Working Life

Hey, you’all out there in the D.C.-Northern Virginia area, here’s a chance to have some fun tomorrow. Thanks to reader Jonathan Marks, we know that Rep. Jim Moran, one of the enthusiastic CAFTA 15, is going to be at the Lake Anne Coffee House in Reston, VA this Saturday from noon to 2 p.m. for […]

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Hmmm…this might be a good primary option to take out one of the CAFTA 15. Seems like Rep. William Jefferson has even more ethical problems. As I reported before, Jefferson is under FBI investigation. Now comes a new report that might indicate a pattern: CNN’s John Mercurio’s The Morning Grind reports on a Roll Call […]

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Who says Bush and Boeing are all bad for labor? You have to give them credit for this: they are showing that, despite all the huffing and puffing after the AFL-CIO convention, unity is possible between the two national labor federations. Yesterday, three union presidents–Carpenters’ President Doug McCarron, Laborers President Terry O-Sullivan and Operating Engineers […]

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The life for airline workers is just getting worse. As reported today in the major newspapers (see The New York Times–registration required), Northwest and Delta are poised to file for bankruptcy as soon as today. What will likely come in pretty quick succession is further demands for wage and benefits cuts, particularly termination of the […]

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Ah, the Beast…in trouble again. Steven Greenhouse reports today in The New York Times (registration required) on a novel legal twist to trying to hold Wal-Mart accountable. Here are the first two paragraphs: “A labor rights group filed a class-action lawsuit yesterday against Wal-Mart Stores in which apparel workers in Bangladesh, China and other countries […]

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In case you thought I was all wet (and that does happen), as I predicted Monday (and this was not, frankly, a bit lift), UNITE HERE did vote to leave the AFL-CIO yesterday (I was, really, just way too tired to lift another finger on to my computer yesterday to report..). There was a lot […]

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I heard from a source on Capitol Hill that House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi is pretty livid with the CAFTA 15 after they were feted by leading business associations. Apparently, she was not aware of the fundraiser until the last minute, though Rep. Rahm Emanuel, the chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, was in […]

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This was my prediction, or maybe it was hope: once everyone started to calm down about the psychology of “the split,” adult behavior would start to come to the surface. Here we have at least one example: The Teamsters and Communications Workers of America have reached a deal to jointly represent workers when the merger […]

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UNITE HERE will officially announce it is pulling out of the AFL-CIO on Wednesday. Yesterday, I spoke with a senior UNITE HERE official who confirmed that a press statement will be released following an official vote of the union’s full executive board on Tuesday. The first step will come today when the Executive Committee convenes […]

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It seems like the Chazer caucus has backed off its attempt to repeal the estate tax–at least for now. But, I thought this chart from my friends at the Economic Policy Institute would make it crystal clear why it is complete nonsense to believe that the estate tax hurts poor farmers or folks like you […]

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