Unions Topics

Democracy Now! stories, posts and pages that relate to Unions

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  • Verizon Workers, Management Dig in for Decisive Labor Battle 'This is no ordinary strike'

    Democracy Now co-host, Juan Gonzalez, reports in the New York Daily News that on the 10th day of the most important labor fight in America, hundreds of striking Verizon workers have vowed to stay out as long as necessary.
    Aug 17, 2011 | Columns & Articles
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    Verizon Workers Strike over "Full-Scale Attack" on Wages, Benefits at Telecom Giant

    Some 45,000 workers at Verizon have entered their fifth day on strike after negotiations between Verizon and two unions representing the workers broke down when the company attempted to cut health and pension benefits for workers and make it easier to fire workers. The workers on strike are employed in Verizon’s fixed-line division covering landline phones, DSL internet, FiOS, cable TV and internet. Workers at Verizon Wireless are not unionized....
    Aug 11, 2011 | Story
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    Anti-Union Law Fuels Massive Voter Turnout for Historic Wisconsin Recall

    Republicans have retained control of the Wisconsin State Senate following a series of historic recall elections organized in response to their support of Gov. Scott Walker’s union-busting bill this spring. Democrats needed to win three of the six Republican seats up for grabs in order to gain a majority, but four incumbents prevailed. Independent video producer Sam Mayfield spoke with voters at polling stations in the contested districts of...
    Aug 10, 2011 | Story
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    WI Recall Marks Labor Win; Election Money Raises Question of U.S. as "Democracy or Dollar-ocracy?"

    For analysis on the Wisconsin recall vote, we go to Madison to speak with John Nichols, Washington correspondent for The Nation magazine. Although Republicans hold onto a slim 17-to-16 majority after the election, Nichols says the Democrats’ pickup of two seats, coupled with the moderate stance of Republican State Sen. Dale Schultz, amounts to a new "pro-labor majority" in the Wisconsin State Senate. "Gov. Scott Walker took...
    Aug 10, 2011 | Story
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    NLRB Orders New Election After Ruling SEIU, Kaiser Colluded to Influence Union Vote

    The National Labor Relations Board has recommended the cancellation of the results of an election last year between two unions to represent 43,000 employees in California’s largest hospital chain, Kaiser Permanente. The giant Service Employees International Union, or SEIU, beat out the much smaller breakaway National Union of Health Workers, or NUHW, in a bitterly contested race. But a National Labor Relations Board judge has now ruled SEIU...
    Jul 22, 2011 | Story
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    “A Moment in the Sun”: An Extended Interview with Independent Filmmaker, Author John Sayles

    We spend the hour with legendary independent filmmaker and author, John Sayles. Over the past three decades, he has directed 17 feature films, including Return of the Secaucus Seven, Matewan, Lone Star, and Eight Men Out. He has often used his films to tackle pressing political issues, as well as themes of race, class, labor and sexuality. His newest film, Amigo, which opens in August, is set in the Philippines during the U.S. occupation. Sayles...
    Jun 17, 2011 | Story
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    "Getting Wise to Breitbart's Lies": Missouri Professors Survive Right-Wing Smear Campaign by Andrew Breitbart

    Two Missouri labor professors have been vindicated after a right-wing smear campaign almost cost them their jobs. Last month, the website BigGovernment.com—run by right-wing blogger Andrew Breitbart—posted footage of a labor relations class taught by University of Missouri professors Judy Ancel and Don Giljum. In the video, the professors appeared to make a number of statements backing the use of violence in the struggle for labor rights....
    May 17, 2011 | Story
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    Locked-Out Uranium Processing Workers Protest Honeywell’s Use of Scab Workers at Uranium Enrichment Plant in Illinois

    Dozens of workers protested at Honeywell’s shareholder meeting on Monday, accusing the company of putting employees and the public in danger at its uranium enrichment plant in Metropolis, Illinois. Major U.S. defense contractor, Honeywell, pleaded guilty last month to illegally storing hazardous radioactive waste without a permit. The company kept highly radioactive mud in drums in the open air behind its facility near the Ohio River. Workers...
    Apr 26, 2011 | Story
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    Democrats Vow to Seek Public Referendum as Ohio Enacts Anti-Union Bill

    Ohio Republican Gov. John Kasich has signed a bill that strips collective bargaining rights for more than 360,000 state workers and bars them from striking. Democrats have announced plans to collect some 230,000 signatures in the next 90 days to block immediate implementation of the law and put it to a public referendum on the November ballot. “This idea of government of the corporations, by the corporations and for the corporations has actually...
    Apr 01, 2011 | Story
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    100th Anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

    Today marks the centennial anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, the deadliest workplace accident in New York City’s history and a seminal moment for American labor. On March 25, 1911, 146 garment workers, mostly young immigrant women, died after a fire broke out at the factory. Many of them leaped to their deaths when they tried to escape and found the emergency exits locked. "I saw people throwing themselves from the...
    Mar 25, 2011 | Story