Working Life

Yesterday, the New York State Court of Appeals ruled that barring marriage for same-sex couples does not violate the State Constitution. It was an appalling ruling–but only shifts the battle from the courts to the legislature. This is an issue that every union member needs care about. Discrimination is discrimination is discrimination. Period. Not all […]

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For those of us who have endured Tom Friedman’s endless babble about the wonders of the economy of India, it was a welcome read on the paper’s op-ed section today to see an account that gives a different view. Entitled “The Myth of India,” author Pankaj Mishra makes the critical point that it is basically […]

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The headline in The Wall Street Journal this morning could have been “Employers Love Anti-Union Labor Laws” because that is the upshot of the data reported in the article (subscription only): Unions Set Pacts at a Slower Pace As Clout Wanes, Employers Resist By KRIS MAHER Unions are taking longer, as much as five years […]

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Check out the Troops Home Fast here. Seems like a patriotic thing to think about and beats empty sloganeering.

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This story in today’s Wall Street Journal headlined “Global Trade Talks Near Collapse Amid Farming, Other Disputes” offers some hope that perhaps there are real brakes to be put on the imposition of so-called “free trade” on a global scale. Yes, individual countries are striking these deals–see the U.S. Oman deal–but if the global framework […]

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So-called “free trade” rears its ugly head–again. I wrote about the negotiations for the new deal with Oman back in May and now its headed to Congress. It’s bad, bad, bad–and here’s a letter signed by a ton of organizations explaining why it’s bad: On behalf of the millions of Americans we represent, the undersigned […]

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If the question is asked of the United States, guess what, the rest of the world owns this country, thanks to the mounting trade deficit. This little summary sent out by our friends at the Economic Policy Institute has a pretty sobering first paragraph: Mounting trade deficits have caused the United States to incur rapidly […]

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I do love this first sentence in today’s New York Times story about Wal-Mart’s agreeing to a union contract–in its British unit… Wal-Mart may be anti-union at home, but overseas the company sometimes sings a different tune. Indeed. This is a perfect example of how the labor laws in the U.S. are so vile and […]

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So, into my email mailbox comes by regular update from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Today, it carries the news that the Gross Domestic Product rose at an annual rate of 5.6 percent in the first quarter. Strap yourself in for the pontificating about how wonderful the U.S. economy is. It ain’t true. Oh, sure, […]

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No surprise that there is a gap between CEO pay and people who earn the minimum wage. But, the gap still is pretty staggering to see, per the Economic Policy Institute: “CEO pay-to-minimum wage ratio soars In 2005, an average Chief Executive Officer (CEO) was paid 821 times as much as a minimum wage earner, […]

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