Is it illegal for an activist group or union to criticize a company’s business practices? Is it a “conspiracy” if advocates call for boycotts, organize rallies, or press for resolutions from elected bodies? Smithfield Foods, the largest producer of pork products in the world, is hoping so, after a lawsuit it filed last October passed an initial court challenge. . . .

A long-simmering dispute over the direction of the Service Employees has erupted inside the union, pitting leaders of the 150,000-member United Healthcare Workers—West against top International officials. UHW President Sal Rosselli and other executive board members contend that the International is taking too much control of organizing and bargaining contracts away from local unions. . . .

Pounding the pavement in a two-month tour of cities throughout the Midwest and West Coast, four fired United Auto Workers members have been busy speaking to supporters in a quest to get their jobs back. Questions about the effect concessionary bargaining and shortcut neutrality agreements may have on the future of new member organizing in the South are frequently raised at their meetings. . . .

Thorny issues are coming to a head in the six-month countdown to the contract expiration at Verizon, the nation’s second-largest telecommunications firm. The contract covering 55,000 Communication Workers (CWA) and more than 10,000 Electrical Workers (IBEW) expires August 2. . . .

It could have been an episode of “ER” or “House”: a popular patient battles against the odds, survives a near-death experience to triumph in the end, but still faces challenges in the next episode. . . .

Sal Rosselli is the president of United Healthcare Workers—West, the third largest local in the Service Employees union. He resigned on February 9 from his position on SEIU’s executive committee—a top-level advisory board to International President Andy Stern....

One at a time, the teachers came out of the sub-zero January cold and into the lobby of Wayne State University’s McGregor Hall in Detroit. By the time the board of governors meeting began—where the teachers had three minutes total to detail their concerns—they were together in force. . . .

Labor activism has never been limited to a single tactic or channel. It is this point that Herman Rosenfeld fails to recognize in his Viewpoint criticizing the recent direction of the Canadian Auto Workers union (see Labor Notes February 2008). . . .