Union democracy or more accurately the transformation of major unions into living democratic participatory organizations and cultures is a necessity precisely because of the corporations’ massive powers of resistance.
Author: Lois Weiner
Union Democracy is Our Goal But Is It Practical? Responding to Nelson Lichtenstein
Nelson Lichtenstein and I agree on two major ideas that I think distinguish our shared viewpoint from the practice of many union officials and some of their supporters on the left.
Unions and Democracy: A Response to Lois Weiner
When I think of the tasks before the labor movement, and even more so the left in general, I think not of how to shift the policy program of the AFT or even of SEIU, but of what it will take to organize Walmart and Amazon and now Google.
Biden's Inauguration
Challenge for the Left, Launching a Movement against the Washington Status Quo
As Biden enters office, the left must properly reflect on what has been perhaps the most contemptible administration in US history, to launch a movement of our own against the bipartisan neoliberal and imperialist hegemony.
Biden’s pick for Secretary of Education: What to expect from Cardona?
We should let Miguel Cardona know we have his back if he defends what schools, teachers, students really need – while we simultaneously prepare for his not doing so.
Teachers unions and the pandemic: Fighting for life and facing neoliberalism’s new bipartisan push
Biden will endorse the old normal Obama handed to Trump, but he will also push profiteering and control of education through technology, a project supported by both Democrats and the GOP from the start of Trump’s administration.
Say #ByeBetsy – and organize now to fight against Biden’s education policies
Biden’s victory now requires confronting his advocacy of disastrous education policies during the Obama administration, enacted under Obama’s Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan.
Fighting for teachers unions that speak back to power, defend students and social justice
School reopenings have become a point of political conflict on a national level, as parent, student, and teachers’ rights to have healthy, safe, equitable schools have been subordinated to the bipartisan consensus to put the economy and profit over human need.
Firing Up the House of Labor to Fight for Racial Justice: Confronting Hard Truths
Defending truths about union democracy and the inseparability of racial and economic justice in our society has shown to be extraordinarily demanding work, yet it is an unavoidable goal if the organized power of the working class is to (help) free the human race.
Building an Alternative to the Democratic Party
Bernie Sanders has ended his candidacy
When we feel our lives are in danger as they are in this pandemic, it can be very hard to look critically at national politics, by which I mean the end of Bernie’s candidacy and . . .
Philly Educators Have a Chance to Make History
Members of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers (PFT) have a chance to improve lives of Philly school educators and students, challenging control of schools by corporate elites, as did Chicago teachers when they elected a new generation of leaders from . . .
Writing an Obituary for Neocons
The New York Times obituary of neocon historian Gertrude Himmelfarb shows why neoconservatives remain a potent political force in U.S. politics: many liberals can’t imagine a socialist challenge to capitalism that doesn’t apologize for authoritarianism.
The NYT’s sentimental gloss of Himmelfarb’s . . .
“Joker” and the Crisis of Capitalism
The idea of the Batman franchise being associated with expressions of popular discontent is something which has already become familiar to us, thanks to Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises and the responses it generated, including a much-read review of . . .
French Yellow Vests Celebrate First Birthday, Converge With Planned Labor Strikes
Montpellier, France, Nov. 18, 2019
This weekend the Yellow Vests celebrated their first birthday, with convivial barbeques on traffic circles (roundabouts) all over France followed by direct actions like liberating tollbooths. Although number of protestors has declined to about 10% of . . .
Members of the Professional Staff Congress should vote no on the proposed agreement with City University of NY
Editor’s note: Members of the Professional Staff Congress (PSC), the union representing professional staff and faculty at City University of New York (CUNY), are voting on a proposed agreement, a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with CUNY. The argument to endorse . . .
In support of the Professional Staff Congress/City University of NY tentative agreement: Vote yes
Editor’s note: Members of the Professional Staff Congress (PSC), the union representing professional staff and faculty at City University of New York (CUNY), are voting on a proposed agreement, a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with CUNY. In this piece, Steve . . .
Election Victory in Seattle
The left and workers in general won a significant victory in Seattle on Nov. 5. Kshama Sawant, Socialist Alternative candidate for Seattle City Council won her third consecutive term against a concerted and well-funded business offensive. At the end of . . .
The Power of Revolutionary Imagination
A review of Revolutionary Love: A Political Manifesto to Heal and Transform the World, Michael Lerner (University of California Press, 2019).
In 1923 the feminist Bolshevik, Alexandra Kollontai, wrote a letter to Russian socialist youth. This was a time when the . . .
UK University Workers Set for Strike Action
Members of the University and College Union (UCU), the national union for academic staff in the UK, are set to strike at 60 universities for eight days between 25 November and 4 December 2019. This follows a highly successful pair . . .
‘Other Than Honorable’? Veterans with ‘Bad Paper’ Seek Long Overdue Benefits
On Veterans Day this year, in a nation now reflexively thankful for military service of all kinds, nearly 500,000 former service members are not included in our official expressions of gratitude.
These forgotten men and women had the misfortune to leave . . .
Parents’ huge stake in the Chicago Teachers Union strike
A harsh reality of teachers’ strikes is that they hit parents – moms especially, who still do most of the work of caring for kids and housework – the hardest. Parents are left frantically searching for childcare options, especially if . . .
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