Working Life

Just a short heads-up: for those of you in the NYC area, I’m going to participate in a discussion tomorrow on the future of labor. Here are the details–and check it out, a free light breakfast! If I can, I’ll try to keep notes, while thinking of things to say, and post later in the […]

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Got an early morning meeting but saw this in today’s Wall Street Journal. More bad news for workers at Northwest. Here’s part of the article: Northwest Seeks More ConcessionsBy SUSAN CAREYStaff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNALSeptember 29, 2005 Less than two weeks after filing for bankruptcy-court protection, Northwest Airlines warned three unions that it […]

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Before I head off to the airport to return back home (where I can now chew my fingernails over the last few games of the regular season…), a few wrap-up thoughts. A number of people have been critical of CTW (and, I guess, me, too) for the lack of specifics coming out of the convention. […]

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Here’s what is boils down to: the lives of Mirna Blanco, Flora Aguliar, Irma Deshommes, Martina Casey and Amanda Figueroa. Each of these SEIU workers has been locked in battles with employers. Mirna and Flora are janitors in Houston (see left here standing–Mirna on the left and Flora on the right–with their SEIU organizer). Mirna […]

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So, we’re back after a very mediocre boxed lunch….again, this will be a rolling, updated report. At the break, there were two press briefings. In the press room. Bruce Raynor and John Wilhelm (left) answered questions from about 20 workers. One point that hasn’t gotten a lot of attention: on immigration, they both underscored their […]

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I’ll probably just run this post as a flowing update as things come up…Understand, my friends, this convention has no internal controversy. So, I’ll just give you the straight poop from here. Anna Burger is about to open the convention—and as Tom Edsall of the Washington Post points out, it’s her 55th birthday today. As […]

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Today, there are going to be a series of speeches coupled with discussions about organizing campaigns: Houston Janitors, Advance Demolition, Cintas, Wal-Mart, School Bus Drivers, Smithfield Foods, DHL and Hotels. I’ll report in with summaries of as many as possible. What did dawn on me is this: why do most union conventions take a week […]

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Just cruised in here to St. Louis (uneventfully, I might add, to my surprise…) and the Hotel Grand Renaissance is abuzz with people checking in. Will start nosing around. The first official event is a rally tonight at the convention center across the street. BUT–in the meantime, you might have thought I had forgotten but […]

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Off to St. Louis today for tomorrow’s founding convention of the Change To Win federation. I’ll be posting regularly between now and Wednesday, assuming there is a reason. Today begins on a good note with what appears to be a victory in the Boeing machinists strike (thanks to a reader for passing this along). Boeing […]

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I know a lot of people have been buying the “Make Levees, Not War” T-shirt created by a few of my friends and me–all profits to the organizations we’ve listed who are aiding the Katrina victims. So, here’s a reminder courtesy of some very talented artists I know: Kylie Heidenheimer (kylieh@mindspring.com), Jaye Schlesinger (http://www.jayeschlesinger.com/) and […]

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