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USA Edition
Act Now! Tell Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel to fix, not close, Chicago’s public schools!
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LabourStart's second book - an introduction to the global union federations, the International Trade Union Confederation, and the other institutions of our international movement. Essential reading for all trade unionists in an age of globalisation. Click here to learn more.Top stories from the USA
Act Now! Sign Petition! To the CEOs of McDonald's, Domino's, Papa John's, Yum! Brands, Wendy's and Burger King [Fast Food Forward] 2013-05-18
Act Now! Tell Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel to fix, not close, Chicago’s public schools! [AFT] 2013-05-18
North Carolina ALEC carries sway in legislature for anti-worker laws [News Observer] 2013-05-17
Washington Dockers’ unions show international solidarity runs both ways [ITF] ActNOW! 2013-05-16
Illinois After Fighting Rahm Emanuel on Layoffs, Airport Janitors Demand New Union [In These Times] 2013-05-16
Act Now! We Demand a Fully-Functioning National Labor Relations Board [CWA] 2013-05-16
Illinois Stop School Closings! Three-Day March for Educational Justice in Chicago [CTU] 2013-05-16
Only one US retailer has joined global plan to improve fire and building safety in Bangladesh - Wal-Mart plans solo effort [NY Times] ActNOW! 2013-05-15
Report ranks various countries retirement schemes for working people [NY Times] 2013-05-15
NLRB Nominations May Be Blocked By GOP, Rendering Labor Board Inoperable [Huffington Post] 2013-05-15
Our campaigns
Other news
Crisis at the NLRB 2013-05-19 [Arkansas Blog]
Minnesota Minnesota House: Union bill draws protesters, supporters; marathon debate takes a break 2013-05-19 [Pioneer Press]
California White collar workers turn to unions 2013-05-19 [LA Times]
California Immigrant Workers Give New Direction to Los Angeles Unions 2013-05-18 [The Times]
Illinois Fiery Chicago teachers union president reelected 2013-05-18 [Washington Post]
New York Justice for labor on the farm 2013-05-18 [Albany Times-Union]
California CNA/NNU Sutter Alta Bates Nurses 9th Strike And Rally Against Concession Demands For more info 2013-05-18 [LVP]
California Immigrant Workers Give New Direction to Los Angeles Unions 2013-05-18 [NYTimes]
U.S. needs a fully functioning National Labor Relations Board: Republican instransigence is harming workers; Obama's recess appointments are in jeopardy 2013-05-18 [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]
Wisconsin Fast food workers in Milwaukee walk off the job, call for wage increase, right to a union without retaliation 2013-05-18 [Milwaukee Courier]
Washington Seattle workers use poetry to convey hardship, fight for higher wages 2013-05-18 [Cross Cut]
New York Immigrant Workers Are Organizing 2013-05-18 [Monthly Review]
Retailers Key to Bangladesh Worker Safety, Investors Tell Wal-Mart, Gap ActNOW! 2013-05-18 [AFL-CIO]
High-Tech’s Sketchy Claims for More Foreign Workers 2013-05-18 [AFL-CIO]
Transit union pushes for passage of internet sales tax bill 2013-05-17 [The Hill]
Time to Take Responsibility 2013-05-17 [UFCW]
UFCW Local 455 Kroger Members Ratify New Three-Year Contract 2013-05-17 [UFCW]
District of Columbia Walmart Associates, Community Supporters Launch New Website www.ReallyWalmart.org 2013-05-17 [UFCW]
President Hansen on Decision of H&M and Others to Improve Workplace Safety in Bangladesh 2013-05-17 [UFCW]
Michigan USW files unfair labor practice charge against Kalkaska County Road Commission 2013-05-17 [USW]
the future of teacher evaluation? 2013-05-17 [Education Week]
Tennessee Memphis plans to fire record number of teachers 2013-05-17 [Scripps Howard News]
Florida Mothers Fighting Poverty: Lupe Gonzalo, Immokalee, Florida 2013-05-17 [Nat]
Walmart's Bangladesh safety plan flawed, says union 2013-05-17 [BBC ]
House Immigrant Plan Seen as Step Back to 1940s U.S. Program 2013-05-17 [Bloomberg]
Greenhouse: Groups Press Big Retailers on Safety Overseas 2013-05-17 [NYTimes]
Oregon Second grain handler locks out longshoremen ActNOW! 2013-05-17 [NW Labor Press]
Give public servants the recognition — and pay — they deserve 2013-05-17 [The Washington Post]
The Right to Call In Sick 2013-05-17 [In These Times]
Miners Trapped at Giant Freeport Mine in Papua 2013-05-17 [VOA]
Washington 90% support for possible strike at Evergreen 2013-05-17 [WFSE / AFSCME]
Washington 'Progressive' Evergreen College Pushes Workers to Strike Vote 2013-05-17 [USAS]
New York Farm workers and advocates call on legislature to require basic labor protections 2013-05-16 [WNYT]
New York May 21st: Albany Rally for Safe Patient Handling and Safe Staffing Ratios 2013-05-16 [AFL-CIO Healthcare Workers]
NY Legal Services Staff Association, UAW Local 2320, On Strike! 2013-05-16 [AFL-CIO]
Home Defenders League Sponsors Wall Street Accountability Week of Action 2013-05-16 [AFL-CIO]
Effort to Stop Koch Brothers’ Takeover of L.A. Times Gains Momentum 2013-05-16 [AFL-CIO]
Stop Aspiring Citizen Deportations, Groups Tell White House 2013-05-16 [AFL-CIO]
Retail group criticizes Bangladesh safety accord 2013-05-16 [FOX]
FL-CIO will look at changes to labor councils 2013-05-16 [nwLaborPress]
Letter: Unions, not businesses, are responsible for worker safety laws 2013-05-16 [Morning Call]
Pennsylvania CWA 2013 Convention Delegates Debate Telecom Contract Fights And Concession Bargaining For more info 2013-05-16 [LVP]
California 'Fashion Police' Strike: E! Defends Joan Rivers, Slams WGA in Letter to Writers 2013-05-16 [The Hollywood Reporter]
Texas USW members ratify contracts at ExxonMobil Baytown complex 2013-05-16 [USW]
Maine Shipyard workers get reprieve from furloughs 2013-05-16 [Kennebec Journal]
Maine Shipyard unions say Congress has failed other workers 2013-05-16 [Kennebec Journal]
Massachusetts Bellingham teachers union declares no confidence in super, chairman 2013-05-16 [Milford Daily News]
Minnesota MN Senate passes day care unionization bill 2013-05-16 [Times Union]
Wisconsin Striking Milwaukee fast-food workers demand $15 minimum wage 2013-05-16 [MSNBC]
This month in labour history
4-05-1886 A bomb is thrown during a demonstration against police violence in Haymarket Square, Chicago. The ensuing police riot and trials of anarchists, known as the Haymarket affair, eventually give birth to May Day as international workers' day. [more]
5-05-1886 Nine striking workers are shot dead by the National Guard at the Rolling Mills Steel Factory in Bay View, Milwaukee [more]
6-05-1935 The Works Progress Administration is established by executive order - it will provide work for millions of Americans. [more]
6-05-1937 Four hundred tobacco workers, earning just $3 per week, stage a walkout in Richmond, Virginia [more]
8-05-1926 A. Philip Randolph founds the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. [more]
9-05-1913 The garment workers strike at Cohoes could become an international incident after it emerges that Italian migrant workers are being forced to break the strike. [more]
11-05-1894 Three thousands Pullman railroad workers in Chicago begin a wildcat strike. [more]
12-05-1902 John Mitchell of the UMWA cals for a national strike, beginning the Anthracite Coal Strike which will last five months. [more]
13-05-1980 Douglas Fraser of the UAW becomes the first union representative on the board a major US corporation after Chystler's stockholders vote him on. [more]
13-05-1893 Western Federation of Miners formed in Butte, Montana. [more]
19-05-1920 A gun battle between the people of Matewan and Baldwin Felts detectives leaves ten people dead. [more]
22-05-1942 In Cleveland the Steelworkers Organizing Committee voted to become a union: the United Steelworkers of America [more]
25-05-1946 President Truman comes within three minutes of drafting the nation's railroad workers into the army to suppress a proposed strike, but the union leaders and employers settle just before the presiden't ultimatum comes into effect. [more]
26-05-1937 UAW organisers are attacked and beaten by Ford security men in Dearborn, Michigan, in an incident which greatly increases support for the union. [more]
29-05-1990 The Justice for Janitors strike of ISS cleaners in Los Angeles begins. [more]
30-05-1937 Ten workers are shot dead by Chicago police during a strike at the Republic Steel Mill. [more]
31-05-1921 The Sacco and Vanzetti trial begins in Dedham, Massachusetts. [more]