Working Life

In New York City, we can see the crumbling of democracy before our eyes, assisted by the legal system. If a working person can’t have a legitimate right to strike, we do not live in a democratic society. Yesterday, a judge issued an injunction preventing the transit workers from walking out if there is no […]

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I hope that every New York labor person comes out today for the big demonstration in support of the transit workers. The demo is taking place at 4:00 p.m. in front of the Grand Hyatt Hotel on 42nd Street near Lexington Avenue. That’s the location of the around-the-clock negotiations (the contract expires at 12:01 a.m. […]

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The nervousness among the proponents of so-called “free trade” continues as the World Trade Organization (WTO) meets in Hong Kong. The New York Times reports that the negotiators have given up on making progress on “intractable issues like farm subsidies” so they are going to “focus heavily on increasing exports from the world’s poorest countries.” […]

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Back in October, the media was awash in reports, expressed in stunned amazement, that huge throngs of working Americans were rushing to the courthouse to file for bankrupcty to escape the new rules that would take effect on October 17th. It shouldn’t have been surprising–people are spending 1.22 for every dollar they earn and their […]

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I’ve remarked a number of times on the obstacles facing the global agreements on so-called “free trade.” Today, there are two very related articles in the elite press. The first is a front-page article in the Financial Times entitled “U.S. Warns Over Trade Summit.” The U.S. is warning that “Failure to reach an ambitious agreement […]

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I’m not a deficit hawk. The real question is: what are the things you do to move the country forward which justify running a deficit? Giving more tax breaks to the top one percent of the people is not what I would call wise economic planning. The House just passed a bill that cuts taxes […]

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So, the president apparently is getting a little lift in his popularity from the “improving” economy. If I was him, I wouldn’t be breaking out in celebration quite yet. This is just a very small snapshot in time and does not reflect the economic dangers facing many people. I gather part of the slight change […]

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We’ve been talking a lot here about the demise of the private defined benefit pension system–the system that actually gives a worker, who has labored away for 20 plus years at a company, a regular amount of money she or he can count each month, as opposed to worrying about making it in the casino…that […]

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You remember the old refrain that had been adapted over time that goes roughly like this: you didn’t speak up when they came after so-and-so and, then, when they came after you, there was no one to speak up for you. Well, today, it’s the Verizon managers. The data transmission company (Memo to New York […]

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My dear readers: some of you will have heard by now, or will soon hear, that I have decided to enter the Democratic primary for the Senate seat from New York. The main reason for my decision to enter this race is the war in Iraq. I didn’t make this decision quickly nor lightly but […]

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