Working Life

The bankruptcy of Chrysler crystallized a pretty straightforward choice about which side you are on in our society: do you care about what happens to workers and their communities or are you more interested in making a few more dollars? The Administration made its choice. A few hedge funds made their choice and, along with […]

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It is a pretty extraordinary scenario: in a blazingly short amount of time, the Administration has forged a deal that could save thousands of jobs at Chrysler–the major banks are on board, the UAW has made more significant concessions. But all that may come crashing to a halt because of a few hedge funds who […]

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   You probably have heard that a deal was reach between the UAW and Chrysler. Like last week, though, it’s really had to tell from reading the traditional media what exactly the deal will be–other than workers are going to get the shaft. The Wall Street Journal doesn’t say much about enhanced pension protection (meaning, […]

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   It is endlessly fascinating and grotesque at the same time (I have these combined feelings a lot these days–maybe I need professional help) to read media reports about the cuts that the UAW is agreeing to. Here’s another example in The New York Times from today: Ford Motor said Wednesday that its new agreement […]

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    This really got me infuriated. Yesterday, The Wall Street Journal reported (as did other news outlets): Delphi Corp., the largest parts supplier to General Motors Corp., won court approval to terminate health benefits for thousands of retired salaried employees after arguing the move is critical to keeping its slow-going bankruptcy reorganization afloat. Ending the […]

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   This is news that is both somewhat expected and also worrisome, from The Wall Street Journal this morning: Outside advisers to the U.S. Treasury have started lining up the largest bankruptcy loan ever, talking with banks and other lenders about at least $40 billion in financing for General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC, in […]

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   Way back when the UAW negotiated with the Big Three in 2007, the union agreed to set up Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Associations (VEBA) to handle health care liabilities. It was a logical gamble pressed on the union by very difficult economic circumstances–which have only gotten tougher. And now the VEBA is at risk–or at […]

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   Regular readers know that I have been pointing out that the next shoe to drop will be a wave of bankruptcies that erupt because consumers have no more money to spend. Well, here we go: First came the mortgage crisis. Now comes the credit card crisis. After years of flooding Americans with credit card […]

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   Yesterday, I wrote about whether Joe Biden was good for labor. Relatively speaking, the answer is yes. Relative speaking because Paul Wellstone is not alive and, compared to the other people being considered, Biden was a decent choice.    In the analysis, I used a quick-and-dirty look at 12 years of the AFL-CIO’s legislative […]

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    If you think the home value situation couldn’t get worse, think again: American homes are losing their value at the fastest rate in two decades, according to a closely watched report released on Tuesday. In the 12 months ended in February, the Case-Shiller home price index, which measures the value of single-family homes in […]

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