Millions of Latino immigrant workers throughout the United States marched and rallied in March and April to oppose repressive immigration legislation in Congress and to demand just immigration reform...

Photo: Carolina Bank Muñoz.

Millions of Latino immigrant workers throughout the United States marched and rallied in March and April to oppose repressive immigration legislation in Congress and to demand just immigration reform.

The immigrant demonstrations were largest in Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, and New York, but there were demonstrations from coast to coast and throughout the Midwest and the South.

Several months ago, the Wall Street Journal described an increase in strikes in the United States. But the modest revival of grassroots activity in the U.S. labor movement at the end of 2005 has largely been missed by the mainstream press...

The Coalition of Immokalee Workers won a big victory at Taco Bell, and are moving on to McDonald’s. Photo: Jim West.

As labor activists from around the country and world converge on Dearborn, Michigan in early May for the Labor Notes Conference, it’s worth reflecting back on a year that has brought back hopes for a revitalization of the labor movement.

During the 1980s and ‘90s, cost-control tactics pioneered by HMOs spread throughout the entire health insurance industry. Those tactics, known collectively as “managed care,” were applied by the insurance industry first to employees of large-employers, and then to small-employers...

Despite solid evidence that turning Medicare and Medicaid over to HMOs raises the costs of these programs and damages quality of care, both Republicans and Democrats continue to support the further privatization of both programs. Photo: Jim West.

During the 1980s and ‘90s, cost-control tactics pioneered by HMOs spread throughout the entire health insurance industry. Those tactics, known collectively as “managed care,” were applied by the insurance industry first to employees of large-employers, and then to small-employers.

After a 13-hour occupation at the University of Miami (UM) on March 28, 16 students and a campus chaplain emerged from the administrative building at 1:40 a.m. with a promise from UM President Donna Shalala to meet with the janitors attempting to unionize on the campus...

Workers show support for University of Miami students during their occupation of the school’s administration building. Photo: Diego Mendez.

After a 13-hour occupation at the University of Miami (UM) on March 28, 16 students and a campus chaplain emerged from the administrative building at 1:40 a.m. with a promise from UM President Donna Shalala to meet with the janitors attempting to unionize on the campus.

It's hard enough to organize a union, but gaining recognition from an employer is even harder. All too often, successful organizing campaigns are followed by institutions refusing to recognize these new unions. United Campus Workers (UCW), an affiliate of CWA, was formed at the University of Tennessee around the knowledge that UT employees' wages put 20 percent of them below the national poverty line. The UT administration refuses to recognize UCW.

Workers and students at UT are demanding a $1,200 raise for all staff and faculty in an attempt to get every UT employee out of poverty. The union is backing a flat raise of $1,200 instead of the administration's proposed two percent raise because a percentage raise would benefit those at the higher end of payroll more than those who need a raise the most.

Yet another Colombian labor activist has been assassinated. Daniel Cortez was an electrical worker and 16-year veteran activist with his union, Sintraeleco. He was working in Puerto Parra, an area controlled by the allegedly disbanded right-wing United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, when he was shot twice in the face and died instantly.

Meanwhile, Colombia's government is threatening two agricultural trade unionists with FENSUAGRO, the country's agricultural workers union. FENSUAGRO Vice President Hubert Ballestros and union member Oscar Salazar have been followed repeatedly in recent months by vehicles similar to those following five other FENSUAGRO activists in the weeks before their assassinations.

Public sector workers in Quebec may prefer the two years they worked without a contract to conditions they'll face under a bill recently passed by Quebec's National Assembly. Bill 142, in effect until 2010, takes negotiations out of the hands of 500,000 public sector workers in Quebec, barring negotiation of salary, insurance, or retirement plans and imposing a two-year salary freeze.

The anti-union bill also prohibits strikes and slow-downs, punishing those who take part with hefty fines plus the loss of two days' pay for every day of work stoppage. Under Bill 142, the government retains the ability to alter or throw out collective agreements to replace workers with scabs. Affected workers range from teachers to hospital workers and make 20 percent less than similar workers in the unionized private sector.

Compensation for corporate executives is out of control. Top officials from the nation's largest corporations, such as Pfizer and Exxon Mobil, were paid an average $11.75 million in 2005. IBM freezes workers' pensions while its CEO, Samuel J. Palmisano, rests easy knowing he'll be getting $4 million a year after he retires. As workers' job security and pensions diminish more every year, CEO's have seen their pay and retirement packages grow by the millions--regardless of their job performance.

Many major companies are known for using accounting tricks to avoid complying with U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rules dictating that executive salaries must be reported. The SEC is considering new rules that would force companies to explain their compensation packages in layman's terms and include an estimated dollar value for all forms of compensation, in an attempt to promote transparency.