Working Life

This story today from the AP, with the inaccurate title, “Report: Fewer People in U.S. Are Hungry,” is emblematic of the banal, bureaucratic assaults on decency lobbed by the current administration at every level, every day. The report, from the Department of Agriculture, is, according to the AP, “drawing criticism, this time because analysts decided […]

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Having assessed the punditry, Michael Tomasky argues that conventional wisdom touting the Democratic win as a victory for moderates is, well, wrong. While, he explains, there are a handful of newly elected Democrats who might be type-cast as centrists based on demographic assumptions (think Tester), in fact there’s a unifying liberal tide beneath the surface […]

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[Note: This is Stef Cannon posting here today, as guest-blogger for the week while Tasini finally takes a vacation.] And the good news keeps rolling in. Today the NY Times reports that the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, with its 7,000 members, will join the New York City Central Labor Council The taxi drivers, who […]

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While Joe Lieberman has said that he will caucus with the Democrats, the newly-minted “Independent Democrat” is not pledging fidelity forever, leaving the balance of Congressional power solely in his hands. HARTFORD, Conn. — Sen. Joe Lieberman on Sunday repeated his pledge to caucus with Senate Democrats when the 110th Congress convenes in January, but […]

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It keeps popping up since the election: one thing that Republicans are going to push in the lame-duck session of Congress is the so-called “free trade” agreement with Peru. It’s astonishing that the Democrats would let such a deal sail through given the results of the elections. As I pointed out, candidates opposed to so-called […]

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This makes life a little easier for someone like John Edwards. From Russ Feingold: On Sunday, November 12th in Racine, I will hold my 1000th Listening Session with the people of Wisconsin. Before reaching that milestone, I want you to know that I’ve decided to continue my role as Wisconsin’s Junior Senator in the U.S. […]

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It will be interesting to see the analysis of labor’s political operation in the 2006 election. A flurry of emails has been making the rounds, highlighting the mobilization of union members in the key races. A press release from the AFL-CIO asserted that, “High turnout among union members turned a win into a sweep with […]

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The Beast from Bentonville has done its best to enter the New York City market–but so far labor and community groups have kept it at bay. Wal-Mart has been turned back in its attempts to build a store in Queens and on Staten Island. Interestingly, there has also been a move to stop it from […]

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The people spoke clearly Tuesday–about the rights of people to make a living. At least, if you’re making minimum wage. Across the nation, in case you missed it, every ballot initiative passed that called for raising the minimum wage above the pathetic federal level of $5.15 per hour: Arizona: 66 percent-34 percentColorado: 53-47Missouri: 76-24 (and […]

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Yes, it was the Iraq War, stupid. But, one of the other issues I kept hearing voters talk about repeatedly for the past several months was the idiocy of so-called “free trade.” And, thankfully, perhaps we can finally declare so-called “free trade” dead. The first thing to say is that what we really would be […]

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