Expectations for President Obama are high. A friend told me of a sick relative in a small Midwestern industrial town. The relative’s specialist was at a conference, and the only possible replacement in town did not have privileges at this particular hospital. The ER nurse told the patient, “Obama’s going to change all that.” . . .

In a surprise settlement, Smithfield Foods dropped its multimillion-dollar racketeering lawsuit against the United Food and Commercial Workers, Jobs with Justice, and the Change to Win federation October 27. The company agreed instead to a set of rules that will govern a vote on December 10 and 11 for union representation at its hog slaughterhouse in Tar Heel, North Carolina. . . .

Graduation rates were climbing to all-time highs in New York City’s alternative schools, where John Powers taught last year, before the Department of Education’s consultants arrived. Citing under-performance, the city closed schools, and chopped some into smaller units, giving them new names. A new nameplate, however, forced the school’s teaching staff to reapply for their jobs. . . .

Ella was having a bad day. Her machines weren’t running right, but her foreman came over and said, “Ella, we need those machines up and running, and since Rafael is out today, I want you to start up his machines, too.” “No way,” said Ella. . . .

Ella was having a bad day. Her machines weren’t running right, but her foreman came over and said, “Ella, we need those machines up and running, and since Rafael is out today, I want you to start up his machines, too.”

“No way,” said Ella. “I’ve got my hands full, and the contract says I don’t have to run extra machines except in emergencies.”

“I’m telling you to get over there and start up those machines,” yelled her foreman. “If you don’t, you’ll be fired for insubordination.”

Sally, the department steward, went to the supervisor’s office. “We have to talk about your foreman,” she said. “He’s threatening Ella and trying to make her run more machines than she’s supposed to.”

Workers at a Unilever tea factory in Pakistan are protesting the company’s refusal to provide permanent jobs and contracts for their employees.

The Unilever tea factory in Khanewal, in the Punjab province, employs 750 workers who package tea for Brook Bond and Lipton tea brands. But temporary workers dominate the factory—just 22 are permanently employed.

The rest are hired through contract labor agencies. They lack the right to join the Unilever union, and have fewer benefits and lower wages than permanent workers.

Temporary is a misleading term for these tea packers. Most have been working at the factory for decades, and some as many as 30 years. The country’s labor law says that they should have been granted permanent employment after nine months on the job.

The Mexican miners union continues to strike at the Cananea mine for safe working conditions and the reinstatement of their leader, who faces fresh criminal charges and a new death threat.

The Mexican government tried to oust the miners’ president, Napoleon Gomez Urrutia, and he was forced to flee the country after facing death threats and corruption charges. Gomez said they were trumped up; false charges are often leveled against union activists in Mexico.

Gomez won re-election and continues to lead his union in exile from Vancouver, British Columbia. The Mexican government, however, refuses to recognize him as the union’s head.