013
By
(May 24, 2013)

We talked with Michael about the contemporary crisis and the possibilities of overcoming it, about the experiences and contradictions that characterized the societies of “real socialism” in the 20th century, and also about the possibilities of building a socialist alternative that would not be limited within the boundaries set by similar attempts in the last century. [...]

World Climate Crisis and Organized Labor

Portside labor — 2013-05-23T23:11:28-04:00

World Climate Crisis and Organized Labor

May 23, 2013
By Joe Uehlein and Jeremy Brecher, Rebecca Burns
(May 22, 2013)

With atmospheric carbon dioxide levels having reached the 400 ppm point - way above the 350 ppm considered to be the upper limit for avoiding environmental catastrophe - organized labor is struggling with the tension between the immediate need for jobs in a crisis-ridden economy and the perils to humanity's future of avoiding the sacrifices required to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The following two articles discuss those tensions from different angles. [...]

U.S. Taxpayers Fund More Low-wage Jobs than McDonalds and Wal-Mart

Portside labor — 2013-05-22T22:56:28-04:00

U.S. Taxpayers Fund More Low-wage Jobs than McDonalds and Wal-Mart

May 22, 2013
By Gregory N. Heires
The New Crossroads (May 22, 2013)

The public policy think tank Demos has issued a report documenting how the federal government is using taxpayer money to subsidize low paid wage workers. This has allowed corporations to pay low wages to the detriment of the workforce. [...]

University of California Hospital Workers Strike Today, Demand Safer Staffing, Pensions

Portside labor — 2013-05-21T21:01:34-04:00

University of California Hospital Workers Strike Today, Demand Safer Staffing, Pensions

May 21, 2013
By Samantha Winslow
Labor Notes (May 21, 2013)

The UC health-care system boasts nearly $7 billion in operating revenue, but management wants to create a two-tier pension system for workers, while executives get yearly pension payouts of as much as $300,000.
The union is demanding stronger protection against subcontracting. Workers also want more of a voice in staffing and patient care matters. [...]

Bangladesh Garment Workers: Two Updates

Portside labor — 2013-05-20T22:31:57-04:00

Bangladesh Garment Workers: Two Updates

May 20, 2013
By AFP, Omar Rivero
(May 20, 2013)

Bangladeshi police fired rubber bullets and tear gas at thousands of garment workers Monday as they demanded a wage hike at a protest in a manufacturing hub outside the capital Dhaka. Several European retailers have agreed to compensate victims' families, and sign onto the Fire and Building Safety Agreement, but U.S. retailers refuse. See the list of 14 North American retailers who refuse to sign on. [...]

Fiery Chicago Teachers Union President Reelected

Portside labor — 2013-05-20T01:16:05-04:00

Fiery Chicago Teachers Union President Reelected

May 19, 2013
By Valerie Strauss
The Washington Post (May 18, 2013)

Lewis won about 80 percent of the votes, soundly defeating a candidate representing a coalition of groups that used to run the union until Lewis took office three years.

Karen Lewis, the fiery leader of the Chicago Teachers Union who led a strike last year and became a nationally known anti-school reform figure, has been elected to another three-year term as president. Today she will lead the first of three days of protests against Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s plan to close 54 public [...]

The State of the NLRB-Two Articles

Portside labor — 2013-05-17T19:37:32-04:00

The State of the NLRB-Two Articles

May 17, 2013
By
(May 17, 2013)

WASHINGTON -- With the Senate about to consider President Obama's nominees to the National Labor Relations Board, Democrats and labor groups are growing concerned that Republicans will block the administration's left-leaning nominations, rendering the board inoperable once a current member's term expires in August. [...]

Labor Wrestles With Its Future

Portside labor — 2013-05-16T21:45:04-04:00

Labor Wrestles With Its Future

May 16, 2013
By Harold Meyerson
Washington Post (May 8, 2013)

Unions face an existential problem: If they can’t represent more than a sliver of American workers on the job, what is their mission? Are there other ways they can advance workers’ interests even if those workers aren’t their members? A new labor movement might resemble a latter-day version of the Knights of Labor, the workers’ organization of the 1880s that was a cross between a union federation, a working-class political vehicle, and a fraternal lodge. [...]

Holding the Line For Chicago Teachers Union

Portside labor — 2013-05-15T22:04:52-04:00

Holding the Line For Chicago Teachers Union

May 15, 2013
By Lee Sustar
SOCIALISTWORKER.org ()

President Karen Lewis and the Caucus of Rank and file Educators (CORE successfully defeated Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and his corporate allies. They deserve support in the current union election

Lee Sustar compares the record of the Chicago Teachers Union leadership, running for re-election in a May 17 vote, with its counterparts in other cities around the U.S.
May 15, 2013
The CORE slate for top offices in the CTU (left to right): Michael Brunson, Kristine Mayle, Karen Lewis and Jesse Sharkey
THE CHALLENGERS in [...]

Labor's Plan B

Portside labor — 2013-05-14T20:49:43-04:00

Labor's Plan B

May 14, 2013
By Abby Rapoport
The American Prospect (May 13, 2013)

Faced with the very real threat of extinction, unions have largely put collective bargaining on the back burner, and instead must try to remind American workers of the basic concept of worker solidarity. “We start from the point of view that, because so few people are in unions these days, very few people have personal experience with collective power,” explains Karen Nussbaum, the executive director of Working America. [...]

Landmark $240M Verdict for Disabled Workers Slashed to $1.6M

Portside labor — 2013-05-13T22:51:31-04:00

Landmark $240M Verdict for Disabled Workers Slashed to $1.6M

May 13, 2013
By Ryan J. Foley
The Associated Press (May 13, 2013)

A landmark $240 million verdict awarded to 32 mentally disabled Iowa plant workers who were subjected to years of abuse by their handlers will be reduced to just $1.6 million because of a federal cap, attorneys in the case agree. [...]

Michigan Schools Can Stop Deducting Union Dues

Portside labor — 2013-05-12T23:44:23-04:00

Michigan Schools Can Stop Deducting Union Dues

May 12, 2013
By DAVID SHEPARDSON
THE DETROIT NEWS (May 10, 2013)

MEA President Steve Cook said in a statement, "Banning payroll deduction of dues only for school employees is clearly an attack on the First Amendment rights of our members and retaliation for our activism in fighting the right-wing, anti-public education agenda." [...]

Detroit Fast Food Workers Join Strike Wave

Portside labor — 2013-05-10T19:59:49-04:00

Detroit Fast Food Workers Join Strike Wave

May 10, 2013
By Jane Slaughter
Labor Notes (May 10, 2013)

At a busy intersection dotted with fast food brands, 80 fast food workers and supporters chanted outside a Detroit Popeye’s this morning, one of several restaurants the group of enthusiastic young workers will hit as they strike today. [...]

8 Killed in Bangladesh Garment Factory Fire, Protests Grow

Portside labor — 2013-05-09T21:05:40-04:00

8 Killed in Bangladesh Garment Factory Fire, Protests Grow

May 9, 2013
By S. Quadir, R. Paul, J. Zarroli, K. Bhasin, M. Mosk, B. Ross
(May 9, 2013)

Eight people were killed when a fire swept through a clothing factory in Bangladesh on Wednesday, as the death toll from the collapse of another factory building two weeks ago climbed above 900. Meanwhile, multinational corporations are coming under growing scrutiny and facing mounting protests over their involvement in the exploitation of Bangladeshi workers. One U.S. union is targeting Gap, Inc. [...]

New York City Council OK's Paid Sick Leave For More Than 1 Million Workers

Portside labor — 2013-05-08T20:45:32-04:00

New York City Council OK's Paid Sick Leave For More Than 1 Million Workers

May 8, 2013
By Mike Hall
AFL-CIO Now (May 8, 2013)

New York City Council passes historic bill making up to 1 million workers eligible for sick leave.

New York City workers will receive, starting next year, five paid sick days a year to care for themselves or an ill family member under a measure the New York City Council passed (45-3) this afternoon. The vote culminates a four-year effort by a powerful coalition of workers, unions and community groups.
At a press conference before the [...]

The South: Labor's Elephant in the Room

Portside labor — 2013-05-07T22:07:38-04:00

The South: Labor's Elephant in the Room

May 7, 2013
By streetheat
It's About Power Stupid! (May 5, 2013)

Shifting resources to win in the South necessarily means taking funds from other projects and revenue sources. In many cases this could create an internal struggle over the allocation of funds.There is no doubt feathers will be ruffled and fiefdoms will be threatened, but making a choice between labor's survival and comforting the sense of official entitlement will require political will that hopefully can be summoned. [...]

Li Ka-Shing’s Dockers Accept Pay Offer to End Longest Strike

Portside labor — 2013-05-06T22:43:18-04:00

Li Ka-Shing’s Dockers Accept Pay Offer to End Longest Strike

May 6, 2013
By Simon Lee and Jasmine Wang
Bloomberg Businessweek (May 6, 2013)

Port workers at billionaire Li Ka- shing’s Hongkong International Terminals Ltd. ended the longest strike at Hong Kong’s container terminal as they accepted a 9.8 percent wage increase, resolving a dispute that damaged the city’s reputation as a trade hub. [...]

Who Will Lead the U.S. Working Class?

Portside labor — 2013-05-06T00:40:12-04:00

Who Will Lead the U.S. Working Class?

May 5, 2013
By Michael Yates
Monthly Review (May 4, 2013)

This article is based upon an interrogation of two books: Gregg Shotwell, Autoworkers Under the Gun: A Shop-Floor View of the End of the American Dream; and Jane McAlevey with Bob Ostertag, Raising Expectations (And Raising Hell): My Decade Fighting For the Labor Movement. Each books focuses on an iconic labor union (UAW and SEIU). What they report gives us reason for both deep concern and hope concerning the future of organized labor. [...]

SEIU Wins Again at Kaiser, But Militant Minority Grows

Portside labor — 2013-05-03T20:00:10-04:00

SEIU Wins Again at Kaiser, But Militant Minority Grows

May 3, 2013
By Steve Early
Labor Notes (May 3, 2013)

When the votes were tallied at the NLRB regional office in Oakland yesterday, NUHW support in Kaiser’s largest bargaining unit had increased by 15 percent—but SEIU, the vocal opponent of striking, won again with 18,844 votes versus NUHW’s 13,101. (Another 334 workers chose no union.) [...]

Major Challenge to Labor Rights in California - Two Articles

Portside labor — 2013-05-02T21:57:53-04:00

Major Challenge to Labor Rights in California - Two Articles

May 2, 2013
By Peter Scheer, Kitty Felde
(May 2, 2013)

In a scarcely-noticed lawsuit filed in federal district court in Los Angeles, a conservative nonprofit, the Center for Individual Rights, claims that California's system for collecting dues or fees from public employees abridges free speech. RELATED: 10 California teachers are suing in federal court to stop mandatory fair share fee collection. The lawsuit seeks to expand last year’s U.S. [...]

Fight for May Day’s Two Traditions

Portside labor — 2013-05-01T20:23:01-04:00

Fight for May Day’s Two Traditions

May 1, 2013
By Jane Slaughter
Labor Notes (May 1, 2013)

Labor Day is a fight for immigrants rights as well as workers rights. To get either we must fight for both.

Since 2006, May Day in the United States has come to mean immigrants’ rights. That was the year millions of people marched to stop a bill that would have made undocumented immigrants (and anyone who helped them) felons.
Many took the day off work to march—making that May Day the largest political strike in U.S. history.
Those immigrant marchers from Latin America [...]

Will Millennials Come Back to Labor?

Portside labor — 2013-04-30T21:46:47-04:00

Will Millennials Come Back to Labor?

April 30, 2013
By Carmen Berkley
The Huffington Post (April 30, 2013)

The average millennial will have seven jobs before they turn 26, if they can find a job at all. Perhaps that reason why millennials switch jobs so frequently is because we are unhappy with the benefits, treatment and lack of respect due to our age in the workplace. Something needs to change, and it could start with a massive movement of currently employed young people joining labor unions. [...]

The Terror of Capitalism

Portside labor — 2013-04-29T22:31:54-04:00

The Terror of Capitalism

April 29, 2013
By Vijay Prashad
Counterpunch (April 26, 2013)

The list of “accidents” in Bangladesh factories is long and painful. These factories are a part of the landscape of globalization that is mimicked in the factories around the world in other places that opened their doors to the garment industry’s savvy use of the new manufacturing and trade order of the 1990s. Those who died in Bangladesh are victims not only of the malfeasance of the sub-contractors, but also of 21st century globalisation. [...]