From American Prospect: In fact, no institution played a larger role in the construction of postwar American liberalism than the UAW. Under Reuther’s leadership, the union provided funds to civil rights activists who conducted the Montgomery bus boycott, paid for the buses and sound system at the 1963 March on…
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The A.F.L.-C.I.O. invited scores of nonunion groups to its four-day convention last week in Los Angeles to brainstorm. | Frederic J. Brown/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images From NYT: For the delegates at the convention, which ended on Thursday, there was a burning realization that the status quo was not working…
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From WaPo: As New York Times labor writer Steve Greenhouse has noted, until 1975, “wages nearly always accounted for more than 50 percent of our nation’s GDP.” But in 2012 they fell to a record low of 43.5 percent. Those who make the economic engine run are receiving less of…
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From HuffPo: The vast majority of Americans support increasing the national minimum wage, according to a recent poll commissioned by the National Employment Law Project Action Fund, a non-profit group that supports increasing the minimum wage. The poll, which was conducted by the public opinion research firm Hart Research Associates,…
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On Monday, workers from major fast-food chains such as KFC, Wendy’s, Burger King and McDonald’s in seven cities — Detroit, New York City, Milwaukee, Chicago, St. Louis, Flint, Mich., and Kansas City, Mo. — will be staging a strike in a movement for higher wages. Reuters. From IBT: On Monday,…
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Big Labor’s Lock ‘Em Up Mentality How otherwise progressive unions stand in the way of a more humane correctional system —By James Ridgeway and Jean Casella In Mother Jones and Solitary Watch Now AFSCME will apparently fight to keep a troubled prison open simply to keep some of its members…
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AMERICAN DREAM is a feature documentary film, which tells the story of meatpackers’ years-long strike in Austin, Minnesota. Barbara Kopple and her crew spent four years filming the drama within the Austin community and the ensuing debates among labor organizations across the country. Brothers and neighbors must eventually make the…
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From DemocracyNow: More than 29,000 Chicago public school teachers and support staff have gone on strike today after union leaders failed to reach an agreement with the nation’s third-largest school district over educational reforms sought by Mayor Rahm Emanuel. It is the first teacher strike in Chicago in a quarter…
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