Working Life

Steven Greenhouse reports in today’s NYTimes on the coalition formed to combat Wal-Mart: Led by Wal-Mart’s longtime opponents in organized labor, a new coalition of about 50 groups – including environmentalists, community organizations, state lawmakers and academics – is planning the first coordinated assault intended to press the company to change the way it does […]

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A good morning to thumb through the papers, what with the drenching rain making it look almost like night. Dreary, indeed, are some of the signs: First, we saw the creation of half the number of new jobs that were predicted just one month ago (of course, the stock market went UP initially when that […]

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How about this? The media is doing extensive coverage of a huge labor battle, with the networks sending their anchors down to the site, cameras set up to record the daily struggle; CNN has a full-time correspondent on the scene. Here are the details. For many years, workers having been trying to organize at Smithfield […]

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Today’s Wall Street Journal editorial (subscription required) on Social Security is the usual kooky—but extremely well-written (if only the Left had similar talents)—rant on the mythical power of “Big Labor” (did someone not yet tell the Journal writers that “Big Labor” is below 8 percent in the private sector?). But the editorial, entitled “Pension Fund […]

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Let’s hear from you—any other thoughts on Wal-Mart’s culture of greed and crime? Examples from your communities? In today’s Tom Paine piece, I didn’t even mention Wal-Mart pleading guilty to 25 charges of violating Canadian safety and health laws, for which it was fine $500,000 (Canadian dollars) on February 9th 2005.

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A pause for a moment to reflect on a little project I’ve been involved with for, geez, almost 15 years. A settlement has been reached with publishers and database companies that will bring authors up to $18 million—I was part of the negotiating team that reached the deal. The deal will come before a U.S. […]

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The fingerprints of Wall Street have been all over the scam to privatize Social Security. And, rightly so, the labor movement has been targeting brokerage firms who have been whoring for the privatizaton schemes. Two of those firms—Edward D. Jones & Co., and Waddell & Reed—have felt the pressure and withdrawn from the pro-privatization coalition. […]

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In the U.S., there has been a bit of reporting about the nomination of Paul Wolfowitz to be head of the World Bank. Certainly, it’s a bit baffling—okay, I’m being kind—that the guy who helped prosecute the Iraq war, which was hardly a big hit among the world community (never mind the fake “Coalition of […]

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A quick heads-up on a debate I’ll be participating in on the topic “Is Wal-Mart Good For America?” Below are the details. More to come: there will be a webcast and probably a C-SPAN showing. Those of you in New York might want to get there early–these have been sell-outs in the past. “What’s Good […]

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So, what does this flurry of petty thieves departing the ranks of Wal-Mart management tell us about the culture of Wal-Mart? Even the Financial Times chose to give front-page play today to the resignation of Thomas Coughlin as a company director because of an “alleged unauthorized use of corporate-owned gift cards and personal reimbursements that […]

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