By Paul Becker With health care for retirees the big issue, a major step forward in the fight for democratic unionism was registered last week when a rank-and-file slate swept the elections for officers and delegates of the retirees chapter of the United Federation of Teachers. The chapter vote has implications of trouble for the […]
FLORIDA JURY HOLDS CHIQUITA RESPONSIBLE FOR COLOMBIAN DEATH SQUAD In an unprecedented legal development, a jury in he United Staes has held an American corporation legally liable for human rights atrocities abroad. A Florida jury on June 3, in a civil lawsuit brought by EarthRights InternationaL found Chiquita Brands guilty and liable for having knowingly […]
UAW STEPS UP DRIVE TO UNIONIZE NON-UNION AUTO PLANTS After gaining the best contract in decades for auto workers from the US Big Three a few months ago, UAW President Sean Fain announced that the union would be begin an organizing drive among the non-union auto plants in the country. A second early result this […]
Some big wins for labor over the past couple of months have signaled the rising power of the union movement. It may well be the opening shot across the bow against corporate attacks on unions over the last four decades that has resulted in a steady decline in the standard of living of working people. […]
The biggest news on the labor front this month is the strike by the United Auto Workers against selective plants of the Big Three auto makers. What makes it particularly ground-breaking is that, it signals the reawakening of the UAW, a union born in the militancy of the 1936-37sit-down strike against GM in Flint, Michigan. […]
Once upon a time, autoworkers had the best jobs in American manufacturing industries. It was a time when unions were instrumental in building our country’s middle class. Workers at GM, Ford, and Chrysler were able to buy the new cars they were producing. They were able to afford a modest home, to send their children […]
On this Labor Day, when labor is stirring all over the country after a summer of strikes and union organizing, along with wide public approval of unions, it is fitting to reprint a tribute to the holiday by US Senator Bernie Sanders that were first printed in The Guardian, 9/4 By Bernie Sanders Why this Labor […]
3 UNIONS COOPERATING TO UNIONIZE DELTA AIRLINES In what is a novel partnership, three unions are collaborating to organize workers at Delta Airlines, the company that, until now, has been the least unionized of all the air carriers. At Delta, only 20 percent of its work force is unionized (mostly the pilots) compared with about […]
The Clark County school district in Nevada is the 5th largest school district in the country. Its teachers union, the Clark County Education Association (CCEA), is not affiliated with either of the two national teacher unions, the National Educational Association or the American Federation of Teachers. But the current fight taking place there is a […]
New York City retirees won major victory earlier this month when a state Supreme Court judge permanently enjoined the city from switching retirees from their traditional Medicare to a Medicare Advantage plan. Retirees have been fighting this change that the city is trying to force down their throats for two years. The scheme is the […]
