Working Life

Many people have made the point that the very economic system–the corrupt system–that leaves billions struggling to make ends meet while the elite party on and on and on is the same system that has ravaged the environment and threatened the very existence of humanity on the planet. Now, the Pope says it. His expected […]

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I’m always been suspicious of the “new economy” gurus who promise that the wonders of technologies will, praise be, free everyone from the chains of hard labor–this was essentially the dumb idea behind Robert Reich’s elitist nonsense about “symbolic analysts” (that was the now-discredited idea he probably thought up after he’d pushed for NAFTA and was looking for another way to promote himself). The economy, and the ability to make a living, is always about the ability of workers to have power over their work life, and leverage power to demand decent wages.

Which is why Uber was just a bunch of new exploitation wrapped in the new lingo of the “sharing economy”. A judge has seen through all that.

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You know, those fast track obsessed people seem in a big rush to make happen this bad brew of trade and corporate annihilation of decent wages. They aren’t giving up.

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It’s been amusing, sort of, to watch the corporate roaches scurrying about, looking here and there for an opening to try to revive the odious fast track legislation.

But, putting aside what we know already, there are two important lessons to learn:

1. We always need to call out phony arguments, like “burial insurance”, that politicians want to use to cover their asses when the upshot is they are happy to sacrifice workers to keep a bad system in place.

2. Organizing works–and organizing creates movements.

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You could pick a multitude of examples showing the forces on each side of the fast track fight. It’s the voices of workers against the voice of corporations (aided by 28 Democrats who need to face primaries).

Indeed, here is a quote that says it all: the fast track vote is “a victory for those with a narrow agenda that puts petty politics ahead of people, while jeopardizing the futures of millions of men and women in America.”

Oh, the source of that quote, the organization looking out for millions of workers?

It’s not the AFL-CIO.

It’s the National Retail Federation, one of the most anti-union trade organizations in the nation. There, that’s one of your allies, Mr. President.

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You can all go here to look at how this unfolded today in the liveblog. Here now are the names of the votes of the 28 Democrats who voted against workers and in favor of corporate rights. To be clear, without the votes of these 28 Democrats, fast track would have failed. It only passed […]

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Hey, I have to watch this for general work so what the heck…

Setting the stage first (and apologies ahead of time for the typos).

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The vote was close on the rule that allows fast track to proceed to a vote. It would have gone down to defeat.

Except for EIGHT Democrats who sold out seniors (because Republicans are seeking cuts in Medicare as part of this piece of dung), workers and the environment.

Some Democrats are calling the President’s position on workers’ aid attached to fast track (which I call “burial insurance”) like it is: bullshit.

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Going back to NAFTA more than two decades ago (wow, time flies when Administration after Administration screws workers year after year, eh?), deals have been made by presidents to buy votes. With Bill Clinton and Robert Reich promising a whole host of goodies, NAFTA passed narrowly–my favorite deal struck in memory was Clinton’s promise to establish a North American Development Bank with $3 billion…which bought the votes of a few Democrats like Rep. Esteban Torres (D-CA) and Rep. Ed Pastor (D-AZ). The bank? Ooooopppppssss…didn’t happen beyond a trickle.

You see, the sale of one’s soul–and the livelihoods of millions of people–for a piddling appropriation turns out to be a bad deal just on the narrow merits of what’s promised:

Most deals are broken.

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It’s always been the case that the vote for fast track would be close, close of course being in the eye of the beholder. But, with a vote possible on Friday, there are A DOZEN DEMOCRATS worth calling today. I suggest this list of a dozen based on two things: a little bit of intel […]

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