Working Life

I wonder: did Steven Spielberg, fresh off “War of The Worlds” (entertaining but nothing stupendous, says your sometime film critic), write Jonathan Weisman’s article today in The Washington Post “CAFTA Reflects Democrats’ Shift From Trade Bills“? (registration required). After all, there are enough scary monsters in that article to put any horror film to shame: […]

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My head hurts. No, not from over-imbibing during this long weekend. Your head would hurt too if you just finished reading through a ream of legal memos and memorandum mumbo-jumbo. But, I’m going to try to make this simple (and in doing so, I might oversimplify the story)—because it’s tale of a bitter dispute between […]

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See, I knew I couldn’t keep away and it’s those stomach-turning fake patriots that got me going. You know, the ones who talk all about sacrifice, who gin up the standard line of supporting our troops (but forget to give them the proper armor to protect their asses) and lecture us all about the need […]

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I think I may disappear from this space until Tuesday–unfortunately, not to rest but just to catch up on other non-blog stuff (what, you think feeding you’all is my life?) while people are off playing. Come back, then, though and there will be some new inside-labor documents and tales to tell. Then, again, something may […]

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So, here’s my take on the vote yesterday on CAFTA–beyond the obvious, it’s a great sign why the Democrats will continue to be in the minority for some time. First, the vote was not a straight partisan vote: 10 Democrats voted YES, while 12 Republicans voted NO. Here are the pathetic Democrats who voted YES–and […]

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I don’t know–maybe James Lynn, a former executive for the Beast of Bentonville, was having some after-hours interaction with a female who worked for him. But, that ‘s a completely different issue than the tale he is now telling: that The Beast’s goods were being produced in Central America by workers who were being abused. […]

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Sigh. I keep reading this letter sent to me and I wonder, “is this guy for real? Was this just sent to get his rocks off? Did he have anyone read the letter before he sent it?” The “guy” is R. Thomas Buffenbarger, president of the International Association of Machinists (IAM). Throughout the debate over […]

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Here’s some meat on the rhetorical bones: the Change To Win coalition is about to officially release a package of amendments and resolutions that will be presented at the AFL-CIO’s convention in Chicago at the end of July (tip-off is actually July 25th). Remember now, the coalition is going to have a hard time passing […]

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So, there’s been a document floating around Capitol Hill that just dropped into my little paws. It was described as a “draft” by the person who passed it on…and it makes for interesting reading on a topic that is really what this whole debate in labor is about: organizing. With a very sexy and inspiring […]

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Yesterday, the AFL-CIO Executive Council held its last meeting before the July convention in Chicago. If there was going to be any *public* compromise or thawing, it could have happened yesterday. But, nope, things are pretty much headed the same direction. According to one person from the Change To Win coalition, “the meeting was another […]

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