#labor-unions

#labor-unions

The labor minister of Qatar, which faced intense scrutiny over its treatment of migrant workers in the run-up to last year's World Cup soccer tournament, was elected Monday as the president of the United Nations labor agency's annual conference.Asian and Pacific nations proposed Ali bin Samikh al-Marri to lead the International Labor Agency's two-week conference in Geneva.

Image Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin met Monday at the Kremlin.Credit...Russian Presidential Press Office, via Associated Press Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, and China's top leader, Xi Jinping, began talks in Moscow yesterday with boasts of their close ties and only understated mention of the conflict in Ukraine.

WASHINGTON  President Biden met Prince William of Wales, the future king of Britain, for a gaze over the Boston harbor on Friday, capping an unusually glamorous week for a president who takes pride in the humble moniker of Scranton Joe.What a spectacular setting, William told Mr. Biden as he arrived at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston, where some locals bristled at the royals' three day tour.

Street demonstrations and transport strikes disrupted France again on Tuesday as another day of protests against a widely unpopular pension overhaul took place, in what appeared to be a last-ditch effort to pressure the authorities into scrapping the changes.Tuesday's protest, the 14th day of nationwide demonstrations since January, reflected the lingering anger at the government's decision to raise the legal retirement age to 64 from 62 a move that put France on edge and led to the biggest political threat in President Emmanuel Macron's second term.

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Seventeen-year-old Zoe Garner grabbed the microphone and led dozens of students in a chant on the steps outside the downtown offices of the Los Angeles Unified School District."Hey, hey, ho, ho, Car-val-ho has got to go," she boomed as she moved to the beat, referring to LAUSD Supt.

Starbucks employees strike outside their store in Mesa, Ariz., on Nov. 17.(Matt York/AP)Union membership in the United States fell last year to a new low even as the labor movement scored a string of significant victories at high-profile companies that have long evaded unionization, such as Amazon, Starbucks, Apple, Chipotle and Trader Joe's.

Far-left lawmakers hold up signs protesting against government plans to reform France's pension system at the National Assembly in Paris on Monday, March 20, 2023.Lewis Joly, AP Parliament adopted a divisive pension bill Monday raising the retirement age in France from 62 to 64, after lawmakers in the lower chamber rejected two no-confidence votes against the government.

We live in times of social crisis, featuring extreme wealth inequality and declining democracy as well as a renewed attention to labor organizing and mass uprisings for racial justice.What does it take to demand that the wealthy pay their fair share and win prosperity for working people?Strong coalitions made up of labor unions, community groups, and social justice organizations making big and broad demands both at the bargaining table and in the streets- a strategy called Bargaining for the Common Good.

Unions are upping the ante in ongoing strikes against bitterly contested pension reform plans in France, with no prearranged end date and workers set to strike across multiple sectors.STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: France is preparing for a ritual there - a massive protest that shuts down the country.A MARTINEZ, HOST: And that's what labor unions are attempting to protest President Emmanuel Macron's plans to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64.

Local "Inflation is putting real pressure on workers, and the minimum wage needs to keep up with their costs."After years of incremental adjustments, Massachusetts finally hit the long-awaited $15-an-hour minimum wage benchmark earlier this month.Yet while the state's minimum wage ranks among the highest in the U.S., some activists say it's still not enough, especially in light of soaring inflation.

Grocery stores attract outsized political attention across the country, and nowhere more than in Chicago.On Tuesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing to scrutinize the planned, more-than-$20 billion megamerger of two huge operators of U.S. grocery stores - Albertsons, the parent company of Chicago's ubiquitous Jewel-Osco stores, and Kroger, the operator of the Mariano's brand.

Workers at the Afuri Ramen and Dumpling restaurant in downtown Portland filed for union recognition with the National Labor Relations Board on Friday.The unionization push at the acclaimed Japanese restaurant comes in the midst of a wave of organizing efforts by Portland food service workers.Afuri organizers say that more than 80 percent of the restaurant's 19 employees have signed union cards.

MADRID - Tens of thousands of Spanish public health workers and their supporters staged a demonstration Sunday to demand more primary health care staff and protest what they claim is the progressive dismantling of the public health system in favor of private providers by the conservative regional government in Madrid.