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Defeating Employee Free Choice Act Is Top Priority for the Union Busters »

March 26, 2007 | John Logan

The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) is one of the most important pieces of legislation being considered by the new Congress, yet many working people have probably never heard of it. If they have, they have most likely heard the version that corporate America wants them to hear: that the bill...

Will the UAW Fight Assembly Line Outsourcing Inside Ford's Most Important Plant? »

March 25, 2007 | Ron Lare

Workers making the profitable Ford F-150 pickup in the Dearborn Truck Plant are witnessing company outsourcing inside their building, just a line over. As whole lines of Ford’s flagship plant get staffed by temporary workers not covered under UAW contracts, only the rank and file is showing up...

Fighting for Domestic Partner Benefits »

March 24, 2007 |

Author(s):
Julie Robert and Helen Ho


Excerpt:


When Michigan voters went to the polls in November 2004, they were asked to consider Proposal 2, which asked whether “the union of one man and one woman in marriage shall be the only agreement recognized as a marriage or similar...

Legal Threats, Power Struggle Derail Conductors Strike at Canada’s Largest Railroad »

March 24, 2007 | Chris Kutalik

Nearly 3,000 United Transportation Union (UTU) conductors and yard service workers faced down Canada’s largest rail carrier, Canadian National (CN), in a two-week strike that began February 10. It was the second time in less than three years, that a small unit of rail workers shut down CN by...

Organizing "Big Boxes" is Big Challenge for Labor »

March 24, 2007 | Eli Jelly-Schapiro, Tiffany Ten Eyck

For the 15 million retail workers in the United States, the odds of being in a union are low. According to the nonprofit Labor Research Association, retail unionization was just 6.2 percent in 2003. While the United Food and Commercial Workers union (UFCW) has made some gains for grocery and...

Strategic Drive Takes on California Agribiz Leader »

March 24, 2007 | Marcy Rein

Their organizing has taken them from their manager’s front door in a well-groomed suburb of Sacramento, California to the raging streets of Seoul, South Korea, from the halls of Congress to the stuffy chambers of the National Labor Relations Board. The workers at Blue Diamond Growers (BDG) have...

Volunteer Organizers Can Add Muscle To Major Union Recruiting Campaigns »

March 24, 2007 | Harry Kelber

There are many reasons why unions fail to win organizing campaigns, why they abort them soon after launching, and why many campaigns don’t get off the drawing board. These failures explain why unions are especially reluctant to target corporations that employ thousands of workers in multiple...

Labor-Community Coalitions That Work »

February 23, 2007 |

Author(s):
Greg Asbed, Lucas Benitez


Excerpt:


When you read about building coalitions, it can almost sound easy, like part of a do-it-yourself organizing recipe. You find a chapter titled something like “Building Effective Coalitions,” read a few general rules, check out a...

Strategy and Resource Shift Needed: Auto Workers Union Need Organizing Campaign Based on an Army of Member-Organizers »

February 23, 2007 | Wendy Thompson

As the UAW prepares for this summer’s negotiations with the Big Three auto companies, UAW leadership is strangely silent. With the companies seeming poised to demand major concessions, the union cannot afford to look weak. . . .

Labor Law Reform Could Turn Tide on Organizing »

February 22, 2007 | Chris Townsend

The most ambitious labor-driven attempt in more than 25 years to win congressional approval of sweeping labor law reform is now before Congress. The goal is to remedy the outlandish violations of human and labor rights that are routinely visited on workers who attempt to organize a union in...

Don't mourn. . . . As Membership Keeps Sliding, How Can We Organize Our Way Out? »

February 22, 2007 | Chris Kutalik

The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ annual report on U.S. union membership has, for years, sounded like a broken record: decline, decline, decline. After a pleasant break in 2005, when gains in new membership for once kept steady with the loss of union jobs, was short-lived, according to this year’...

In Health Care Reform Debate, Single-Payer System is Labor’s Only Clear Choice »

February 22, 2007 | Rose Ann DeMoro

Union members have a huge stake in the present debate on health care reform. At a time when employers routinely slash or eliminate health benefits for workers and their families or force union members on strike to preserve those benefits, when insurance plans routinely restrict workers’ choice...

Memory of 1997 Strike Strengthens Union’s Position: UPS and Teamsters Working for (Very) Early Contract Settlement »

February 22, 2007 | Chris Kutalik

The 1997 Teamsters strike against UPS was one of the biggest events for U.S. labor in the 1990s. Relying on rank-and-file member mobilization, innovative tactics, and a campaign that captured public support, the Teamsters (IBT) won a victory that buoyed union morale far and wide. Though the...

Remembering Where Flowers Come from on Valentine’s Day »

February 13, 2007 | Alexandra Early

Every year on Valentine’s Day, millions of Americans head to their local florist or supermarket to buy flowers for a friend, spouse, or family member. If there’s a romantic relationship involved, we’re mainly concerned about getting our gift to the recipient--on time. Few of us ever ask where...

News Watch »

February 1, 2007 |


“Gary Rusnell will come back inside over my dead body,” Detroit Newspapers labor relations boss Tim Kelleher once vowed. That was more than a year ago. A court had reversed the firing of Rusnell, a rank and file leader of the newspaper strike, and Kelleher was appealing. But recently, the...

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