Troublemakers Blog
January 28, 2011 / Jenny Brown
Anti-union rhetoric and threats are emanating from new governors in several states, including Wisconsin, Ohio, and Florida. But none has been so explicit as South Carolina, where incoming Governor Nikki Haley has announced her determination to specifically keep unions out of a new Boeing plant near Charleston.
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January 26, 2011 / Mischa Gaus
January 20, 2011 / Mark Brenner
With state and local governments staring at deep budget gaps, politicians across the spectrum are blaming public sector workers for the river of red ink. “We can no longer live in a society where the public employees are the haves and taxpayers who foot the bills are the have-nots,” crowed Scott Walker, Wisconsin’s newly elected governor, in a recent speech. »
January 18, 2011 /
Activists are strategizing survival tactics at Labor Notes Troublemakers Schools around the country this year: New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Diego, Madison, the Bay Area, Los Angeles. A hundred people turned out in Vermont Sunday for the first 2011 school.
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January 14, 2011 / Mischa Gaus
California is at the forefront of a national push by worker advocates to take some of the fear out of a family member getting sick. New research shows that the state’s path-breaking paid family leave policy, which came into effect seven years ago, has produced gains for workers—while barely affecting employers.
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January 13, 2011 / Jane Slaughter
UPDATE: The auction action has been canceled. Esterline Technologies improved its severance offer--on the condition that UE Local 204 not attempt to stop the auction. The local said that more than $600,000 for 85 members is at stake. More information will be forthcoming.
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January 12, 2011 /
With patience wearing thin after 18 months of bargaining, the nurses at Wilkes-Barre General Hospital in Pennsylvania chose a one-day strike December 23. We wanted to show our for-profit employer that our solidarity is still as strong as ever and that we will stand up and fight for serious bargaining.
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January 07, 2011 /
The 30,000-member Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) passed a resolution Wednesday calling on the FBI to “stop using the national security laws to intimidate people from using their First Amendment rights.” The resolution arose because of FBI raids last September in Chicago and the Twin Cities on the homes of 14 anti-war activists, 10 of whom are also union members.
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January 06, 2011 /
As the Detroit International Auto Show opens January 9 and PR glitz is sprinkled everywhere, auto workers will be demonstrating against two-tier wages and the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement. They’ll say what auto workers and the whole economy need is a strong union, and retooled plants that can put the unemployed back to work building mass transit and »
January 04, 2011 / Dan La Botz
Ohio activists will protest at Republican Governor-elect John Kasich’s inauguration events this Saturday. Backers of the “Defend Ohio” campaign will march to the Statehouse in Columbus with signs and slogans in support of public employees and public services.
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