Working Life

Part of the reason the president is off to South America (maybe it’s to see if he can find a country where support among the people is stronger for him than in the U.S.) is to bolster support for so-called “free trade” agreements pending with Colombia and Peru, among other trade deals. He’s not going […]

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The other day I wrote about the criteria I thought should be used by labor in choosing who to support for president (commenters provided useful additions, including where the candidate stands on immigration). Today, The Wall Street Journal has a piece on the topic, written out of Las Vegas where the AFL-CIO is holding its […]

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Well, here’s a good example of the difference a Democratic Senate makes. Yesterday, the Senate voted, essentially on party lines (Arlen Specter was the only Republican to join with the Democrats), to give airport screeners the right to unionize. It was completely absurd to argue, as Republicans did, that allowing the workers to unionize would […]

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Wily and experienced negotiator that he is, I have to think that Charlie Rangel believes that sometimes no deal is better than a bad deal. I hope he keeps that mind as he plunges into talks over a compromise over so-called “free trade” agreements. Charlie, there is no deal to be made here, within the […]

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To end the suspense right away, I am not going to say which candidate I think labor should support. I have a favorite candidate who I think would be the strongest pro-labor candidate—and would remember labor once elected. But, here, I simply want to suggest what the criteria might be for labor to choose a […]

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From my friends at the Center for Economic and Policy Research comes this troubling study: African-American workers have been particularly hard hit by the decline in U.S. manufacturing, according to a study by the Center for Economic and Policy Research. Chrysler’s recent buyouts signal the continuing decline of the U.S. auto industry, which has had […]

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One of the most annoying and hypocritical spectacles during the Rudy Giuliani mayoral era was listening to him pontificate about the heros of the fire and police departments–yet when it came to paying them decent wages, he was the usual Republican prick (yes, this is the proper word the use). This came back to me […]

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This is no surprise. A majority of Americans say the federal government should guarantee health insurance to every American, especially children, and are willing to pay higher taxes to do it, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll. And the taxes issue is also important, as the front-page story in The New York […]

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This would be funny if it wasn’t so sad. In today’s Wall Street Journal, there is a story about on-going negotiations between the Administration and Democrats to try to resolve differences on pending so-called “free trade” deals. As I wrote recently, the Columbia so-called “free trade” deal is being held up because of labor rights […]

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New York has had one of the worst workers’ compensation systems in the country. For the past 15 years, New York’s maximum weekly benefit stood at $400—lower than every state except Mississippi and Arizona, not to mention the minimum benefit: $40 a week. Regionally, New York ranks last among nine states (from a high of […]

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