Working Life

Not that it matters…Democrats will win 238 seats and the Senate will end up 50-50 (I count the two independents on the Dem side–Bernie Sanders and, yes, Joe Lieberman). I was probably more generous on the House side as I looked at individual races–though maybe it will turn out much better. On the House side, […]

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There been a steady drumbeat underway now about the precarious situation facing public pensions (we’ve talked alot here about private pensions, too…but that’s not the topic today). What I have noticed regarding the drumbeat on public pensions is its eerie similarity to the drumbeat around Social Security: benefits are too high and there just isn’t […]

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Yesterday, I reported on the crazy line in Times Square for a handfull of jobs that are not what you would call middle-class building work. Here’s a companion bit of info courtesy of the Economic Policy Institute. Called “Postcards From An Ailing Economy,” the first one says it all: What’s happened to family income? Despite […]

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Why did several thousand people line up in Times Square yesterday for only 65 full-time jobs? Paying a “princely” $10.75? Which by my calculations gives someone an annual salary of a bit over $20,000 (if the job was truly full-time. Although the New York Times account of the line-up says that the jobs offereed “medical […]

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Why can’t Democrats speak as clearly? Olbermann rocks.

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Look, no one wants the Republicans to lose more than I do…they are disgusting and they’ve torched this country and caused the deaths of untold numbers of human beings. BUT…fair is fair… A reader pointed out to me that Maine’s two Republican Senators, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins (the latter always seemed kind of a […]

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This is an interesting approach taken by the AFL-CIO. Immigrant Workers’ Rights Violated, A.C.L.U. ChargesBy NINA BERNSTEIN On behalf of six illegal immigrant workers, including the widow of a Mexican killed on a Brooklyn demolition site, the American Civil Liberties Union and other law and labor groups charged yesterday that the United States has failed […]

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I wonder how much coverage this story will get. It was buried on page 13 of The New York Times business section. But, it’s a good window into what the Chamber of Commerce has been up to–and why we need complete public financing of elections: Group Claims U.S. Chamber Broke Tax Laws By LYNNLEY BROWNING […]

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This is a scary report. Maybe I lasered in on it because my late father worked for IBM years ago. This comes to us from the hardworking folks at Alliance@IBM CWA Local 1701. A study by Dr. Richard Clapp an epidemiologist at Boston University School of Public health, and published in Environmental Health Journal has […]

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I’m dedicated to winning back Congress for the Democrats. So, dedicated that I just dragged another team of former campaign volunteers to spend another weekend day canvassing for John Hall in the 19th New York Congressional district—he wouldn’t even be my representative but he could win a seat from a Bush Republican. BUT… I hate […]

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