Working Life

In my own quest to highlight peace initiatives within labor, I’d like to say, there’s good news today: back in mid-September, the Teamsters and CWA (the Teamsters being part of the Change To Win federation and the CWA in the AFL-CIO) agreed to jointly represent workers after the merger between America West and UsAir. Well, […]

Read the full story

This video clip doesn’t need any commentary–it speaks for itself.

Read the full story

In case you’ve wondered what’s up at Northwest since the strike by mechanics, the situation has gotten even grimmer. Now the airline is going back to court to try to use the bankruptcy code to get rid of its union contracts (see today’s Wall Street Journal piece below). It’s truly amazing to watch the bankruptcy […]

Read the full story

I’m with those people who are amazed at the oracle-like status given Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve. Even debating his legacy (he’s on his way out after the New Year) within the narrow world of the financial markets, he’s been a total shill for the Bush Administration’s completely irresponsible economic policies: roaring fiscal […]

Read the full story

Since yesterday’s post about the grim situation facing labor in California over the vote on Proposition 75–which would require public employee unions to notify their members about the use of dues for political efforts–I’ve gotten a couple of notes that say that there is a fair amount of mobilizing now underway. The L.A. County Fed […]

Read the full story

Yours truly is out here in Los Angeles and the big, bad news here is that labor is quite worried about the prospects for defeating Proposition 75. This is an Arnold Schwarzenegger-backed initiative that would require government employee unions to give prior notice to members before using dues on political activity. This is an issue […]

Read the full story

And this Delphi mess is just going to get worse, as the Wall Street Journal article below reports (subscription required so I’ve given you a snippet). I know I have a particular interest in this as a UAW member. But, this is yet another example of (a) the insanity of the lack of a national […]

Read the full story

Day laborers are people who scratch out a living, always trying to pick up a day’s work but never knowing if they will get chosen for a job. During my time in Los Angeles back in the 1980s I remember watching the laborers gather on street corners, waiting for the contractors or individual to cruise […]

Read the full story

It’s not a CAFTA 15 Democrat but an incumbent Republican, who voted for CAFTA, now has a challenger. The incumbent, Charlie Dent, is definitely not the sharpest knife in the drawer and this is one of those swing districts with a lot of what we used to call “Reagan Democrats.” And the challenger is making […]

Read the full story

So, what good is an “expanding” economy and a growing Gross Domestic Product when workers are going to see their pay cut from $27 an hour to $10 an hour? Or, at least that’s what the Delphi Corporation is demanding from UAW workers to avoid bankruptcy. I saw one quote from a worker that makes […]

Read the full story