The southern California grocery strike entered its ninth week as negotiations between United Food and Commercial Workers officials and the three giant grocery chains allied against the union-Vons/Pavilions, Albertsons, and Ralphs-broke down five days after they resumed on December 2.

Health care workers on Canada’s west coast are getting a taste of “sweetheart contracts” that favor multinational corporations over workers’ rights, and the Canadian labor movement is divided on how to respond.

Members of Service Employees Local 660 beat back management’s demand to force workers to pay increases in health insurance premiums, after hundreds of worksite protests throughout Los Angeles County and massive rallies in the streets and at the offices of the County Board of Supervisors.

Cost shifting is the name of the game as management grapples with the rising expense of employee health care. Employers are having employees pay more out of pocket through higher deductibles, larger drug co-pays, and higher premiums.