Working Life

Where do you start to comment when you read a piece that is, at best, deeply spineless, and, at worse, completely clueless? We cease to be surprised by the relentless foolishness on the part of the transcribers of press releases (formerly called “journalists”). But, though I am not surprised, I can’t let these things go. In this case, it’s a dumb piece called, “Standard of Living Is in the Shadows as Election Issue”.

Read the full story

    It won’t be long before you hear–because it’s part of the framing of Democrats and Republicans alike, and traditional media "analysts" who haven’t a clue what they are taking about when it comes to economics–that unions are in trouble because of the "new economy" (which means, to some people, the industrial base is […]

Read the full story

    Meanwhile, as we are subjected to the foolish efforts by Democrats to cut pensions for workers, over in Geneva there is some serious talk about the social crisis underway worldwide. Via the meeting of the International Labor Organization, thousands of people from around the world are talking about the grand crisis ripping throughout the […]

Read the full story

   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 […]

Read the full story

We have an affliction that really undermines a decent society. It’s a tendency to want to ignore inconvenient facts, either explicitly or because we are encouraged to look quite narrowly and myopically at a problem. Which brings me to Wal-Mart’s new attempt to whitewash its practices, using the First Lady as a prop.   We […]

Read the full story

   I found this article in the Financial Times quite interesting: Coming out of the crisis, China wants to forge a new phase of globalisation where many of the roads – financial, commercial and perhaps eventually political – converge on Beijing.  China is not seeking a rupture with the international economic system (although some foreign […]

Read the full story

   Yours truly is the new owner of an IPhone but this is not a discussion of the pros and cons of the device (the jury is still out). But, the cool company has got some issues about the treatment of its workers: The Cupertino, Calif., company, in a report posted to its Web site, […]

Read the full story

   We would all agree that we want a "healthy" economy. But, what constitutes healthy? It certainly isn’t the economy we have today, where hundreds of millions of people around the globe struggle to survive, even in "good times" when government statistics tell us we should be thrilled and happy because the economy is "growing". […]

Read the full story

   Change has to begin with the transformation of the economy: a rejection of the marketing phrase of the "free market". The president has made some very strong proposals in this area. A large group of Members of Congress is now pushing him to declare a new era in trade.   I just received the […]

Read the full story

Admittedly, I’ve never been into the bi-partisan meme. Maybe it’s because I’m a labor movement person and the mission of the Republican party, and its allies, is to destroy the labor movement. But, I still remain mystified: why exactly, given the Republican party’s record, is the new Administration working so hard to win it over? […]

Read the full story