Working Life

 If I say that drug companies are sleazy leeches whose CEOs make millions of dollars while basically killing thousands of people who can’t afford outrageous drug prices, you’d shrug your shoulders and say, “yeah, well, duh.” Drug companies make these huge profits largely because of an absolutely insane system of patents, which you could […]

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Anonymous did, in fact, do us a great favor—but probably not in the way he or she (most likely a “he”) thinks. I ruminate a bit on the point I have made for a long time—Anonymous simply showed us that Donald Trump and the Republican Party, as a whole, are one and the same. I, […]

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The destruction of our education system hasn’t just been a natural phenomena like the sun rising in the east. It’s been a determined assault on our schools and teachers by right-wing ideological zealots. To get the facts about this campaign of destruction, I talk to Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, about […]

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Today, the inevitable happened. The Supreme Court ruled in Janus v. AFSCME, with the now-familiar right-wing conservative majority siding with the anti-union billionaire forces against public sector unions, and, really, the entire middle-class. I welcome back Celine McNicholas from the Economic Policy Institute to look at who is hurt by the decision. I, then, give […]

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In this week’s podcast, my guests help us understand how Amazon and the Supreme Court have a common mission: to undercut the standard of living of millions of people. Amazon’s move to buy Whole Foods means a further big-time cutting of wages for thousands of workers, and a new blow to workers in retailing beyond the […]

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One of the dumbest, and pernicious, obsessions has to be trying to tag teachers for the bad state of a lot of schools. Seriously? It’s just mindless, blind ideological hatred that comes straight from a hostile right-wing that wants to eviscerate the political power of teachers’ unions. In the list of the assault add the bad decision coming out of the mouth of a mediocre Los Angeles judge.

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   I’ve made the point over the past many months that the current financial crisis will be used–and has been used–as a cover to attack workers and, particularly unions. There is a struggle going on over two visions of society: a decent standard of living vs. a Wal-Mart standard of living. I made that point […]

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This is not a post about why someone should not be the next U.S. Senator from New York. It’s advocating for someone who should: the president of the American Federation of Teachers, Randi Weingarten.   If you want the full history and credentials for Randi, check it out here. Here are my basic reasons for […]

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    This was no surprise, actually. It had been brewing for some time and a few days ago I was told it would become more public: Teachers Union President Randi Weingarten acknowledged for the first time Tuesday that she’s contemplating a new job – president of the national teachers union. Weingarten’s possible ascent to the […]

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    This was no surprise, actually. It had been brewing for some time and a few days ago I was told it would become more public: Teachers Union President Randi Weingarten acknowledged for the first time Tuesday that she’s contemplating a new job – president of the national teachers union. Weingarten’s possible ascent to the […]

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