At In These Times:

Six months after Los Angeles-area port truckers won a rare union election in a nearly union-free industry, contract negotiations have hit the rocks. The union, Teamsters Local 848, charges that Australia-based logistics giant Toll Group has broken its promise to bargain in good faith. With truckers on both coasts watching the negotiations closely, the increasingly public showdown could continue to escalate. Will it end in a strike? “We’re ready to do whatever it takes to get our contract,” said Eduardo Urrea, a member of the union’s bargaining committee.

In the meantime, the Los Angeles-area port truckers have started conducting near-weekly “practice pickets.” “They’re mastering the art of practice,” said TJ Michels, a spokesperson for the labor federation Change to Win. “Because eventually, practice might have to make perfect.”

Here’s the rest.

Matt Filipowicz had me back on his show to discuss what’s changed in Walmart’s decades-long labor struggles. Here’s the segment.

The fabulous Knefel siblings, John and Molly, had me on their show Radio Dispatch to talk Walmart. Here’s the audio.

At Salon:

One day after Walmart employees in twelve states launched a major strike, today workers issued an ultimatum to the retail giant: Stop retaliating against workers trying to organize, or the year’s most important shopping day, the Friday after Thanksgiving, will see the biggest disruptions yet. The announcement comes as 200 workers – some of them currently striking – have converged in the Walmart’s Bentonville, Arkansas hometown outside the company’s annual investors meeting. It offers a new potential challenge to Walmart, and a new test for OUR Walmart, the labor-backed organization that’s pulled off the first two multi-store U.S. strikes in Walmart history.

If Walmart doesn’t address OUR Walmart’s demands, said striking worker Colby Harris, from Dallas, “We will make sure that Black Friday is memorable for them.” He said that would includes strikes, leafleting to customers, and “flash mobs.” Harris was joined on a press call announcing the deadline by leaders of the National Consumers League, the National Organization of Women, and the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, three of the national organizations that have pledged support for the workers’ efforts. Absent a resolution, said NOW President Terri O’Neill, NOW members will join Walmart workers outside stores on Black Friday to ask customers “whether they really want to spend their dollars on a company that treats workers this way.”

Read it here.

I was on Democracy Now with Amy Goodman and a Walmart warehouse striker. Here’s the video.

I was on RT this afternoon with host Kristine Frazao, talking Walmart strikes. Here’s the video.

Breaking at Salon:

For the second time in five days – and also the second time in Walmart’s five decades – workers at multiple US Walmart stores are on strike. This morning, workers walked off the job in Dallas, Texas and Laurel, Maryland; Walmart store workers in additional cities are expected to join the strike in the coming hours. No end date has been announced; some plan to remain on strike at least through tomorrow, when they’ll join other Walmart workers for a demonstration outside the company’s annual investor meeting in Bentonville, Arkansas. Today’s is the latest in a unprecedented wave of Walmart supply chain strikes: From shrimp workers in Louisiana, to warehouse workers in California and Illinois, to Walmart store employees in three states – and counting.

Read it here..

I was on “Your Call” on San Francisco’s KALW.

Thom Hartmann had me back to discuss my Salon report on the rise of lockouts, and a New York Times report on Camden’s plan to replace its unionized police force. Here’s the video.

At In These Times on Monday:

In an e-mailed statement, SEIU spokeswoman Renee Asher called the deal “good for workers, good for the industry and good for New England.” SEIU plans to announce further information about the tentative agreement this afternoon. Reached over e-mail, Matt Ellis, a spokesperson for Maintenance Contractors of New England (MCNE), the association which represents the janitorial contractors in negotiations, said, “We are pleased that a tentative agreement has been reached and there will be no interruption of services.”

SEIU Local 615 represents 14,000 janitors in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Hampshire, most of them in and around Boston. For decades, they’ve had a multi-employer union contract with janitorial-contracting companies, whose clients currently include Fidelity Investments, the pharmaceutical company Novartis, and Dunkin Donuts, a chain partially owned by Bain Capital and other private equity firms. The New England janitors last went on strike for four weeks in 2002. Their counterparts in Houston settled a four-week strike two months ago.

Here’s the rest.

At Salon yesterday:

Today, for the first time in Wal-Mart’s 50-year history, workers at multiple stores are out on strike. Minutes ago, dozens of workers at Southern California stores launched a one-day work stoppage in protest of alleged retaliation against their attempts to organize. In a few hours, they’ll join supporters for a mass rally outside a Pico Rivera, Calif., store. This is the latest – and most dramatic – of the recent escalations in the decades-long struggle between organized labor and the largest private employer in the world.

Read it.