The Washington Teachers Union is on a collision course with D.C. schools chief Michelle Rhee over her plan to kill job security for teachers in exchange for merit pay—up to $20,000 a year in bonuses—and higher salaries. . . .
Undocumented immigrants are criminals but law-breaking employers should get off scot free—at least, that seems to be the position of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The federal agency has come under fire from community groups and unions following its May raid on an Iowa kosher meatpacking plant. . . .
Relief swept through Verizon garages and offices in the Northeast after unions at the telecommunications giant announced a settlement August 10 that buttressed health care for most workers and delivered healthy wage gains. The three-year offer, which would cover 65,000 workers from Maine to Virginia, came after two strike threats in early August and weeks of worksite rallies. . . .
Which is better—craft unions or industrial unions? The debate is as old as the labor movement itself, and one that resists simple answers. Craft unions organize workers along occupational lines. Industrial unions join everyone who works for one employer, or one industry, into one union. . . .
Tanya Diggins, a cleaner at the Baltimore Orioles baseball stadium, considers herself lucky. After four years on the job, she knows she’s going to have work cleaning up after fans. That’s not the case for many cleaners at Camden Yards, who are hired by a subcontractor and gather around the stadium on game days, hoping to get in and get to work. . . .
The springtime news from the United Steelworkers and the Dofasco steel bosses rocked Hamilton, Ontario. Within days, the Steelworkers would be allowed into the company’s plants. They would chat with workers informally, one-on-one and in small groups, listen to their concerns, and gauge their interest in joining the union. . . .
Subcontracted South Korean electronics workers need your support in their struggle to regain their jobs and win decent work conditions from their employer, Kiryung Electronics. After a 67-day hunger strike that ended in mid-August, workers continue to insist the company rehire those it fired three years ago for organizing a union.
The workers make satellite radios that Kiryung sells to Sirius Satellite Radio in the U.S.
Kiryung employs full-time workers alongside temporary “dispatch” workers. The temps, who receive much lower wages, are paid by dispatch agencies rather than Kiryung. They make a penny above minimum wage and work 60-70 hours a week.
Parents and kids’ access to childcare may be threatened by a private equity firm’s takeover of Bright Horizons, the third-largest childcare company in the country.
Bain Capital bought out Bright Horizons earlier this year, turning it into a privately held company. Big financial merger deals like this one may seem routine, but those who receive care from Bright Horizons don’t trust Bain’s reputation.
Bain’s buyout of the retail chain K.B. Toys in 2000 led to the company’s bankruptcy in 2004, causing thousands of layoffs and store closings. Child care providers worry that without transparency or input from the communities it serves, Bain will cut Bright Horizons’ services.
