Jenny Brown

Flight attendants picketed the White House September 2. The Railway Labor Act requires airline workers to get government permission to strike. Photo: APFA.

Above photo: Flight attendants picketed the White House September 2. The Railway Labor Act requires airline workers to get government permission to strike. APFA.

Members of the Longshore Association (ILA) picketed at Port Elizabeth, New Jersey, on the first day of their strike October 1. The union is demanding higher pay and protection against automation. Photo: Luis Feliz Leon.

Wages have stagnated over the last two contracts while employers have had some of their most profitable years on record. Increasing automation is also threatening jobs.

A three-day longshore strike left ports silent and empty on the East and Gulf Coasts. The workers are returning with big wage gains promised. Photo: Luis Feliz Leon

The International Longshoremen's Association secured a considerable pay raise after a three-day strike that brought port operations to a halt. But the fight against job-killing automation continues.

The sides will return to bargaining on the other big issue of the strike, automation, extending the old agreement to January 15.

Flight attendants typically aren't paid during boarding time. Earlier this month, after a three-year contract campaign and a credible strike threat, flight attendants at American Airlines became the first to win boarding pay.

Boeing workers will continue their strike after voting down a new contract offer by 64 percent. Wages and the loss of their pension were sticking points. Photo: Lindsey Wasson/AP

Intrepid adventurer, author, filmmaker and one-time Getaway star Sorrel Wilby has reinvented herself on remote and beautiful Norfolk Island.