Working Life

I’ve been thinking a lot about firefighters these days, what with the jaw-dropping video we see virtually every day of these monstrous wild fires scorching millions of acres of forests in California and Oregon. For the record, these fires are absolutely driven by climate change—so what we see today will be a feature every single […]

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If you are one who is already bored by the 2012 elections and the rhetorical, mind-numbing repetition, here’s a little taste of what you can expect all the way into the distant future of 2016. The poodle-for-the-rich governor of New York has determined that his path to the White House in 2016–and, despite the boring […]

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   Applause for this move: As newly elected Republican state legislatures aggressively push a slew of anti-union measures, the International Association of Fire Fighters is freezing its federal political spending and shifting all resources toward its beleaguered state and local colleagues. “With the survival of our union and the ability to preserve and protect the […]

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   With all the media attention to the money pouring into elections from business and right-wingers, here is an interesting tidbit from today’s Wall Street Journal: The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees is now the biggest outside spender of the 2010 elections, thanks to an 11th-hour effort to boost Democrats that has […]

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The other day, I saw an amazing spectacle: a firefighter responded to a call to a burning building in New York City and, as he was dragging the fire hose to the fire, a crowd of angry people stopped him and said, "Stop. Your pension is too generous so don’t you dare put that fire […]

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    This is a good day to check in on the lay of the land regarding where unions are going in the Democratic presidential primaries. Today, two important unions are hearing from the Democratic presidential candidates: The Service Employees International Union and the Laborers International Union of North America (LIUNA).     For SEIU, here’s the […]

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Three weeks ago, I took a look at where unions might end up in the Democratic presidential primary race. There has been a fair amount of movement so it’s a good time to check back and see where we are—with some general analysis. Here, and down the line, I’m generally going to focus on national […]

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Ouch, this is not good for John Sweeney. He’s managed to royally piss off Harold Schaitberger, president of the Fire Fighters union. In the April 29th letter that was just passed to me tonight, Schaitberger resigns as head of the AFL-CIO Executive Council’s Public Affairs Committee. He does so in a harsh, stinging letter to […]

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It’s 4:30 and there’s about to be a sit-down between John Sweeney and Jim Hoffa. Sweeney will try to sway Hoffa but I don’t think Hoffa will bite. I don’t think Sweeney really understands the depth of frustration with the bureaucracy at 16th Street. Take the Firefighters—they are not part of the rebels but if […]

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