This is one of my favorite movie scenes. It’s from the 1991 film "Grand Canyon" where the car of the character played by Kevin Kline breaks down in a crime-ridden neighborhood in L.A. The tow truck, driven by Simon (Danny Glover) arrives, but not before they’re visited by the neighborhood gang members, one of whom [...]

Those of us who are sick of being sickened by the country’s current political situation were understandably concerned about the breakup of the AFL-CIO last year and the effect the breakup might have on the 2006 elections. And that concern was not unjustified. Despite the shrinkage in labor’s numbers over the past decades, the labor [...]

As I headed to the airport for my vacation, I ran across an article noting the 25th anniversary of what CWA organizer Steve Early calls “the biggest, most dramatic act of union-busting in 20th-century America” — the PATCO strike. And although I don’t have the facts on the demographics of Firedoglake readers, I would bet [...]

Back in the days before gas detectors, coal miners would take a caged canary down into the mine for protection from carbon monoxide(CO), a colorless, odorless, poisonous gas. Canaries are much more sensitive to CO than humans, so the canary would die and fall to the bottom of its cage if a low concentration of [...]

It’s a lazy summer, but for some reason I’ve been incredibly busy, so this is a good time to update some stories we’ve been following. If you’ve seen the movie Matewan, the 1987 John Sayles movie the 1920′s organizing battles in the West Virginia coal fields, you’ll recall how the coal company tried to discourage [...]

Watch out summer travellers. Ivan Osorio, editorial director at the right-wing Competitive Enterprise Institute warns that "It may be a stressful summer for travelers." Fuel prices? Terrorism? Global Warning? Wrong. Wrong. And wrong. None of the above. The threat to America’s summer vacation: UNITE-HERE’s campagn to negotiate better contracts and organize new hotel workers across [...]

As if American workers and American unions didn’t have enough problems these days, hundreds of thousands or even millions of American workers may be on the verge of losing their right to organize a union, if the Bush administration has its way. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is set to rule on a series of [...]

This is an appropriate story for the 4th of July. You remember all of those rights we fought over 230 years ago, like freedom of speech and freedom of assembly? Well, you can still take advantage of them – until you walk through the workplace door – unless you’re protected by a union. This is [...]

  You are demanding that this city will respect the dignity of labor. So often we over look the worth and significance of those who are not in the professional jobs, in the so called big jobs, but let me say to you tonight, that when ever you are engaged in work, that serves humanity, [...]

Two labor issues have been extensively covered over the past weeks: the challenges facing the United Auto Workers (as well as industrial unions in general), and the promise offered by an organizing victory among janitors at the University of Miami. How are these two stories connected? On the down side, the recent convention of the United [...]