Swapping Stories: All
‘Back to basics’ unionism
‘Back to basics’ unionism
BY MICHAEL GOODWIN
The labor movement is at a crossroads. How can unions rebuild
from the current low-water-mark of about 15% of the entire work force?
Unions are best-known for bargaining contracts, lobbying for
legislation and participating in political campaigns. But when they were
founded more than a century ago, they served other functions that
continue to the present day. From the construction crafts to the maritime
industry to the performing arts, unions set standards for skilled work,
Honeywell Locks Out USW Local Over Health Care; Sister Local in Canada Wins Contract
Honeywell Locks Out USW Local Over Health Care
Sister Local in Canada Wins Contract
By Kay Tillow
Posted 8-29-10: http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/68146
SEIU’S WOODRUFF: OBAMA CAN USE FEDERAL BUYING POWER TO RAISE WORKERS’ WAGES
SEIU’S WOODRUFF: OBAMA CAN USE FEDERAL
BUYING POWER TO RAISE WORKERS’ WAGES
By Mark Gruenberg
PAI Staff Writer
WASHINGTON (PAI)--With legislation to aid workers hamstrung by Senate GOP filibusters, a top union organizing director says Democratic President Barack Obama has another avenue open to him to help workers improve their wages by improving their chances to unionize: Using the federal government’s immense buying power.
POSTAL WORKERS CONVENTION PREPARES FOR STRUGGLE AS NEGOTIATIONS LOOM
POSTAL WORKERS CONVENTION PREPARES
FOR STRUGGLE AS NEGOTIATIONS LOOM
DETROIT (PAI)--Delegates to the Postal Workers convention prepared for tough struggles with the U.S. Postal Service in contract negotiations that will start Sept. 1.
Meeting in Detroit from Aug. 24-27, the union’s 2,356 delegates spoke out strongly against USPS plans to eliminate Saturday pickup and delivery -- thus cutting jobs -- and the agency’s “excessing” of workers: Involuntarily shifting them around from craft to craft and site to site, sometimes hundreds of miles from their homes.
Why Can’t American Labor Build Its Own Cooperative "Mondragon?"
Why Can’t American Labor Build
Its Own Cooperative ‘Mondragon’?
By Harry Kelber
If you are looking for a model where workers in a company are also the owners of what they produce, the finest example is the Mondragon Corporation, a federation of worker cooperatives based in the Basque region of northern Spain.
Win for LA Carwash Workers: Jail terms, fines for owners
STEELWORKERS DRIVE FOR L.A. CAR WASH WORKERS
BRINGS NEW WIN: JAIL TERMS, FINES FOR OWNERS
LABOR EDITOR, FORMER ILCA PRESIDENT MARTIN FISHGOLD DIES AT 70
LABOR EDITOR, FORMER ILCA PRESIDENT MARTIN FISHGOLD DIES AT 70
NEW YORK (PAI)--Labor editor and former International Labor Communications Association President Martin Fishgold, longtime editor of The Unionist in New York City, died Aug. 12, aged 70, AFSCME District Council 37 and Local 371 reported. Cause of death was not reported. Data about survivors and arrangements was unavailable.
BLS: RECESSION’S IMPACT PUSHES JOB FATALITIES DOWN IN 2009
BLS: RECESSION’S IMPACT PUSHES
JOB FATALITIES DOWN IN 2009
By Mark Gruenberg
PAI Staff Writer
WASHINGTON (PAI)--The recession’s impact, cutting both the employed
workforce and the number of hours worked, also pushed on-the-job fatalities down by
17% in 2009, to 4,340, from 5,214 the year before, the Labor Department reported.
Labor cartoons from Huck and Konopacki
Laborers to rejoin AFL-CIO
LABORERS TO REJOIN AFL-CIO
WASHINGTON (PAI)--Change To Win will lose yet another member on Oct. 1, when the Laborers rejoin the AFL-CIO. But in a sense, they never really left.
The Aug. 14 announcement by union President Terry O’Sullivan capped months of talks between his union, which has 500,000 members, including retirees, and the larger labor federation.
