The giant Rio Tinto Borax mine in Boron locked out about 540 hourly workers Sunday after the employee union refused to ratify a new labor contract.

The lockout began at 7 a.m. as miners showed up outside the gates and were told they couldn’t come in….

Barack Obama tiptoed Wednesday night along the seam that bifurcates the Democratic Party’s brain. The seam separates that brain’s John Quincy Adams lobe from its Sigmund Freud lobe.

The dominant liberal lobe favors Adams’ dictum that politicians should…

At the urging of construction unions, Baltimore County Council members are pushing for a new requirement that contractors working for the county verify the immigration status of their employees or risk losing county business.

The council is scheduled…

Workers at Victaulic, the largest remaining unionized steelworkers shop in the Lehigh Valley, are being asked to agree to what their leader calls “ugly” contract concessions.

The Forks Township pipe couplings manufacturer wants workers to accept a tiered…

AFT and the National Education Association (NEA) have compiled a variety of resources to help educators celebrate Black History Month, which begins Feb. 1.

The AFT site here highlights key facts and figures about African Americans, important historical events, influential figures and the continuing contributions of African Americans. For instance, did you know that African Americans were largely responsible for developing our railway system? More than 40 different patents were awarded to African Americans for inventions of machinery and parts vital to the function of trains, tracks and passenger safety.

This AFT site features a special focus on the landmark 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which made segregation in public schools illegal. The site includes profiles of the suit’s leaders, key events, recommended readings for grades K-12 and links to primary documents and lesson plans. There also is a video highlighting AFT’s efforts to obtain civil rights for all and desegregate America’s classrooms.

The NEA has joined with syndicated radio and TV host Tavis Smiley and the America I AM exhibition to offer educators a historically relevant, culturally diverse curriculum for use in classrooms as part of Black History Month observances.

America I AM lesson plans, activity sheets and other learning materials tailored around African American history and its impact on the country are available free of charge for the length of the exhibition’s four-year run at www.americaiam.org.

The educational materials are tailored by grade level, covering grades 5 through 12, and can be used as a stand-alone history unit or linked to other curricula, including social studies, economics, math, art and literature.

The exhibition is currently on display at the California Science Center in Los Angeles and will travel to other cities over the next four years.

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — For a president in political trouble, the State of the Union address seems the ideal launch site to get past it and get going. But that seldom has worked as planned. Now President Barack Obama is trying to make a go of his…

After overcoming a serious knee injury to earn major-college football scholarship offers, Evans High School graduate Ishmael Aristide wasn’t fretting the fine print when he agreed last year to attend Purdue University.

He finalized his decision on…

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — For a president in political trouble, the State of the Union address seems the ideal launch site to get past it and get going. But that seldom has worked as planned. Now President Barack Obama is trying to make a go of his…

Janitors Representing over 4,000 Workers Call for Full-Time Green Jobs, Better Health Insurance

MINNEAPOLIS – Joined by U.S. Representative Keith Ellison and dozens of elected, environmental, labor, and community supporters, hundreds of janit…