Specials

For some of the details, we’re joined by Mira Edmonds, an attorney with the Alliance for Justice. She joins us from Washington, DC.

• Farm workers organize for labor rights in California
• Making new labor leaders in Wisconsin
• Labor and community organizing in New Orleans
• In Vermont, health care for all

The United Farm Workers just completed an historic march to Sacramento to call on Governor Jerry Brown to support legislation that would extend basic labor rights to farm workers, a segment of the work force that is excluded from certain federal labor protections. Farm workers set out from the agricultural town of Madera on August 23 and walked 170 miles over 13 days. FSRN caught up with UFW President Arturo Rodriguez as the march approached Sacramento.

One of this year's most visible labor struggles was sparked by legislation in Wisconsin to strip state workers of their collective bargaining rights. With the labor movement already facing an aging leadership and declining membership, many critics saw the fight as Labor’s last stand. Others have used the lessons from this year’s labor battles in Wisconsin to forge a new vision for the state’s labor movement. Molly Stentz reports from Madison.

The Deep South has a reputation for hostility towards organized labor. But despite this, New Orleans has a long tradition of union organizing. The city’s teachers' union was the first integrated education union in the South. And the first integrated American Federation of Labor shop was likely the streetcar workers in New Orleans. In 1892, the city held a successful general strike which included workers from different racial backgrounds and won concessions for unionized shops, overtime pay, and a 10-hour work day.

Access to health care is an important issue for many workers. It can sometimes be the deciding factor to take - or remain in - a given job. The costs of providing health care can also pose a challenge for small business owners already struggling to remain in business during a prolonged recession. And then, there's the issue of health care for the nation's unemployed.

US Trade Representative, Ron Kirk, announced Tuesday that the US is requesting an arbitration panel to investigate allegations of labor violations in Guatemala. The Obama administration says this is the first time the US has ever pursued a labor case under a trade agreement. The case, originally filed by The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) in April 2008, concerns two alleged murders of Guatemalan union leaders and ongoing threats to union activists and their members. Meanwhile, violence against activists in Guatemala continues.