Working Life

Whew. John Edwards just spoke to the Change To Win convention in Chicago and blew the delegates away. I’ve got a few snippets here from his speech.   First, to repeat some of the background: Three of the Democratic candidates are speaking here at the one-day convention. Barack Obama spoke this morning and he did […]

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    I’m here in the Windy City for the Change To Win convention. I’ve only got a few minutes before the convention goes back into session–and there is no wireless in the hall so it’s tough to get real-time stuff up (memo to unions: if you want reporters to get the message out, set up […]

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    It’s happening. From The New York Times: Members of the United Automobile Workers union walked off the job today at General Motors plants across the country after union leaders and company officials failed to reach an agreement in contentious talks on a new contract. It is the first national strike by the union against […]

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    Well, it’s less than half an hour to go to see if there is a strike at GM. If you’re asking if I know whether it will happen, got me. I think a deal will happen but it could easily come quickly or come after a fairly tough strike. It’s that up-in-the-air. People were […]

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    For a long time, I’ve been saying that the dollar has to come down. A lower dollar would be an easier solution to, for example, the trade issues with China, compared to trying to get the Chinese to change its currency policies. So, the fact that the dollar is sharply down–even now equal to […]

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    I’ll tell ya, I wouldn’t want to be the negotiator for those negotiations between the UAW and GM. According to the mainstream media reports coming out today, the idea of a volunteer employee benefits association (VEBA) is now off the table. The Wall Street Journal reports: UAW President Ron Gettelfinger has for now ended […]

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   The Service Employees International Union will not endorse any candidate in the Democratic primaries–at least until next week. This announcement came just a few minutes ago via  a conference call with SEIU president Andy Stern and Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger.   How did SEIU get to this place? After hearing on Monday from candidates who […]

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    Being a sports fan, I’ve been meaning to write a bit about the controversy involving retired football players. As some of you know, there was a hearing yesterday on the disability program for the folks who played in the National Football League. The players who really have been left to struggle in their post-playing […]

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    I hear things are quite tense in the negotiations between the UAW and GM. A Wall Street Journal article gives some info today: General Motors Corp. and the United Auto Workers resumed talks toward a new collective-bargaining agreement but remained well short of a deal and were probably headed toward a few more days […]

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    This is a good day to check in on the lay of the land regarding where unions are going in the Democratic presidential primaries. Today, two important unions are hearing from the Democratic presidential candidates: The Service Employees International Union and the Laborers International Union of North America (LIUNA).     For SEIU, here’s the […]

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