Working Life

It’s sort of a tiring exercise. Each time some so-called “free trade” deal comes up, the president at the time (read: Bill Clinton, George Bush and Barack Obama) trots out a whole series of phony arguments to make the case for a very bad agreement–bad if you are anything but a corporation. You have to willfully ignore past evidence to swallow the same old tired arguments used to ram through these crappy agreements. But, let’s celebrate an anniversary here to trumpet the collapse of any plausible argument being used to sell the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

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   I’ve heard this talked about…well, as long as the grey cells can recall. But, this feels like it has some content to it: The United Auto Workers outlined a new push to recruit U.S. workers at one or more foreign auto makers and will bolster the effort by training and sending activists abroad to […]

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    I always shake my head when I read that the country no longer has industry and has evolved into a "service economy". That simple isn’t true. The main problem is that we have jobs–whether industrial or service–that don’t pay decently and are largely non-union.     Someone thinks we should do something about that: The […]

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   Yesterday, I was back at CNBC debating the topic of unions and the auto industry. I don’t mind debating people who disagree with me based on solids facts. But, the discussion was entirely ludicrous. The premise of the debate: the UAW is employing a "double standard" because the auto industry is collapsing but, oh […]

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  When the history of our current economic crisis is written, there will need to be a full chapter devoted to the willful ignorance or stupidity of the traditional media. Right before our eyes stands the solution to a huge chunk of our fiscal nightmare and a lifeline for the auto industry: single-payer health care. […]

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   Today, I’m going to be talking about labor and the president-elect with WNYC’s Brian Lehrer, who, for non-New Yorkers, has one of the most interesting radio talk shows in the city. It’s at 11:25 am Eastern time. Those people fortunate enough to live in NYC (okay, let’s not start a war over that…) can […]

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I’ve been reading the various proposals about how to bailout the auto industry. Some of the ideas are good but one piece floating around in the punditry is foolish and dangerous. This has to be done right–and it has to be done in a way that does not attack the workers of the industry.   […]

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    A whole lot of people love to heap praise on the way the Japanese auto companies do business. Unfortunately, the mainstream press rarely looks at the seamier side of what happens to workers for Toyota. Toyota Motor Philippines Corporation, is continuing to deny reinstatement to 136 illegally dismissed workers–even though the Supreme Court of […]

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