Harold Meyerson on Labor, the election, and Working America

Harold Meyerson has a must read article on labor and the elections in the Fall issue of Dissent.   It has lots of very important things to say on the divisions and tensions in the labor movement and the critical importance of this election, including an explanation for the forming of the “alliance” of CWA, UAW, [...]

USW Raises Questions About US Investment in Financial Firms

In an October 28 letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson, United Steelworkers (USW) President Leo W. Gerard raised questions about the prudence of Treasury investments of $125 billion of taxpayers’ money into nine financial institutions, including the firm which Paulson recently headed, Goldman Sachs.
An analysis prepared by the Union, which was attached to [...]

Puerto Rico’s Teachers Show the Way

by Steve Early
When last seen on the picket-line, Puerto Rican teachers were fighting their way through police barricades to appeal to fellow workers from the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), at its lavishly funded convention in San Juan in June. (See CounterPunch, June 3, 2008.)
The message of the Federacion de Maestros de Puerto Rico (FMPR) [...]

Colorado’s Amendment 47: The Concept of Work for Less (and what you can do to help)

by Richard Myers
No one will be shocked that we’re witnessing deception in politics. Someone long ago realized if you have an unpopular cause, you call it the opposite of what it is. We’ve endured that legacy ever since. A prime example is the current Colorado referendum on Amendment 47.

Human Rights Watch: US Needs to Improve Workers Rights in Trade Deals

Labor provisions in US free trade accords are weak and are not effectively enforced, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released on October 22. Major reforms are needed.
The 36-page report, “A Way Forward for Workers’ Rights in US Free Trade Accords,” provides a roadmap for a new US administration to strengthen the requirements [...]

Crisis In Capitalism: Money, Power, and the Economy

This New York program on Wednesday, October 29th: 7-9 PM  looks to be very interesting
A socialist perspective on the national and international impacts of the economic crisis, its origins, and what we can do.
SPEAKERS
Mark Engler, author of How to the Rule the World: The Coming Battle Over the Global Economy
Mark Levinson, [...]

Labour Photo of the Year Contest

LabourStart is holding a Labour Photo of the Year competition.  A panel of three judges has selected five finalists — all of them outstanding photos.  Please have a look and cast your vote here:
There were lots of other deserving photos submitted and they can be viewed here.
LabourStart has also initiated the Industrial, Labour [...]

Student Labor Action Project Fall Report

by Maria Escobar
Fall has just begun but what a semester its turning out to be! Students across the country are strategizing and organizing on campaigns hitting key issues from immigrant rights to increased access to education. Students from Florida to California are getting trained, holding events, and launching exciting campaigns on their campuses. SLAP is [...]

Farmworker Movement materials available

Cesar Chavez and the Farmworker Movement
1962-1993
Photos, Music, Essays, Video, Oral history materials, Archives, El Malcriado

Link

Even more than militant unions, U.S. needs a working people’s movement, Fletcher & Gapasin say

By Michael Hirsch
Bill Fletcher Jr. inscribed into my copy of his new book “Never forget the class struggle.” Wise words to readers who at their best treat the war of the classes as a Sunday catechism.
That’s why if there is one analysis of the labor movement people should [...]