Working Life

I did a stretch of seven years in Los Angeles so I keep my ear to the ground on whatever is happening there in the house of labor. The last couple of weeks, I keep hearing from friends who are holding their breathe, hoping that Antonio Villaraigosa beats incumbent Mayor Jim Hahn in the election […]

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You want an obscene contrast between the absolute flogging American workers are getting versus how big corporations are getting off? Compare the scandalous termination of the pension plans for 134,000 United Airlines workers, on the one hand, to the passage of the bankruptcy bill (with Democratic Party support), on the other hand. On the one […]

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So, late last night I got a report from the Teamsters big conference in Vegas, where the heads of the five unions composing the “insurgent caucus”— the Teamsters, SEIU, Laborers, UNITE-HERE and UFCW—came together in front of a raucous crowd composed mainly of Teamsters but also including rank-and-file members from each union scattered through the […]

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A couple of days ago, I wondered in Flotsam and Jetsam whether the Central American Free Trade Agreement was on the rocks. Today, Elizabeth Becker of The New York Times writes that, “Social Security is not the administration’s only economic initiative that is in trouble in Congress. The current centerpiece of President Bush’s trade agenda, […]

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Late last night, I heard just a bit of information out of Vegas (I had other commitments so cannot be on the scene, unfortunately…need to win back that money from March). There is not yet a candidate to challenge John Sweeney. Obviously, as I reported, John Wilhelm doesn’t want to jump in unless there seems […]

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This week could be the week that John Wilhelm announces that he is running for AFL-CIO president–or not. He’s got the right forum: all the presidents from the unions loosely gathered in the “insurgent” caucus are going to be out in my favorite place, Las Vegas, for a big Teamsters shindig…There will be the usual […]

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Every so often, usually over the weekend, “Flotsam and Jetsam” will be a place to knock off various items that have collected over time that didn’t warrant an individual post or got rolled over for more urgent matters. The Rich Are Really Like Us!!! At least so said a May 5th article in the Wall […]

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Damn. In case you haven’t heard, Miguel Contreras, secretary-treasurer of the Los Angles County Labor Federation, died suddenly last night of a heart attack. I never had the good fortune of working with Contreras but anyone who did spoke highly of him. There’s a fairly detailed obit of him in today’s Los Angeles Times. I […]

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My post on the aftermath of the cuts at the AFL used the phrase “Black Tuesday.” In response, I got a note from a friend who is a great leader in the civil rights movement. He writes: As a point of personal privilege, could I ask you the great favor of refraining from calling the […]

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It was a grim group that crowded into the President’s Room at 16th Street at 4 p.m. yesterday. Along with many people who participated via phone, the AFL-CIO staff vented their anger at John Sweeney and Bob Welsh, his executive assistant and chief of staff, for the brutal staff cuts announced Tuesday. Black Tuesday is […]

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