Working Life

Excuse me, but does Tom Buffenbarger have a grip on reality? I had to read the Machinists’ president’s most recent letter to the Federation’s Executive Council members several times, each time thinking he’d say at the end, “just kidding!!!” But, it’s scary–he’s serious. You might remember his previous letter less than two weeks ago. That […]

Read the full story

There’s some interesting stuff percolating up from the Central Labor Council front but first…a clean-up from a few days ago. Last week, John Sweeney, wearing his Federation president hat, issued a press release (see below) announcing approval by the Strategic Approaches Committee and the committee that deals with raiding issues of the officers’ proposals around […]

Read the full story

I don’t want to be a downer. Really. I’d like to be constantly upbeat and sunny about the recent unemployment figures. But, I just can’t shake the feeling that something ominous looms down the road–and not too far down the road. Yeah, the unemployment number dropped to five percent of the workforce (this is cause […]

Read the full story

Back in the 1980s, I wrote a longish article on how pathetic the system was for protecting worker safety and health. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) never had real power or resources–my grey cells seem to remember something like it would take 7 years for OSHA to make even a passing inspection of […]

Read the full story

Not much has been said in the American press–I’m shocked–about what’s happening on the labor front in Australia so I thought it would be worth a quick little update. Fresh from re-election as the Aussie Prime Minister eight months ago, conservative John Howard, is trying to make the country into one of the most deregulated […]

Read the full story

Had a chat yesterday with a senior UFCW person who said, “we’re disaffiliating. There’s not much question about that.” Though the union has made no official announcement, speaking of UFCW President Joe Hansen, my conversation partner said, “Joe wouldn’t have gone to the board to ask for authority if we weren’t going to do it.” […]

Read the full story

I wonder: did Steven Spielberg, fresh off “War of The Worlds” (entertaining but nothing stupendous, says your sometime film critic), write Jonathan Weisman’s article today in The Washington Post “CAFTA Reflects Democrats’ Shift From Trade Bills“? (registration required). After all, there are enough scary monsters in that article to put any horror film to shame: […]

Read the full story

My head hurts. No, not from over-imbibing during this long weekend. Your head would hurt too if you just finished reading through a ream of legal memos and memorandum mumbo-jumbo. But, I’m going to try to make this simple (and in doing so, I might oversimplify the story)—because it’s tale of a bitter dispute between […]

Read the full story

See, I knew I couldn’t keep away and it’s those stomach-turning fake patriots that got me going. You know, the ones who talk all about sacrifice, who gin up the standard line of supporting our troops (but forget to give them the proper armor to protect their asses) and lecture us all about the need […]

Read the full story

I think I may disappear from this space until Tuesday–unfortunately, not to rest but just to catch up on other non-blog stuff (what, you think feeding you’all is my life?) while people are off playing. Come back, then, though and there will be some new inside-labor documents and tales to tell. Then, again, something may […]

Read the full story