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How Republic Workers Occupied Their Plant »

January 28, 2009 | Leah Fried

December 5 was to be the last day of work at Republic Windows and Doors in Chicago. But managers soon realized that workers would not go quietly: they had voted to occupy the factory.


Members of United Electrical Workers (UE) Local 1110, they’d made plans to scatter throughout the plant...

Chicago Teachers Organize Against Privatization »

January 28, 2009 | Jackson Potter

As the CEO of Chicago Public Schools heads to Washington to run the nation’s schools policy, a new reform caucus of Chicago teachers is glad to see him go. But with their union in chaos, and city leaders hell-bent on privatizing schools, what’s a teacher to do? . . .

Viewpoint: Reunification without Democracy--What’s the point? »

January 28, 2009 | Tom Leedham

The decision by some big unions to split from the AFL-CIO and form Change to Win in 2005 was top-down. Local union leaders were not consulted, much less rank-and-file union members. Now leaders at the top appear to be moving toward reunification—again with no involvement of local leaders or...

SEIU Launches Takeover of United Healthcare Workers-West »

January 28, 2009 | Mark Brenner

The Service Employees’ internal battle broke wide open late Tuesday when International President Andy Stern put the dissident United Healthcare Workers-West into emergency trusteeship. Financial assets for the 150,000-member local were immediately seized, the executive board was dissolved, and...

Service Employees Vote to Split United Healthcare Workers-West, Members Call for Disaffiliation »

January 9, 2009 | Mark Brenner

The Service Employees’ internal battle took a decisive turn January 9, when the union’s top body approved plans to split apart a big dissident California local, United Healthcare Workers-West.

Viewpoint: They're Closing In »

January 1, 2009 | Gregg Shotwell

The Detroit Three cite legacy costs as their biggest competitive disadvantage. Their solution? Add to the legacy costs by retiring more workers faster with buy-out packages subtracted from the pension.
When the market crashed, the government loaned the D-3 money on condition that they close...

Chicago Sitdown Strike Produces Win for Workers, Not Banks »

December 22, 2008 | Jerry Mead-Lucero

Confronted with a callous bank and management removing machinery in the middle of the night, workers at Chicago's Republic Windows and Doors occupied their factory six days, until a unanimous December 10 vote to accept a severance package. . . .

Faced with Concession Demands, Unions Search for Ways to Resist »

December 22, 2008 | Mischa Gaus, Mark Brenner

As companies scramble to shore up profits, many are turning to a well-rehearsed script: ask union workers for concessions. The supposed payoff ? You’ll get to keep your job. In late November, the Teamsters announced a deal with Yellow- Roadway Corporation to crack open their contract and cut...

Financial Crisis Shouldered by City Workers »

December 22, 2008 | Paul Abowd

Last summer’s meeting of the National Conference of Mayors foresaw grim days for American cities — and that was before finance markets folded up in the fall. Now urban governments confront budget deficits that stem from falling tax revenues and the ongoing credit crunch. . . .

D.C. Teachers Resist District’s ‘Slash-and-Burn’ Style »

December 22, 2008 | Candi Peterson

Unable to cajole or buy support from the Washington Teachers Union, D.C. schools chief Michelle Rhee now says her version of education reform can be done with teachers — or to them. Contract talks screeched to a halt this fall when teachers indicated they would vote down a privately funded plan...

Smithfield Wins a Union after 16-Year Struggle »

December 22, 2008 | Nichele Fulmore, Mischa Gaus

Forging a historic win for labor in the notoriously anti-union South, workers at the nation’s largest hog slaughterhouse won a 16-year battle to unionize their plant in December. . . .

Understanding and Defending Past Practices »

December 22, 2008 |

Author(s):
David Cohen


Excerpt:


Stewards need to know what a valid past practice is and what the past practices in their workplace are—to defend them from erosion by management. A past practice is any longstanding, frequent practice that is accepted and known by both union and...

New York’s Transit Local Recovers Dues Check-off, Accepts Strike Prohibition »

December 19, 2008 | Steve Downs

The union representing New York City’s bus and subway workers recovered their right to dues check-off after 17 months of punishment for an illegal strike. Local President Roger Toussaint bowed to the mayor's demand and promised no more strikes, despite insisting for years that transit workers...

Auto Workers Told to Take Concessions, Abandon Retirees »

December 19, 2008 | Tiffany Ten Eyck

President George Bush announced a $17.4 billion dollar bridge loan for General Motors and Chrysler. The Bush administration's requirements mirror demands from anti-union Republicans who torpedoed Congressional action last week. The plan hinges on demands that UAW wages and work rules are...

Cutting Wages Won't Solve Big Three's Problems »

December 4, 2008 | Mark Brenner and Jane Slaughter

In the 1980s, Chevrolet proclaimed itself the "Heartbeat of America," but today the American auto industry barely registers a pulse. As Washington considers Detroit's plea for life support, the only place where pundits, politicians and Big Three executives seem to agree is that auto workers...

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