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Mark Brenner

Excerpt:
They break it, and we’re stuck with the bill. In less than two weeks Congress lined up $700 billion to bail out the nation’s bankers, leaving millions of homeowners on the sidelines. . . .

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Yes

Author(s):
Paul Abowd

Excerpt:
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger approved $7 billion in cuts in October to help fill a $15.2 billion crater in California’s budget, leveling a broad attack on unions and working people as the world’s tenth-largest economy teeters. Unemployment in California rose to 7.7 percent in August. . . .

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Yes

Author(s):
David Yao

Excerpt:
The U.S. Postal Service faces a serious financial shortfall that is accelerating reductions in its workforce and raising the possibility of the first-ever layoffs of career employees. . . .

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Yes

Author(s):
Tiffany Ten Eyck

Excerpt:
Muslim workers at meatpacking plants owned by JBS Swift in Colorado and Nebraska walked out in September to demand time for prayer and dinner during their holy month of Ramadan. When the company agreed, other workers, largely Latino immigrants, led counter-protests, complaining that the Muslims were being favored. . . .

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Author(s):
Garrett Stark

Excerpt:
Before the Nashville Homeless Power Project began investigating work conditions for homeless people, Shur Brite Car Wash workers in downtown Nashville made as little as $2 an hour. The carwashers now stand poised to sign an agreement with their employer. . . .

Available Online:
Yes

Author(s):
Kim Moody

Excerpt:
Employers do everything in their power to make sure workers don’t get a chance to vote for a union. They flout labor law, making a joke of the familiar National Labor Relations Board procedures where the government’s job is to oversee a “fair fight” election between the union and the boss. . . .

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Author(s):
Don Grinde

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No

Author(s):
Timothy Kaminski

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No

Author(s):
Judy Sheridan-Gonzalez

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No

Author(s):
Mark Brenner

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No

Author(s):
Paul Abowd

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No

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Ken Paff

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No

Author(s):
Mischa Gaus

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Author(s):
Chris Latham

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No

Author(s):
Robert Schwartz

Excerpt:
I work at a company where the production workers and the technicians are in different unions. The techs' contract runs out this year while ours has a year to go. If the techs call a strike, can the production workers respect their picket lines? . . .

Body:

A Sympathy Strike Within the Same Local

University of California public employees planned a strike this summer—and faced hurdles trying to organize a sympathy strike of their own members. UC workers are under California state law rather than the National Labor Relations Act.

Contracts had expired for both service workers such as janitors and groundskeepers and for patient care workers at UC hospitals. Management was bargaining with the patient care workers, which meant they weren’t legally allowed to walk. But the service workers were at an impasse—and they called a five-day strike. The union, AFSCME Local 3299, knew the service workers’ strike would be more effective if the patient care workers stayed out, too. But, says UC Davis organizer Amy Hines, “We were not legally allowed to point patient care workers in that direction. Neither were board members. “We had Member Action Team leaders who aren’t on AFSCME pay, and they promoted solidarity strikes. As a result, then, it was a grassroots effort.”

Available Online:
Yes