Troublemakers Blog
April 08, 2011 / Mischa Gaus
The U.S. Trade Representative announced a new “action plan” Wednesday to improve Colombia’s horrific history of thousands of unpunished murders of union activists. The Steelworkers and AFL-CIO President Rich Trumka opposed the deal, saying the “situation in Colombia remains unacceptably violent.”
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April 07, 2011 / Jane Slaughter
Wisconsin labor put its candidate, Joanne Kloppenburg, on the state Supreme Court in statewide voting Tuesday, beating David Prosser, a Republican supporter of the governor, by just 204 votes. The upset was a remarkable repudiation of Governor Scott Walker’s attack on workers’ standard of living, though it will be challenged with a recount.
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April 04, 2011 /
Chanting “we are one!” thousands of activists across the nation marched on Monday—the 45th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Longshore workers in the ILWU shut down the Port of Oakland in solidarity with their brothers and sisters in the public sector, and students at Penn State walked out.
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April 01, 2011 / Mischa Gaus
Thousands rallied at the Georgia state Capitol last week, protesting anti-immigrant legislation. While Arizona-like bills are advancing in other Southern states, Georgia was the first to have a big show of opposition. Adelina Nicholls, executive director of Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights, explained why.
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March 30, 2011 / Mischa Gaus
A New York City telephone workers local will be overseen by a monitor, after a union investigation revealed top leaders engaged in “a number of highly questionable practices involving compensation.”
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March 29, 2011 / Jenny Brown
March 25, 2011 /
Industry’s persistent efforts to stem the wave of reform following the Triangle fire should sound awfully familiar to modern ears.
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March 24, 2011 / Mischa Gaus
Honeywell International pleaded guilty in federal court March 11 to knowingly storing hazardous waste without a permit at its southern Illinois facility, a felony. For locked-out Steelworkers at the plant, the episode reinforced their belief that the best defense they and their communities have is a vigilant union.
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March 23, 2011 / Nina Chacker, / Evan Rohar
Up to 8,000 Michiganders turned out last week to emphatically protest the signing of a bill that would give emergency managers appointed by the governor power to oversee towns or school districts. But no union was prepared to mobilize members to stop it. In choosing to fight many long and slow battles instead of one big one, the unions missed an opportunity to »
March 18, 2011 / Jane Slaughter
A judge issued a temporary restraining order today to block publication of Governor Scott Walker’s anti-collective bargaining law. What does the bill contain, and what would it mean for public workers' current contracts?
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