Labor Notes Magazine, October 2007, No. 343

UAW-General Motors Proposed Contract At a Glance

-- Dianne Feeley, Tiffany Ten Eyck

After a brief two-day strike in late September, United Auto Workers (UAW) negotiators signed a tentative agreement with General Motors. Members began voting on the proposed contract local by local in early October. . . . Read More

VIEWPOINT: Former UAW Leaders Say Vote No on GM-UAW Agreement

-- Paul Schrade, Warren Davis, and Jerry Tucker

We regret the decision by the UAW negotiators to tentatively agree to place the future health care protection of hundreds of thousands of UAW retired members under a union run Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association, or VEBA. . . . Read More

National Auto Strike Leaves Lingering Questions

-- Tonyia Young

For the first time in 37 years the United Auto Workers (UAW) launched a two-day nationwide strike against General Motors in late September. More than 73,000 production workers poured out of GM plants after an 11 a.m. strike deadline was passed on September 24. . . . Read More

Help Build the 2008 Labor Notes Conference

-- Ellen David Friedman

Labor Notes is not just a magazine; it’s a project built by and for labor activists. The upcoming 2008 Labor Notes Conference is a prime example, drawing on the work of labor activists from around the country—and the world. . . . Read More

Two Years after Katrina Workers Center Organizes Day Laborers in New Orleans

-- Matt Olson

In a modest office in the central business district of New Orleans, two years after Hurricane Katrina, the Workers Center for Racial Justice organizes the city’s guest workers and day laborers. . . . Read More

New York Taxi Workers Strike over Tracking Devices

-- Mark Brenner

It was a good day to ride your bike in the Big Apple. New York City cabbies launched a two-day strike on September 5, leaving the city's streets quiet and would-be passengers scrambling... Read More

Smithfield Agrees To Talk to Union After Big Rally at Annual Meeting

-- Mark Brenner

A boisterous crowd of more than 1,000 meatpacking workers and supporters was on hand to greet Smithfield Food shareholders at their annual meeting August 29 in Williamsburg, Virginia. Demonstrators called on Smithfield executives to respect the organizing drive. . . . Read More

The Deportation of Elvira Arellano

-- Dan La Botz

The deportation of immigrant rights activist Elvira Arellano by federal authorities on August 20 was a blow aimed at the immigrant rights movement. Arellano, a 32-year old single mother who had spent a year living in a Chicago church in defiance of a deportation order, had become a spokesperson for the New Sanctuary Movement, which focuses on how immigration law and immigration authorities have separated families, and a symbol of resistance for the broader immigrant rights movement. Read More

Domestic Workers Emerge as a New Front in the ‘Non-Traditional’ Labor Movement

-- Jerry Mead-Lucero

Day Laborers Win Living Wage at Camden Yards

-- Tiffany Ten Eyck

Unions Worried as Postal Service Edges Closer to Privatization

-- Lance Coles

After Two Years of Government-Imposed Changes in Working Conditions: Puerto Rico Teachers Union Plans Illegal Strike

-- César F. Rosado Marzán

As Billionnaire Rupert Murdoch Buys the Paper, Wall Street Journal Reporters Are Angry Over Pay

-- Sheila McClear

Review: New York City, From Welfare State to Real Estate

-- Gary Goff

Wages, Wages, Wages: Clerical, Technical, & Health Care Workers Strike University of Minnesota

-- Michael Moore

Youth Committees Involve Young Members

-- Tiffany Ten Eyck

When Cami Automotive in Ingersoll, Ontario hired 500 new employees, Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) Local 88 wanted to make sure it had a plan to get the new hires, many of them under 30 and starting their first union jobs, involved in the union. . . . Read More

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