Working Life

Well, while corporate executives at Delphi are trying to make off with hauls of cash as the company tanks, the Congress did nothing to hike the minimum wage: it’s been stuck at $5.15 an hour since 1997 and proposals to hike the wage to $6.25 went down. Since this might pop up again, I thought […]

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From time to time, I’ve raised, and commenters have opined about, the issue of union democracy. Everyone is for it–but it tends to get subsumed into very general broad statements that degenerate into black-and-white “down with the anti-democratic union leaders” versus “leadership must lead.” So, an old friend of mine, Jane Slaughter and I have […]

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With all the focus on the slashing of UAW members’ health care at GM (there’s a more detailed story today in the New York Times), I didn’t get to the recent, also sad, development regarding the folks who have been striking Northwest. This has been a hotly debated topic here–but the situation continues to be […]

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Today, the Administration is still trying to spin the vote on the Iraqi constitution–but no matter how it comes out, this war remains an unmitigated disaster. In fact, we don’t see, in the comfort of the U.S., the horrors of the war–and the language that obscures its devastation. We read today about the U.S. airstrikes […]

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[West Coast time means a bit of delay sometimes…] So, various news organs are reporting today that, in fact, the UAW has agreed to changes in health care coverage at General Motors. The New York Times (registration required) is carrying a report that says, “G.M., which is one of the biggest providers of health insurance […]

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A reader passed this on–it’s the tale of Cingular Wireless workers joining the Communications Workers of America. Off of the CWA website comes this: “On Oct. 13, the largest single day of union recognition by former AT&T Wireless workers at Cingular, nearly 1,800 Customer Care and Retail Sales employees gained representation with CWA. The American […]

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I had gotten this yesterday (see below) and was trying to track down some more info but figured it was worth putting out as is. We’ve been watching the various efforts at peace making, most recently in an exchange of letters between Anna Burger and John Sweeney. What I see here is some compromise and […]

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The Beast from Bentonville (by the way, that would be the corporation upon whose board Hillary Clinton sat…) has been trying to get into the banking business. But, it’s been met with a fairly stiff campaign, which has included resistance from banks, as well as the good folks from WalMart Watch. According to today’s New […]

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(The server must not have had its breakfast this morning because it was not cooperating. I know, this was very stressful for you…you shouldn’t be reading this Saturday anyway, which, of course, begs the question why I would write this on Saturday…but I digress) The Wall Street Journal is reporting this morning (see a bit […]

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This was inevitable. General Motors is now threatening the UAW with unilateral cuts in health care coverage for workers (you can see the first few paragraphs below of the story in today’s Wall Street Journal) Wake up. Cast off the insane ideology that keeps national health care from becoming a reality. This is a question […]

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