Working Life

Back in March, I wrote about the recruitment of Andy Young, the noted civil rights leader and former ambassador to the U.N., to the cause of defending Wal-Mart. Lots of people were astonished and I was a bit perplexed by the moral corruption of someone who actually fought for the rights of the oppressed. Today, […]

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You almost want to say “duh” after reading the front-page story in today’s New York Times about the Democrats catching the anti-Wal-Mart wave. Here are the two key paragraphs: The focus on Wal-Mart is part of a broader strategy of addressing what Democrats say is general economic anxiety and a growing sense that economic gains […]

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Interesting piece in The Wall Street Journal today: Mine Unions Call Strikes to Obtain A Share of ProfitsBy KRIS MAHER High prices for copper, nickel and other commodities are emboldening miners unions world-wide to stage strikes in hopes of getting better pay and benefits for workers. Concerns over labor-related supply disruptions have contributed to higher […]

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With thanks to Susan G over at Daily Kos for pointing this out, the Christian Science Monitor had a decent article reporting on a joint effort by the AFL-CIO and Change To Win to coordinate political efforts in 2006. I always thought that this would happen after the split–after all, coordinating phone and walk lists […]

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I’ve pointed out before the stark contrast between the great rise in productivity and the lack of reward flowing to workers who are working harder than ever before. Last year, the Economic Policy Institute showed that productivity has grown almost three times faster than wages since 2001. During that time, 70 percent of the nation’s […]

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I’ve been calling for someone to get up and challenge CAFTA 15 Rep. William “I Store 90,000 In My Freezer” Jefferson. And, sure enough, a number of someones have stepped forward: 12 File to Oppose Rep. Jefferson By Allan Lengel Washington Post Staff Writer Under the glare of an FBI investigation, a politically vulnerable Rep. […]

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From time to time, I get anonymous notes from workers at Wal-Mart and other employers. I write about some of them or try to track down info. Here’s one that came in yesterday: Today, Walmart announced some new “changes”. They have done away with merit raises, and also put “wage caps” on certain individuals. Depending […]

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Good for the AFL-CIO. It has decided to link up with the significant movement trying to organize day laborers, who are predominately immigrant workers. It’s a great move not simply because day laborers are exploited–it puts the AFL-CIO directly on the side of workers who are being targeted by the hysteria over “illegal immigration.” Here’s […]

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Did anyone see the picture in The New York Times of the dead baby with the hand of her mother, with her wedding band on, sticking out from the rubble in Lebanon? It made me weep.

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I’ve been generally very positive about the quality of Mary Williams Walsh’s reporting about pensions for The New York Times. I think she typically understands the issue better than most reporters. Today, she launched the first in a series of articles reporting on the public pension plan system (as distinguished from the private sector pension […]

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