Working Life

Today, there are going to be a series of speeches coupled with discussions about organizing campaigns: Houston Janitors, Advance Demolition, Cintas, Wal-Mart, School Bus Drivers, Smithfield Foods, DHL and Hotels. I’ll report in with summaries of as many as possible. What did dawn on me is this: why do most union conventions take a week […]

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Just cruised in here to St. Louis (uneventfully, I might add, to my surprise…) and the Hotel Grand Renaissance is abuzz with people checking in. Will start nosing around. The first official event is a rally tonight at the convention center across the street. BUT–in the meantime, you might have thought I had forgotten but […]

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Off to St. Louis today for tomorrow’s founding convention of the Change To Win federation. I’ll be posting regularly between now and Wednesday, assuming there is a reason. Today begins on a good note with what appears to be a victory in the Boeing machinists strike (thanks to a reader for passing this along). Boeing […]

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I know a lot of people have been buying the “Make Levees, Not War” T-shirt created by a few of my friends and me–all profits to the organizations we’ve listed who are aiding the Katrina victims. So, here’s a reminder courtesy of some very talented artists I know: Kylie Heidenheimer (kylieh@mindspring.com), Jaye Schlesinger (http://www.jayeschlesinger.com/) and […]

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Today, hundreds of thousands of people will march in protest against the war in Iraq. Someone I know has a son serving in Iraq. This pic of a bumper sticker on her car says it all.

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The Screen Actors Guild just counted the ballots yesterday in a contentious election. The winner is Alan Rosenberg, who succeeds Melissa Gilbert. Rosenberg ran at the head of the ticket for Membership First, a caucus in SAG that has increased its strength over the years, culminating with Rosenberg’s victory. He defeated Morgan Fairchild, who was […]

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As Deep Throat admonished, follow the money: Here’s a small tidbit of the plans shaping for the Change To Win coalition: I’ve been told that the way the new federation is being structured, 75 percent of the dollars paid by the affiliated unions into the new federation will go to organizing. One can conclude from […]

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So, next week, the Change To Win coalition holds its founding convention in St. Louis (it will be a quick one-day affair on Tuesday. Sept. 27th–and yours truly will be there typing away and posting). This past week, the Laborers executive board authorized disaffiliation from the AFL-CIO–with the final decision yet to come on whether […]

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The corporate ATM machine just keeps on giving…especially for those Members of Congress whose spine gave way just minutes before the vote on CAFTA. What I love about this little piece is how it exposes as a lie LaTourette’s alleged reason for casting his pro-CAFTA vote. LaTourette fund-raiser to cash in CAFTA vote Wednesday, September […]

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As readers of this blog know, I’ve been holding fast to the belief that everything that can be done must be done to calm the waters between the AFL-CIO and Change To Win coalition. I maintained for a long time and still believe that, once the emotionalism of the AFL-CIO convention in July receded, smart […]

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