Working Life

Lo and behold, I just get finished writing about the phony promise of education as our economic salvation and, down from the mountaintop, drops a new report from—get this cool name—New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce. I guess by putting “new” in the title the Commission was hoping to pull one over […]

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As a New York City taxpayer, I want a refund from Goldman Sachs. And you deserve one, too, before the company cuts checks to shower $16 billion in bonuses throughout its executive suites. We are all paying for the enrichment of the investment bankers and rainmakers who are going to pocket tens of millions of […]

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Over and over again, the people of our country hear that the solution to inadequate wages, disappearing heath care, vanishing pensions, and staggering personal debt is quite simple: get educated. It may sound right but it’s utterly phony. Hardly a day goes by when politicians or pundits don’t slip in a plug for a “smarter” […]

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I was just lamenting the other day that, too often, there are not young people–I maintain we are all young but I’m talking people south of their early 20s–involved in the labor movement. But, here you go, something to point out as a positive, if perhaps isolated, exception to the rule. Meat-packing firm is target […]

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I just spent a couple of days inside the Beltway at the AFL-CIO’s Organizing Summit. I’d guess there were 500 people there and there was a lot of enthusiasm and optimism because of the recent Congressional elections. John Edwards got an award Friday night and the crowd was chanting, “Run, John, Run.” A heavy emphasis […]

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Shows you how much I know…William “I Keep $90,000 In My Freezer” Jefferson easily won re-election yesterday in his runoff election in Lousiana’s 2nd District. He played his message well: I’m just an innocent guy being wrongly pursued by the federal government. Please. Do be clear: everyone deserves the presumption of innocence. But, in my […]

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Today, we will see if the voters of Louisiana send Rep. William “I Stored $90,000 In My Freezer” Jefferson into retirement. He faces state senator Karen Carter in a run-off; both are Democrats do this does not effect the balance of power in the House. It’s kind of amusing, but telling, that Jefferson is attacking […]

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More than a month ago, I posted a short item about the mad scrum that erupted in Times Square when a few thousands people lined up for 65 jobs–at M&M’s new store. Well, actually, it turns out I underestimated the insanity. According to the Daily News yesterday, 12,800 people filled out applications for the 198 […]

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Earlier this week, I wrote a piece that took the Democrats to task for having a wimpy economic plan. Some people took offense—but I don’t think I was tough enough. If you look just at the party’s plan for raising the minimum wage, you can only conclude this: the Democratic Party does not want to […]

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One issue that is on the radar screen–I’ve been getting a slew of emails on the subject–is the fight to get Congress to give paid sick days for workers. One bill proposed by Sen. Edward Kennedy–who will be the chair of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee in the new Congress come January–would guarantee […]

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