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End to Garment Quota System Spells More Competition, More Poverty »

February 1, 2005 | Sheila McClear

You know we’ve hit a new low when sweatshop workers are sad to see their jobs go. But in an unexpected, and possibly nightmarish, collision of global free trade policies, that’s what workers in developing countries with emerging garment industries, ranging from Bangladesh and Cambodia to Mexico...

Two-Tier Contract at Caterpillar Worsens; Retirees Stiffed »

February 1, 2005 | Larry G. Soloman

Northern California Contract Continues Concessions in Grocery Industry »

February 1, 2005 | Bill Pearson

Shortly after the New Year, members of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 588 in Northern California ratified a new contract that will insure the continued decline of organized labor in the grocery industry. Perhaps no other union is as adept as the UFCW at making concessionary contracts...

Union Made in El Salvador »

February 1, 2005 | Teofilo Reyes

Just Garments (Confección de Prendas con Justicia) – one of the first unionized garment shops in El Salvador – is an unusual experiment in garment production . . . .

Doubly Divided: The Racial Wealth Gap »

February 1, 2005 | Meizhu Lui

Race has always been a basis on which U.S. society metes out access to wealth and power. Both in times when the overall wealth gap has grown and in times when a rising tide has managed to lift both rich and poor boats, a pernicious wealth gap between whites and nonwhite minorities has persisted...

Independent Union Struggles Against Partnership Schemes And Union-Busting on Russia’s Docks »

February 1, 2005 | Liz Vladeck

For Igor Vdovchenko, going to work every day has become an act of resistance. Vdovchenko is a dockworker in Kaliningrad, a small area of Russia tucked between Poland and Lithuania. Whether or not they like their jobs, Vdovchenko and the others in the port share a certain pride in the simple...

Dispatches From The Shop Floor »

January 1, 2005 | Labor Notes staff

To begin addressing the neglect of the workplace, Labor Notes runs a series of "shop floor dispatches," reports from workers on how restructuring, reorganization, and new technologies have altered their workplaces. . . .

Mandated Programs Push Classroom De-Skilling »

January 1, 2005 | Molly Sides

"When I stand in the hallway, I should be able to hear all fourth grade teachers saying the same thing. Do not deviate from the scripted program and do not fall behind in the pacing plan.” The “program” this principal was referring to was Open Court, Los Angeles’s mandated reading curriculum...

San Francisco Hotel Lockout Boxed Employers In »

January 1, 2005 | David Bacon

Sometimes the fate of a single battle foretells the outcome of a war, long before it’s over. The end of the San Francisco hotel lockout promises to be this kind of watershed moment . . . .

Strategy Debate: What Will Save the Labor Movement? »

January 1, 2005 | Chris Kutalik

To date, the debates about the future of the AFL-CIO have centered around positions issuing from the tops of three major unions. Each union projects its existing leadership style as the cure for ailing unions. And included in the mix are proposals for some innovative strategies—many of which...

Mandated Programs Push Classroom De-Skilling »

January 1, 2005 | Molly Sides

"When I stand in the hallway, I should be able to hear all fourth grade teachers saying the same thing. Do not deviate from the scripted program and do not fall behind in the pacing plan.” The “program” this principal was referring to was Open Court, Los Angeles’s mandated reading curriculum...

Working For Change: Interview With An SEIU Reformer »

January 1, 2005 | William Johnson

Of the unions involved in the New Unity Partnership, only one—the Carpenters—has an active rank-and-file reform movement. However, each of the other unions has rank-and-file leaders on the local level who are working to promote member control . . . .

Making the Case for Insourcing »

January 1, 2005 | Mike Parker

Outsourcing has become a mantra for managers. If the union is strong enough and the economic conditions sufficiently favorable, the union can prevent outsourcing simply by making clear that it will not tolerate loss of jobs and that it is up to management to figure out ways to do the jobs...

Auto Workers Walk Off Line at Ford’s Showcase Truck Plant over Overtime Violation »

January 1, 2005 | Ron Lare

About three dozen workers at a Ford truck plant in Dearborn, Michigan walked off the assembly line after eight hours of work December 1. Production halted immediately. The previous day management had violated a contractual rule about notice of overtime, so the workers on trim and chassis lines...

Railroads Reduce Crew Sizes with New Technology »

December 1, 2004 | Ron Kaminkow

Like many other industries, railroads have undergone dramatic restructuring over the past few decades. Advances in radio, telecommunications, computers, and other forms of technology have decimated the ranks of the nation’s railroaders, from brakemen and switchmen to clerks and car inspectors...

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