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Teamsters Local 814 announced Thursday that workers had voted to approve a new agreement that includes pay raises and maintains health and retirement benefits.

The labor holiday May Day has its origins in the US but is more widely-celebrated around the world. Today, Occupy Wall Street is calling for a day of action and a general strike. We check in on the day's events, the state of Occupy, and the history of May Day with:

• Jesse LaGreca, early Occupy organizer and blogger for Daily Kos
• Cecily McMillan, northeast regional organizer of the Young Democratic Socialists and Occupy activist
• David Graeber, an American anthropologist at Goldsmiths College, University of London, and author of DEBT: The First 5,000 Years
• Todd Gitlin, professor of journalism and sociology at Columbia University and author of the new e-book Occupy Nation
• Lawrence Weschler, director of the New York Institute for the Humanities at NYU and author of Uncanny Valley: Adventures in the Narrative

Plus, your calls. Are you striking today? What do you make of the state of Occupy? What's the role of May Day here compared to the rest of the world?

The owners and workers of the legendary Strand Bookstore are in a contract dispute, tussling over the implementation of a two-tier wage system, employee’s healthcare contributions and other benefits.

After their local union was dissolved due to corruption allegations, 700 dock builders are in the process of voting on which union should represent them: The New York City District Council of Carpenters or the newly formed Amalgamated Union. The District Council, which has more than 20,000 members, allege that Amalgamated was created by former members kicked out of the union for being corrupt.

Americans buy billions of dollars’ worth of products online. Mac McClelland, human rights reporter for Mother Jones, talks about what happens after you click “Place Order” and her time working inside an online retail shipping warehouse. Her article, “I Was a Warehouse Wage Slave,” appears in the March/April issue of Mother Jones.

Car wash workers are coming forward to protest their working conditions. Workers say they are underpaid and exposed to harsh conditions.

Recent reporting by our partner The New York Times raised fresh concerns over the safety and well-being of the workers that staff Apple's supplier factories in China. Apple now says that it has requested an independent labor group to audit the conditions at its suppliers' factories, with the first inspections under way starting yesterday.

Millions of people love their iPhones, iPads, and refuse to be separated from their iPods. But lately our relationship with our Apple technology has been tainted by guilt after a story from our partner The New York Times revealed significant safety concerns for workers at some of Apple's overseas factories in China. Stories of long, abusive hours and horrifying conditions came to light. Now Apple is trying to allay concerns. The company has asked an independent labor group to audit the working conditions at its suppliers' factories.  

A new organization called the Model Alliance has formed to fight for the rights of a group that is young, largely female and non-unionized: models.

More than 20,000 hotel workers appear to be reaping the benefits of a thriving hospitality industry. A recent labor contract agreed to on Tuesday has workers earning a 29 percent raise over 7 years.

Alex Pasternack, editor of Motherboard, Vice's science and tech site, and a correspondent for Discovery's TreeHugger.com, follows up on our conversation last week about Apple's labor and manufacturing practices.

How much of an "ethics-premium" would you pay to know that your gadget was manufactured responsibly? 50%, 100%, less or more? Let us know!

Office cleaners and building management returned to the bargaining table Wednesday for round-the-clock discussions, attempting to settle on a four year contract before the January 1 deadline. Members of the union, 32BJ, have ordered a strike if a deal is not reached, and say both sides are at loggerheads now.

Restaurant diners across the nation have a new guide to chew on when deciding where to eat out. However the ratings have nothing to do with food and focus more on the labor practices of some of the nation’s 150 top earning eateries. The Takeaway speaks with Saru Jayaraman,  co-founder and director of the Restaurant Opportunities Centre United, a non-profit that helps restaurant workers organize for better working conditions within the industry and Dave Rutigliano owner of the Southport Brewing Company.

The Takeaway has been talking about child labor in America this week, from paper routes to custodial work. Now, a look at the farm. Should children be restricted from doing certain kinds of agricultural work? The Department of Labor thinks so. In a new proposal, they are hoping to bar most farm hands younger than 16 years old from jobs such as driving tractors, rounding up cattle on horseback, and working on ladders over six feet high. Is the proposal in the best interest of the children, or going too far?

GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich says we need a radical proposal to "change America's culture of poverty," and put children to work. He advocates allowing kids as young as nine to replace school janitors. Gingrich thinks this approach would not only teach good work ethic to children in poor communities, but also help them earn a wage for their families.

Next week voters in Ohio, Mississippi and Maine will face a number of controversial ballot measures — from collective bargaining to health care to voting and abortion. In Ohio, a law limiting the collective bargaining of public employees is up for repeal. In Mississippi, they are fiercely debating whether a fertilized egg should be declared a person. Anna Sale, reporter for WNYC's political website It's a Free Country, joins previews these issues and talks about the potential impact on the 2012 election.

The NBA remains stuck in a lockout this morning as negotiations between players and owners have failed to produce a new collective bargaining agreement. Tomorrow is scheduled be the first day of the 66th season, but instead the stadiums will remain closed and fans will stay at home. It’s a big disappointment for fans, but for many people, their livelihoods are on the line too.

In recent months there has been a resurgence of labor protests across the United States. From Ohio to Wisconsin, union members are taking to the streets once more. Yet despite this apparent resurgence, the power of American unions has declined significantly in recent decades. Today The Takeaway traces it all back to August 1981, when nearly 13,000 air traffic controllers went on strike creating a standoff with Ronald Reagan that ended when he fired the majority of them and de-certified their union, the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization. 

The Stage Directors and Choreographers Society hopes to recover royalties from the producers of "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark" for Taymor for the full run of the production.

After 44 days and the intervention of the Bloomberg administration, waiters, dish washers and bussers at the Central Park Boathouse restaurant have ended their strike.