After numerous horror stories about people getting fired after posting something dumb on Facebook, most of the nation's employed have learned to save their office badmouthing for in-person rant sessions. But in a case that could set status updates everywhere free, the National Labor Relations Board has filed a complaint against the American Medical Response of Connecticut, after they fired an employee for bad-mouthing her boss on Facebook. Lafe Solomon, the board’s acting general counsel, told the Times, “Whether it takes place on Facebook or at the water cooler, it was employees talking jointly about working conditions, in this case about their supervisor, and they have a right to do that." more ›

Costumed performers and tour guides are fighting for unionization at the Lower East Side Tenement Museum, where they work to recreate the squalid living conditions of turn-of-the-century Jewish immigrants, the very group that was integral to 20th century unionization efforts. Dozens of the tenement employees protested last night outside a fundraiser for the museum at Chelsea Piers. more ›

A judge has finally ruled on a long-simmering dispute between a restaurant and its deliverymen. Last March deliverymen at the popular Vietnamese restaurant Saigon Grill, which has locations in Greenwich Village and on the Upper West Side, demanded a raise from owners Simon and Michelle Nget. The deliverymen reasoned that since the chain was pulling in more than $2 million a month, they ought to earn more than $120 for a 75-hour week. more ›

Sick of watching reruns? Nervous you'll only get 8 episodes of Lost next season? Well, The NY Times reports on the first break in the writers' strike.

David Letterman is pursuing a deal with the Writers Guild of America that would allow his late-night show on CBS to return to the air in early January with the usual complement of material from his writers, even if the strike is still continuing. more ›

Workers crammed into small spaces and contending with oppressive heat on the Lower East Side. Thank goodness for the labor movement of the early 20th Century. Or are the very people who commemorate those days enduring the same conditions? The Villager reports that workers at The Lower East Side Tenemant Museum are taking a page out of their own history books and forming a union. Their complaints include extreme temperatures and cramped workspaces. They want improved working conditions, better pay, and benefits. Irony is alive and well on Orchard St. more ›

The Manhattan office of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) served Starbucks a steaming hot cup of charges of anti-labor practices Friday. The move by the NLRB followed complaints by International Industrial Workers of the World organizers that the company was suppresing their union-forming efforts. more ›

In what can only be an effort to further enslave Americans to the evil delights of caffeine, sugar (or sugar substitute), and milk, Starbucks is giving out free coffee this morning between 10AM-12PM. And it's not just free coffee at stores - they are using "Venti Vans" and those coffee backpacks to java junkies up. And if you're a union-supporter, don't feel bad about drinking up Starbucks' largesse (in fact, maybe you want seconds) - if you check out Starbucks Union, you can see what baristas are trying to do, and the workers essentially got a win in the dispute with the coffee chain that made it to the National Labor Relations Board. more ›