Working Life

Yesterday, I wrote about the disastrous state of labor in the wake of the elections. Suffering from either a lack of sleep or simple brain lock, I neglected to include one of the most dangerous coming debacles: we have lost much of the ground built opposing so-called "free trade" agreements, which have played a central […]

Read the full story

There isn’t any other way of putting it: last night was a disaster for the labor movement and for its members and all working people. When the working class "hero" John Boehner choked up in recounting his humble roots, I said aloud, "will you remember that when you unleash Big Business to press its boot […]

Read the full story

   A lot of the voices on our side repeat the absolute truth: the Republican Party is simply not telling the truth about the seeds of the economic disaster we are dealing with and that it is in fact the government–our government–that prevented things from getting a lot worse AND we would be in much […]

Read the full story

   This could be important in the scheme of things next week–the labor movement is holding its collective nose and helping out people who were less than helpful on key issues: Big Labor’s big threat to punish misbehaving Democrats has largely evaporated in the heat of the midterms, as unions now scramble to rescue incumbents […]

Read the full story

   The AFL-CIO says it will make the difference in many races in two weeks. In my opinion, I think the tide is too strong. We’ll see after the election. Here’s the memo: To: Political Directors From: Karen Ackerman, AFL-CIO Political Director Re: ‘State of the Field’ – Two Weeks Out Date: Monday, October 18, […]

Read the full story

   So, it’s probably a bad sign about my own priorities that I flip on C-SPAN at night and, having stumbled on the debate in the Senate Nevada race, I stuck with it–without running for a large glass of wine. Or maybe something stronger.    Oh my god.    It was a muddle. I can’t […]

Read the full story

The secret money flowing into organizations trying to buy the November election for the Republican Party is motivated by a simple idea: greed. Sure, there is some rhetoric about "smaller government" and ranting about the evils of national health care. But, at the end of the day, it’s about extremely rich people never having enough. […]

Read the full story

I get why people are angry. Not the anger espoused by the racists, birthers and anti-government people. Across the political spectrum, wherever people place themselves, there is a unifying point that keeps coming up: we’ve been robbed by corporate powers. And the foolish, failed so-called "free trade" policies–pursued by Republicans and Democrats alike–is a place […]

Read the full story

 Sure, elections do matter, at some level–it is no coincidence that, in the wake of Citizens United, a torrent of corporate money is flowing to mostly Republican candidates. But, the truth is that, whatever the results of the elections, we will not end up with a government willing to stop the global movement of jobs […]

Read the full story

     This caught my eye: More than 20 years ago, congressional Democrats pushed for an increase in the minimum wage, only to have the first President Bush veto the legislation. There were fights over the minimum wage again during Bill Clinton’s presidency, and more battles under George W. Bush. Now, Democrats are once again […]

Read the full story