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Viewpoint: How To Revitalize the UAW »

March 26, 2007 | Elly Leary

The latest news from the Big Three auto makers is bad. As of Valentine’s Day, the permanent force reduction exceeds over 100,000 jobs. Most of the jobs eliminated are hourly workers, United Auto Workers and Canadian Auto Workers members, in fact. The majority of the job losses will take place...

Delphi Workers Fight Plant Closing in Spain »

March 26, 2007 | Tiffany Ten Eyck

Tens of thousands of auto workers and community supporters marched in the port city of Cadiz, Spain on March 1 to protest the decision of auto parts maker Delphi to close its plant in nearby Puerto Real. The decision, announced February 22, would cost up to 1,600 Delphi workers their jobs. The...

What is Single Payer Health Care? Why Would it Be Better? »

March 26, 2007 | Kip Sullivan

A single-payer system is one in which one payer, namely a government agency like Medicare, reimburses providers (clinics and hospitals) directly. Those features — one payer for the public and direct payment to providers — are the main reasons why single-payer systems are so efficient. . . .

Viewpoint: AFL-CIO Endorses Medicare for All, While Change To Win’s Andy Stern Trashes It »

March 26, 2007 | Kip Sullivan

The AFL-CIO has finally endorsed a solution to the health care crisis that looks and sounds a lot like a singlepayer system. A statement released March 6 by the federation’s executive council during its meeting in Las Vegas did not use the phrase “single-payer,” but it heaped praise on Medicare...

Social Forum To Be Held in Atlanta »

March 26, 2007 | Milton Tambor

The first U.S. Social Forum will happen in Atlanta from June 27 through July 2. Inspired by the 1999 mass antiglobalization action in Seattle and the 2001 World Social Forum (WSF) in Brazil, 150 social forums have been held throughout the world, but none until now in the United States. . . ....

Defeating Employee Free Choice Act Is Top Priority for the Union Busters »

March 26, 2007 | John Logan

The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) is one of the most important pieces of legislation being considered by the new Congress, yet many working people have probably never heard of it. If they have, they have most likely heard the version that corporate America wants them to hear: that the bill...

Will the UAW Fight Assembly Line Outsourcing Inside Ford's Most Important Plant? »

March 25, 2007 | Ron Lare

Workers making the profitable Ford F-150 pickup in the Dearborn Truck Plant are witnessing company outsourcing inside their building, just a line over. As whole lines of Ford’s flagship plant get staffed by temporary workers not covered under UAW contracts, only the rank and file is showing up...

Fighting for Domestic Partner Benefits »

March 24, 2007 |

Author(s):
Julie Robert and Helen Ho


Excerpt:


When Michigan voters went to the polls in November 2004, they were asked to consider Proposal 2, which asked whether “the union of one man and one woman in marriage shall be the only agreement recognized as a marriage or similar...

Legal Threats, Power Struggle Derail Conductors Strike at Canada’s Largest Railroad »

March 24, 2007 | Chris Kutalik

Nearly 3,000 United Transportation Union (UTU) conductors and yard service workers faced down Canada’s largest rail carrier, Canadian National (CN), in a two-week strike that began February 10. It was the second time in less than three years, that a small unit of rail workers shut down CN by...

Organizing "Big Boxes" is Big Challenge for Labor »

March 24, 2007 | Eli Jelly-Schapiro, Tiffany Ten Eyck

For the 15 million retail workers in the United States, the odds of being in a union are low. According to the nonprofit Labor Research Association, retail unionization was just 6.2 percent in 2003. While the United Food and Commercial Workers union (UFCW) has made some gains for grocery and...

Strategic Drive Takes on California Agribiz Leader »

March 24, 2007 | Marcy Rein

Their organizing has taken them from their manager’s front door in a well-groomed suburb of Sacramento, California to the raging streets of Seoul, South Korea, from the halls of Congress to the stuffy chambers of the National Labor Relations Board. The workers at Blue Diamond Growers (BDG) have...

Volunteer Organizers Can Add Muscle To Major Union Recruiting Campaigns »

March 24, 2007 | Harry Kelber

There are many reasons why unions fail to win organizing campaigns, why they abort them soon after launching, and why many campaigns don’t get off the drawing board. These failures explain why unions are especially reluctant to target corporations that employ thousands of workers in multiple...

Labor-Community Coalitions That Work »

February 23, 2007 |

Author(s):
Greg Asbed, Lucas Benitez


Excerpt:


When you read about building coalitions, it can almost sound easy, like part of a do-it-yourself organizing recipe. You find a chapter titled something like “Building Effective Coalitions,” read a few general rules, check out a...

Strategy and Resource Shift Needed: Auto Workers Union Need Organizing Campaign Based on an Army of Member-Organizers »

February 23, 2007 | Wendy Thompson

As the UAW prepares for this summer’s negotiations with the Big Three auto companies, UAW leadership is strangely silent. With the companies seeming poised to demand major concessions, the union cannot afford to look weak. . . .

Labor Law Reform Could Turn Tide on Organizing »

February 22, 2007 | Chris Townsend

The most ambitious labor-driven attempt in more than 25 years to win congressional approval of sweeping labor law reform is now before Congress. The goal is to remedy the outlandish violations of human and labor rights that are routinely visited on workers who attempt to organize a union in...

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