Right-to-work (RTW) laws neither provide opportunity for gainful employment nor a higher standard of living. In truth, by ending a union's ability to charge administrative fees to employees who benefit from their collectively bargained contract, these laws aim to weaken unions and silence workers. They are designed to help employers, not workers.…

Today's movement in support of the 99 percent is a reminder that throughout U.S. history, a major engine of change has been grass-roots organizing and solidarity. Major history textbooks, however, downplay the role of ordinary people in shaping events--especially those who formed labor unions and used the strike to assert their rights. One of the…

This article presents an interview with Wilma B. Liebman, the new chair of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). In this interview, Liebman talks about labor law, academics, and reversing ossification.

Higher education is at a crossroads, not only in the U.S. but also globally. This challenge is prompting an immigrant union to once again take up the labor movement's historic role of speaking for the common good and the broad interests of working people. Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 615 represents 18,000 property service…

Like thousands of other people from around the country and around the world, this author was heartened and inspired by the tenacity, immediacy, and creativity of the pushback by Wisconsin's public-sector unions against Governor Scott Walker's efforts to limit their collective bargaining rights. And like many others who made the trek to Madison to…

In this article, the author has equated the principal's relationship with the president of the teachers' union as a dance where each wants to lead and yet there is, as in most relationships, a mutual dependency that makes each person realize that there is a time when one leads and a time when one follows. The author presents the details of when…

When he was still President Obama's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, now mayor-elect of Chicago, famously quipped: "Never allow a crisis to go to waste." Republican governors in Wisconsin, New Jersey, Ohio, and other states have certainly taken that advice to heart. By emphasizing, and in some cases manipulating, the red ink flowing through…

The adult basic education field in the United States is now being encouraged to shift to a "career pathways" orientation by policy research organizations, federal and state agencies, community college organizations, business groups, and private foundations. In such an approach, adult basic education programs work with workforce…

This personal reflection, as a tribute to Joe Cytrynbaum, is a primer on the struggle in which he was involved, covering the general history of the movement and the local history at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn). Part I sketches the history of graduate employee unionization in the United States. Part II discusses the union movement at Penn…

The vast majority of public employees--including teachers--are enrolled in defined-benefit pension plans. These plans are usually the product of state legislation that determines eligibility, benefit formulas, employer and employee contributions, and how payments will be calculated when an employee retires or leaves the system. Once an employee…

Discusses the role of workers' education in the promotion of trade union rights; union rights in practice; problem areas such as exploited groups, political activity, and striking. (JOW)

A combination of destructive trends in higher education--shrinking state budgets, stagnant student aid, the growth of corporate-style management, the overuse and exploitation of contingent faculty, increasing workloads and attacks on academic freedom--is weakening the educational integrity and professionalism of American colleges and universities.…

This collection of papers, which is intended as a contribution to the body of knowledge known as labor studies, examines the ways in which labor unions have and are continuing to respond to technological change in the workplace. The introduction by Donald Kennedy, Charles Craypo, and Mary Lehman traces the impact of technological change on the…

The American labor movement and labor groups from other developed nations have recognized the interdependence of the world's economies. Discussed are the AFL-CIO's support for labor in the Soviet Union, policies of developing nations to reduce inflation and the resulting worldwide recession, U.S. auto industry problems, and maintaining labor…

This kit is designed to help labor union members or others interested in workplace issues to make successful visits to elementary and secondary school classrooms. The slide program lasts approximately 45 minutes and does not require an expert in teaching or labor history background. Suggestions on whom to approach within the school in order to…