Belabored Podcast #35: Highs and Lows of the Year in Labor

Belabored Podcast #35: Highs and Lows of the Year in Labor

Sarah and Michelle look back over the year in labor: the good news and the grim, the under-the-radar stories and the big wins. They also look forward to next year and make some (hopeful) predictions. Sarah and Michelle also bring you up to date on the latest labor news, including unexpected unions gaining a toehold in fast food.

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As 2013 winds to a close, Sarah and Michelle look back over the year in labor: the good news and the grim, the under-the-radar stories and the big wins. They also look forward to next year and make some (hopeful) predictions. Sarah and Michelle also bring you up to date on the latest labor news, including unexpected unions gaining a toehold in fast food and Internet retail and a new bill for national paid family leave, and wind up with a holiday-themed “Argh! I wish I’d written that.”

In the News:
Amazon Workers in Germany Strike Again
Amazon May Get its First Labor Union in the US
Some Fast Food Workers Will Form Union
Michelle: National Paid Family Leave May Finally Be on the Horizon
Sarah: Kirsten Gillibrand’s five-point family policy plan

Year in Review

The Good:
Michelle: California Domestic Workers Win Long-Sought Bill of Rights
Michelle: Domestic Workers Sow a New Global Movement
Sarah: Black Friday Protests Embolden Walmart Workers
Sarah: Fast food strikes in New York
Should We Raise the Minimum Wage? 11 Questions and Answers
Minimum wage of $11.50? Washington DC to raise minimum wage in 2016

The Bad:
Michelle: Pension Panic Fueled by Anti-Worker Politics?
Straight talk about Detroit, Illinois pensions
#PensionTheft: Public Workers Under Attack in Illinois
Michelle: Immigration Reform: Corporate Demands Trump Human Rights (account required)
Michelle: Migrant Women Bring Voices to Capital
A Guide to S.744: Understanding the 2013 Senate Immigration Bill
What Happened to Immigration reform?

The Underreported:
Michelle: A New Day, A New Danger: Temporary Workers Face Safety Hazards at Work
Michelle: Farmworkers Face Silent Spring in the Fields
Fertilizer Plant That Exploded in West, Texas Faces $118,300 in Fines
Terror in Texas
Sarah: Nurses Taste Victory in Battle that Shook NY Politics

Hope for Next Year:
Michelle: Minimum-Wage Hike Won’t Appease Bangladeshi Workers
Michelle: From Dhaka to Broadway, Protests Target Bangladesh Factory Death Traps
Sarah: Standardized testing for kindergarteners?
Sarah: New York’s dissident teachers’ union caucus not giving up

Stories We Wish We’d Written:
Michelle: Stephanie McMillan, Common DreamsWhy Environmentalists Should Support Working Class Struggles
Sarah: Kevin Hartnett, the Boston GlobeWas Dickens’s Christmas Carol borrowed from Lowell’s mill girls?


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