Several unions representing Detroit city works and retirees challenged Detroit’s claim for bankruptcy protection. The challenges were filed Monday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Detroit, the court which will determine if the city is eligible for bankruptcy protection. AFSCME Council 25 said the city has not proven it is insolvent and has not negotiated in good faith with its creditors.

Walmart’s going to feel some of that infamous Washington, D.C., summertime swamp heat Thursday, when 10 recently fired Walmart workers will be joined by community, faith and union supporters outside the low-wage retail giant’s D.C. federal lobbying offices.

The noon demonstration is the kickoff of a campaign by Walmart workers to end what they say is Walmart’s retaliation against workers for exercising their rights and freedoms, including the right to join unions.

Walmart reported last week that sales at its U.S. stores had unexpectedly declined. Walmart tried to explain its shrinking sales away by citing outside factors such as higher gas prices and payroll taxes.

But, say many market observers, the real cause lies within Walmart itself—the largest private-sector employer in the United States and the poster child for low-wages.  

The growing movement for a living wage and justice for fast-food and other low-wage workers will reach another milestone next week with a nationwide strike set for Aug. 29.

Following the success and public support of a walkout in eight cities earlier this month, those workers and the community, faith and labor groups that back them are calling on fast-food and low-wage retail workers across the nation to join them in the fight for $15 an hour and the right to form a union without retaliation.

With a new website—TMobileWorkersUnited.org—workers at T-Mobile US are connecting with each other to build strength in their drive for workplace justice and respect.

Working with the Communications Workers of America (CWA), T-Mobile Workers United (TU) is an alliance of hundreds of call center representatives, retail associates and technicians who are standing up to discuss the issues and challenges they face at the new T-Mobile US, a merger of T-Mobile USA and MetroPCS.

Ken Howard was reelected SAG-AFTRA president and Amy Aquino won reelection as secretary treasurer. The pair had served as co-president and co-secretary-treasurer following the 2012 merger of SAG and AFTRA and prior to that, two terms as SAG’s top leaders.

Shenita Simon is a shift supervisor at a New York City KFC. The mother of two started out at $7.25 an hour two years ago and now earns $8 an hour. Taking part in the nationwide wave of fast-food strikes earlier this month, she tells BillMoyers.com:

$7.25 is not enough for the workers. They gave me $8 to shut me up. But obviously it’s not working….It’s a struggle, a great struggle. 

A group of workers at the mall fixture Forever 21 clothing stores might be stuck forever in poverty without health insurance and paid time off now that execs at the trendy youth fashion chain have decided to reclassify some of the full-time sales, stock and maintenance workers, along with cashiers and other store employees, as part-time workers, allowed just 29.5 hours of work a week.

The outrage over the cold, corporate move is flooding the Forever 21 Facebook page, with most vowing never to shop at Forever 21—well, forever.

Some 2,000 telephone workers in Puerto Rico recently voted to affiliate with the Office and Professional Employees (OPEIU). The members of the Independent Union of Telephone Workers (UIET) voted by a 10–1 margin to become part of OPEIU.

Workers at Guitar Center’s flagship Chicago store voted last week to join the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU). Earlier this summer workers at the Manhattan Guitar Center voted overwhelmingly to join the RWDSU. RWDSU President Stuart Appelbaum said the Chicago vote "proves that retail workers are ready and willing to stand up and demand change."