Hotel workers celebrate new pact
SAN FRANCISCO — Celebration was in the air as union members gathered with Unite Here Local 2 President Mike Casey at the local’s headquarters Sept. 13 to announce a tentative agreement in their two-year contract struggle with 13 of the city’s largest hotels. A ratification vote is set for Sept. 22.
Ford slashes spell pain for workers, communities; CEO to rake in millions
DETROIT — Ford’s latest plan to turn the company around puts on the “fast track” the biggest restructuring in the auto giant’s 103-year history. Bearing the pain will be autoworkers and the communities they live in
Need protection from unions? Bush Department of Labor races to rescue
Anyone who feels that getting protection from their employers is taking away their “rights” will be relieved to learn that the United States Department of Labor, George W. Bush in charge, is racing to the rescue.
Class struggle is a fact, not a theory
Is Andy Stern right that class struggle trade unionism is outdated and a leftover from the heyday of industrial unionism? Is he right that corporate globalization is inevitable and all that unions can do is go along to get along? I think not.
EDITORIAL: The power of unity
Today the labor movement has joined with millions of immigrant workers and social justice advocates in a united struggle for labor and human rights.
EDITORIAL: Grim numbers and a chance for change
A couple of economic reports grimly confirm what workers across the U.S. already know from their own experience.
Organizing drives gain momentum: An interview with AFL-CIO Organizing Director Stewart Acuff
WASHINGTON (PAI) — Joint organizing drives involving two or three unions, some of them in notoriously anti-union “right to work” states, will lead to wins for organized labor, says AFL-CIO Organizing Director Stewart Acuff.
Autoworker walks across Ohio for health care
Dave Pavlick took his vacation from his job as a staff representative for the UAW in Cleveland so that he could walk 600 miles across the entire state of Ohio. He stopped at community after community to hold press conferences and talk with regular folks, supporting the Health Care for All Ohioans Act.
Are guaranteed pensions a thing of the past?
What the Republican-controlled federal government couldn’t do with Social Security may have been achieved with pensions, as Congress this month passed the biggest pension law changes in 30 years. The full impact is unclear, but certainly there will be fewer traditional pension plans, more 401(k)-type retirement accounts and a lot of betrayed workers, but companies happy to be able to more easily freeze or terminate pensions.
Day laborers find hope in San Francisco program
SAN FRANCISCO — Early on a chill, gray August morning, men seeking casual jobs pulled their jackets closer as they stood in little groups along the Mission District’s Cesar Chavez Street.
