The strategy by one of the nation’s largest growers to shed its obligation to sign a contract with the United Farm Workers was dealt a key setback last week. An administrative law judge not only threw out what union organizers say was one of the dirtiest decertification elections in recent labor history, but did so because California growers had given tens of thousands of dollars to set the union-busting scheme in motion.
Author: WHES
Pope Francis, in Washington, addresses poverty and climate
WASHINGTON — Welcomed with a fanfare of trumpets and a chorus of amens, Pope Francis introduced himself to the United States on Wednesday with a bracing message on climate change, immigration and poverty that ranged from the pastoral to the political.
Syrian war spurs first withdrawal from doomsday Arctic seed vaults
Syria’s civil war has prompted the first withdrawal of seeds from a “doomsday” vault built in an Arctic mountainside to safeguard global food supplies, officials said on Monday.
The radical roots of the great grape strike
Fifty years ago the great grape strike started in Delano, when Filipino pickers walked out of the fields on September 8, 1965. Mexican workers joined them two weeks later. The strike went on for five years, until all California table grape growers were forced to sign contracts in 1970.
New test for Guatemala’s protest movement: Improving citizens’ lives
GUATEMALA CITY — Shortly after 5 a.m. one day last week, a security guard opened the entrance of Roosevelt Hospital here to patients who had been lining up in the dark mountain chill for more than an hour.
America’s poverty problem hasn’t changed
On Wednesday, the Census Bureau released its latest data on income and poverty for the country, and despite a falling unemployment rate and a rising GDP—two promising macroeconomic signs—things haven’t improved all that much for American families in the past year.
Lower wages for whites, higher wages for immigrants, and inequality for all
Earlier today, the Census Bureau released data showing that 2014 was much like 2013 and the years prior: meh for the majority of Americans. Real income for the median household has been level or declining each year since the recession, and in 2014 that number remained 6.5 percent lower than it was in 2007.
Malnutrition linked to nearly half of deaths among under-fives. Global nutrition study claims poor diet affects 161 million children and 1.9 billion adults and calls for more indicators in sustainable development goals.
Malnourishment affects one in three people worldwide and is linked to 45% of deaths among children under the age of five, according to a report on global nutrition that warns the “staggering” scale of the condition could undermine the sustainable development agenda without greater investment from governments and donors.
Kale or steak? Change in diet key to U.N. plan to end hunger by 2030
ROME (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – In trendy, hipster London or New York, it’s all about juicing, vegan diets and snacking on kale crisps. Thousands of miles away, in Nairobi or Bogota, the middle classes are more likely to reach for roasted goat or a juicy steak.
World food prices fall sharply in August, extending slide
World food prices fell sharply in August, dragged down by ample supplies and external factors including a slump in energy prices and concerns about an economic slowdown in China, the United Nations food agency said on Thursday.
