Unions and activists are rushing to the Wall Street occupation to return the nation’s focus to the executives, bankers, and politicians who got us into this mess. But in a refreshing change, labor is recognizing it can’t control what’s happening.

As the clock ticks down to a midnight Thursday strike deadline, railroaders aren’t holding their breaths despite a 97 percent strike vote by the Engineers union. President Obama will likely order a “cooling off period.”

It’s a cruel joke for Democrats to trot out language about “labor standards” to defend trade pacts with Colombia, Korea, and Panama. Previous trade deals make it obvious brands like Walmart like the current sweatshop system just the way it is.

The nation’s postal unions organized 492 rallies across the country Tuesday in support of federal legislation that would relieve the burdensome requirement that postal employees pre-fund decades worth of retirees’ benefits.

Southern California grocery workers have wrested a tentative agreement from their three profitable employers. The union said the settlement “protects your health care” but did not release details.

Three hundred student-workers from overseas went on strike last month at a Hershey plant in Pennsylvania. Some have returned to work, while others have hooked up with the National Guestworker Alliance to publicize exploitation of student-workers.

A grain exporter's attempt to operate a new facility without longshore labor has met stiff resistance in the Pacific Northwest. Police responded by breaking up protests and arresting about 135 unionists, prompting the union to sue to stop “ongoing police brutality."

At a time when most union action is perceived as press-ganging members to get out the vote or get to a rally, the Longview protests look like something out the ILWU’s origins in the tumultuous 1930s.

A nearly two-week strike by teachers in Tacoma, Washington, defied state laws against public sector work stoppages—and showed that when much-vilified public workers take bold action, they can win public sympathy.

Three years into a staggering recession, Washington is finally talking about jobs. Unfortunately for the 25 million people who can’t find full-time work or have given up looking, Congress is stuck on pea-sized proposals that won’t dent the deepest jobs crisis since the Great Depression.

How many times have you seen a penny on the floor and didn’t bother to pick it up? Yet for tomato pickers in Florida the effort to get a penny from supermarket giants Publix and Trader Joe's has become a backbreaking struggle.

Almost two weeks into their August strike, 45,000 Verizon workers were tapping a deep root of anger at corporations that enjoy immense profits but can’t be bothered to pay taxes or treat workers decently.

Michigan’s notorious emergency manager law could soon be suspended, say activists who are circulating petitions to put a repeal of the law on the ballot in fall 2012.

The United Auto Workers settled the first of the Detroit 3 contracts September 16 with an agreement that appeared to meet the low expectations union bargainers had worked hard to instill in members.

The embattled National Labor Relations Board could soon be crippled by lack of a quorum. If that happens, conservative politicians outraged by the board’s defense of worker rights will notch another win.

The story line from Postal Service management is simple and apocalyptic: The public is emailing and paying bills online, bankrupting the post office. Postal unions say that's dead wrong: They say the bosses are manufacturing a crisis to push a union-busting privatization agenda. The unions are rallying nationwide today.

California Governor Jerry Brown’s June veto of a bill making it easier for the state’s 400,000 farmworkers to organize caught the Farm Workers union (UFW) by surprise.

The economy is sour and job vacancies aren’t being filled. Employees with seniority are being hounded into early retirement, with the result a de facto speed-up -- new demands, heavier workload, extra responsibilities.