Working Life

I’d say this grading on the curve and it’s still only a B- for the performance of the global economy.

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The other day, I wrote about the warning of a slow slide in the global economy. Oppsssss…

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   I don’t have much to add on the extremely disappointing and inadequate health care bill that passed the Senate yesterday–it’s been said by others–so I turned my attention to a couple of international developments.    Every so often, when I discuss trade, here or in debates elsewhere, people say: well, we live in a […]

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  With the collapse of the financial system, we are witnessing one obvious spectacular failure of the wonders of the "free market". Let’s not forget, though, the other part of the wonderful "free market": the grueling hours, despicable conditions and substandard wages that half the world live in, all a product of the fine system […]

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   I’m breaking my no-weekend blogging rule for this: How about this for an example of what to do to get an economy going? China’s answer: $586 billion.   From The Wall Street Journal: SHANGHAI – China’s government announced a two-year stimulus exceeding a half-trillion dollars to offset the impact of slowing global growth and […]

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   Other people are feeling the pain, so says The Wall Street Journal: The global economy — which had long remained resilient despite U.S. weakness — is now slowing significantly, with Europe offering the latest evidence of trouble. On Thursday, the European Union’s statistics agency said gross domestic product in the euro zone contracted 0.2% […]

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    New info today from The Wall Street Journal on the change in Chinese labor laws, changes that have been bitterly opposed by the business community: China is putting the final touches on its most significant overhaul of workplace regulation in a decade, in an unusual process that has sparked debate on the trade-off between […]

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There has been an on-going debate in the U.S. about how to engage the only legally sanctioned union in China, the All China Federation of Trade Union (ACFTU). Some believe it is simply a mouthpiece for the government and not a real union. Others argue that at the local and regional level, many ACFTU leaders […]

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The folks at Global Labor Strategies have a new look at how corporations are trying to weaken and attack any semblance of workers’ power in China. Here are some points from the Executive Summary of the report, UNDUE INFLUENCE: Corporation Gain Ground in Battle Over China’s New Labor Law: 1. A behind-the-scenes battle is raging […]

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Over the course of many months, I’ve pointed out that many countries in Latin and South American are rejecting so-called “free trade” and the neo-liberal model it promotes. The evidence: the election of leaders who can perhaps be broadly defined as “populist” but mainly stand out in their belief that the global economic model promoted […]

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