Demoralized after being scapegoated for problems in Chicago Public Schools, Chicago's teachers are gearing up for what could be their first strike since 1987.
The same free-market politics that opposes even the conservative compromise of the Affordable Care Act lies behind policy shifts that have greatly increased inequality.
Warehouse workers in two distribution centers fight back against mass layoffs, threats, wage theft, and awful working conditions--and win support from a judge.
Posted on: Apr 28, 2011, Source: The American Prospect
Wal-Mart's actions shape our landscape, work, income distribution, consumption patterns, politics and culture, and the organization of industries, from California to China.
As employers and governments cut back on pensions and health insurance, the burden of taking care of ourselves increasingly rests on our own shoulders.
Embroiled in a conflict rooted in personalities, institutional power and different experiences in different industries, unions debate strategy at the spring AFL-CIO Executive Council meeting.
They destroy community character; they create urban sprawl; and they leave behind ugly, unused hulks as business strategies shift. But the central fight with Wal-Mart is over its economic effects on workers and communities.
In the battleground state of Ohio, labor is keeping workers focused on kitchen-table issues, such as the loss of jobs, the export of jobs overseas, and the growing healthcare crisis.
When workers try to organize unions, they nearly always face systematic employer opposition, both legal and illegal, that makes union organizing extremely difficult.
Kucinich's outspoken leadership on Iraq, labor, health care, globalization and other issues has the potential to mobilize a movement to give him a very strong standing in next January's party caucus meetings.
There are many lessons to be learned from the collapse of the bubble economy and the scandals of corporate financial skullduggery, but the White House hasn't learned any of them. Here are 10 for starters.
Labor organizers and environmentalists often bump heads over energy issues. But with Bush and Cheney in the White House, the two must make friends and focus on their mutual opponent.
Is the choice between the environment and economic justice a false one? Now more than ever before, labor and greens must join forces to stop Bush's assault on the planet.
Despite bumps in the road, John Sweeney is turning the labor movement toward more aggressive organizing, political molbilization and advocacy for working people.
Posted on: Jul 2, 2001, Source: In These Times-bad
The next big domestic political battle -- fast track -- would push trade deals through Congress with minimal debate. It was defeated before, but the new politics is clamouring for free trade.
During his first months in the White House, George W. Bush has already tilted politics against worker safety and for tax giveaways to the rich, but on one front -- trade and global economic agreements -- there has been remarkable continuity from the Clinton era.
Since the sweatshop issue hit national consciousness in 1995, says one activist, "We have had more brilliant success than anyone could have dreamed." While organized labor and human rights groups contributed much to that success, many other fronts also contributed: shareholder battles, legislative debates, international regulations, lawsuits and purchasing guidelines. David Moberg argues that technical solutions are less important than building a comprehensive movement that can grow and sustain itself for the long haul.
