Yielding to growing pressure from the Coalition of Immokalee Workers and their supporters across the country, Taco Bell and its parent company Yum Brands announced March 8 that they had signed an agreement to “work with the CIW to improve working and pay conditions for farmworkers in the Florida tomato fields” . . . .

A coalition of militant, reform-minded teacher unionists swept March 2 local elections for the United Teachers-Los Angeles (UTLA/AFT)—the nation’s second-largest teachers’ union local. The election marked the first time in UTLA’s 35-year history that the incumbent officers were turned out of office, in large part due to their unwillingness to mobilize the membership to win a contract over the last 20 months . . . .

This year marks the sixtieth anniversary of the end of World War II. It's important to reflect on the moment that this anniversary represents, for the war’s ending opened a watershed period in modern world history . . . .

These have been odd debates going on in the AFL-CIO.

To begin with, many of the debaters are reformers, or claim to be, even though some of them are top union officials—people with significant power in the largest U.S. unions. The terms we use to describe unions get an extra stretching when James Hoffa of the Teamsters is described by some in the press as a “dissident.” . . .

Though there’s a lot of debate within the AFL-CIO these days, it seems like everyone favors mergers to make the unions bigger and, presumably, better.

But what kind of mergers to what ends? Who decides? . . .

What do the coming changes in the AFL-CIO mean for the health and safety of workers? It’s unclear what will happen with different union leaders’ proposals as the July AFL-CIO Convention approaches. The proposals of both the AFL-CIO’s John Sweeney and SEIU’s Andy Stern will result in significant changes in the budget of the AFL-CIO—for Stern a reduction of the entire budget, for Sweeney, significant cuts in the non-political parts of the budget. . . .