Working Life

This falls under the rubric of (a) how we can never trust Democrats to do the right thing unless we are willing to make them pay an electoral price and (b) how the power business has is so threatening to a politician that s/he will even break a campaign pledge to make sure that business […]

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In all the flurry last week about the health care reform alliance between Wal-Mart and labor, a little item slipped by: Wal-Mart settles ID racial harassment lawsuit THE ASSOCIATED PRESS — Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has agreed to pay $125,000 to settle a racial harassment and retaliation lawsuit stemming from a complaint by an Idaho employee, […]

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Because I am switching to a new computer over the weekend (not only that but abandoning my life-long PC habit for the Mac world), I’m just going to post briefly today and Sunday some things to read as food for thought: Today: the Economic Policy Institute had this to say about the rising trade deficits, […]

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Just thought I’d put up an open thread here to see what people think: will the Employee Free Choice Act become law anytime soon? So far, according to the AFL-CIO website, 232 House member have signed on as co-sponsors (by the way, the AFL-CIO section on this is very comprehensible and readable). What’s your reading […]

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I’m a little disappointed that House Democrats have apparently caved into the demand that, in order to get a minimum wage hike, business has to get tax breaks. Is there any piece of economic legislation that we can pass in this day and age that does not have a tax break in it? Please. Here’s […]

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I tried to listen in on the webcast of the press conference unveiling the new labor-business health care coalition but it was impossible. So, here’s what I know from written materials: The founding members of the “Better Health Care Together” campaign include AT&T, the Howard H. Baker, Jr. Center for Public Policy, the Center for […]

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This is happening today. I don’t know more than what is in this release but will report when more becomes known. WAL-MART, SEIU, CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS, HOWARD H. BAKER JR. CENTER, KELLY SERVICES, CWA, AT&T, INTEL, AND COMMITTEE FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT TO ANNOUNCE MAJOR HEALTH CARE CAMPAIGN Wal-Mart, the Service Employees International Union, the […]

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Eve since I can remember, there has been a debate about money that we spend for “defense” versus money that is spent for domestic needs–the classic “guns v. butter” issue. Frankly, most of the labor movement has not played a great role in that debate, either because of a sense of patriotism or, more likely, […]

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I just want to point out to the people who criticized my Super Bowl prediction–though, admittedly, I don’t consider myself a football expert–that I came within a touchdown and a two-point conversion from nailing the exact score and got the Bears’ point total precisely. No, I was too dumb not to bet on that one… […]

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I think I’ve mentioned this before that Gretchen Morgenson is one of the consistently rare New York Times reporters who breaks ground and is a damn good reporter. She believes in capitalism but is appalled by the obscene greed of the CEO class. Virtually every column she writes each week in the Sunday Times Biz […]

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