Working Life

    Yesterday, I mentioned the protests in Costa Rica over the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). From our friends at the Citizens Trade Campaign comes a reminder that there is a so-called "free trade" deal pending with Peru. They ask you to take action to stop the deal and here are the main reasons […]

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Yesterday, in Costa Rica, 100,000 people marched to protest the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). You thought that was a done deal, huh? Well, not as far as Costa Ricans are concerned, as a Reuters report tell us: More than 100,000 Costa Ricans, some dressed as skeletons, protested a U.S. trade pact on Sunday […]

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    While the government in Myanmar is shooting down monks and shutting down the Internet connections to the country, world wide action has begun to protest the violence. You can sign a petition at Avaaz.org. Also, below is a letter from Andy Stern to the Chinese ambassador–there is some thought that the Chinese have some […]

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    Stacy Mitchell’s eye-opening book, Big-Box Swindle, has just been released in paperback.  It’s a book that you’all should read and maybe give as an early holiday gift  to your city council and state legislators so they can have the ammunition to shoot down big-box tax advantages and pass new policies that foster equitable and […]

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    Some random things. A number of people kept asking me, "so, what is a VEBA beyond the basic name?" Here’s an excerpt from today’s Wall Street Journal–interesting note that VEBAs are not that rare at large companies: A. VEBAs are similar to pension funds. They have assets intended to pay for retiree health care, […]

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    I’m not surprised that the strike against GM was a relatively short one. We’ll see what the details are as they emerge over the next few days. Obviously, the key was the establishment of the Voluntary Employee Benefit Association, or VEBA. Here’s what The Wall Street Journal has to say this morning: Mr. Gettelfinger […]

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Whew. John Edwards just spoke to the Change To Win convention in Chicago and blew the delegates away. I’ve got a few snippets here from his speech.   First, to repeat some of the background: Three of the Democratic candidates are speaking here at the one-day convention. Barack Obama spoke this morning and he did […]

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    I’m here in the Windy City for the Change To Win convention. I’ve only got a few minutes before the convention goes back into session–and there is no wireless in the hall so it’s tough to get real-time stuff up (memo to unions: if you want reporters to get the message out, set up […]

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    It’s happening. From The New York Times: Members of the United Automobile Workers union walked off the job today at General Motors plants across the country after union leaders and company officials failed to reach an agreement in contentious talks on a new contract. It is the first national strike by the union against […]

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    Well, it’s less than half an hour to go to see if there is a strike at GM. If you’re asking if I know whether it will happen, got me. I think a deal will happen but it could easily come quickly or come after a fairly tough strike. It’s that up-in-the-air. People were […]

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