p>Several weeks into bankruptcy, United Airlines gave mechanics the Christmas present of 560 layoffs. At a meeting with management in San Francisco mechanics asked if they should expect more layoffs. The station's general manager laughed and said this was just the beginning......

In a few months, day labor groups around the country will see their grassroots organizing work take the national stage. Congressman Luis Gutierrez’ (D-Chicago) planned introduction of the federal Day Labor Fairness and Protection (DLFP) Act will be, in the words of Portland organizer Pedro Sosa, “the first time a bill has been developed on the streets, not by lawyers or organizations.”.....

Labor Notes’ series on Organizing the Unorganized is examining a vital area of concern for labor unions everywhere. However, I believe that there are two distinct and separate issues being discussed simultaneously in this excellent series. At times, I think this results in cloaking certain key elements of the whole question and giving the appearance of bogus disagreements between various contributors. . . .

p>Not one Williams Control worker has crossed the picket line since members of UAW Local 492 in Tigard, Oregon, began striking last September, protesting a proposed contract that one worker described as “a slavery agreement.”.....

As politicians and corporate executives met at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, a very different meeting took place in the city of Porto Alegre under the slogan "Another World is Possible." The third World Social Forum (WSF) brought over 100,000 people to Brazil. Participants from all sectors of civil society--trade unions, community organizations, women's groups, indigenous peoples, students, and environmentalists--discussed and debated proposals for how build and mobilize an effective movement to fight corporate globalization......

Many US labor activists consider soldiers the enemy, with good reason. Federal and state troops have been deployed again and again against rebellious workers; aside from the Civil War and Reconstruction, and the recurrent wars against native Americans, labor strife - whether strikes or genuine revolts - was the usual reason for domestic military mobilizations until the New Deal. (And even Reconstruction was partly about labor peace.) Since 1945, troops have been less often used as industrial police. The last major deployment of federal troops against strikers was 33 years ago next month (March), when Richard Nixon sent 16,000 reservists into postal facilities during the 1970 postal workers wildcat strike. But the threat remains - reiterated most recently during last year's longshore West Coast lock-out......

I have read with much interest the opinions of many bright union activists who written in Labor Notes on the subject of the future. That's great and refreshing. But let's be honest with ourselves and say that much like a dying tree, the labor movement has many dead limbs. They can't or won't be brought back to life, so in an effort to save the tree, we need to make some breaks and hope that the healing can begin. . . .