Harris v. Quinn Part 1: Supreme Court Brings Right-to-Work to Unions of Home Workers

Citizen Wealth Financial Justice Health Care Labor Organizing

New Orleans    The Supreme Court decision in Harris v. Quinn, issued on a 5-4 ideological split, denying the union of home healthcare aides in Illinois the ability to collect agency servicing fees in lieu of full membership dues, will be crippling to many local unions, but not fatal.  Regardless of the opinion rendered by Justice …

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The Open Door to Accelerating “Majority” Unionization in Canada

Canada Citizen Wealth Financial Justice Labor Organizing Organizing

Edinburgh   When we’re not practicing “raps,” and strategizing about the best way forward in the Leith neighborhood of Edinburgh for ACORN Scotland, I’ve been thinking about the interesting features of the labor law in the United Kingdom that allow workers to build unions and win consultation rights with employers prior to achieving majorities that would …

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Right-to-work and the Making of the American Precariat

Citizen Wealth Financial Justice Labor Organizing

Edinburgh       Ok, I’ll admit it.  Having stumbled on this term “precariat” recently in conversations in London, referring to an emerging class of workers and families, vital to the neo-liberal business model but unmoored from the current economy and lacking any income or job security, I’m noticing it everywhere.  Most recently I read a piece in …

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