Working Life

Here’s the official announcement on the Carpenters joining the Change To Win coalition…but you already knew this was happening. CARPENTERS UNION JOINS CHANGE TO WIN COALITIONSix Million Union Members United in Growth Alliance WASHINGTON, D.C. — The United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America announced today that it is joining the Change to Win […]

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Back in the wild and crazy world of the Beast of Bentonville, today’s Financial Times has a front-page story about Wal-Mart’s plans to expand into central and eastern Europe. And its also licking its chops at the prospect of moving into more countries in “Latin America, in addition to Mexico, Brazil and Argentina, where it […]

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Okay, it’s going to be official tomorrow (Monday) but you heard it here first: the United Brotherhood of Carpenters is going to join the Change To Win Coalition (The UBC’s executive board meeting starts Monday, coincidentally on the same day as a meeting of the AFL-CIO’s Executive Council). That puts another union with half-a-million plus […]

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This is really just a heads-up to something I’ll post after 6 p.m…I promised to wait. And, anyway, it’s Sunday, you should be out playing…or sweltering as the case may be for most of the East Coast. Me, I’m headed to the gym nice and early to get that over with. But, if you’ve got […]

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Just to get back for a moment to the battle between UNITEHERE and CWA over the California casinos. So, the underlying mystery here has been: is it true that CWA president Morty Bahr promised John Wilhelm, back when he was president of HERE, that CWA recognized HERE’s absolute right to organize the casino workers and […]

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I had already had my doubts about how realistic the proposed 2005-2006 AFL-CIO budget is given that it projects a whole lot of income for a “we hope the world will look like this” rather than “this is the world we will likely inhabit.”It’s too bad that, to cover deficits, the Federation can’t print money […]

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Some of the tension from the battle over the future of labor is playing out in organizing campaigns. Back in May, we learned of a tiff between UNITE-HERE and CWA over who should organize workers at tribal casinos in California. UNITE-HERE sued CWA in federal court alleging breach of contract, arguing that UNITE-HERE was granted […]

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I keep thinking, as I read the AFL-CIO confidential budget, that it may be the only reason a deal is still possible that avoids one or more unions leaving the Federation, but would include John Sweeney agreeing to step aside and not run for re-election and acceptance of some of the major structural changes being […]

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So, I’ve been thumbing through a copy of the confidential AFL-CIO budget that was just approved by the Executive Committee, and is headed for a vote before the full Executive Council on June 27th in Chicago. I’ll have more to say about the budget in the next few days but, for now, I want an […]

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Through all this back and forth about the future of the labor movement, you have to wonder what employers are thinking about the debate. Well, I’ve gotten my hands on a briefing paper put together by Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, a leading management law firm that advises its clients how to avoid unions. Check it […]

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