Working Life

Just enjoy it…(and let’s not remind ourselves that this should be celebrated on May 1st but that’s another story). More tomorrow…

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I’ve sort of left the Beast of Bentonville alone for the past few weeks. Not that I haven’t thought about the boys from Arkansas. Today, Steven Greenhouse has a piece on the organization (registration required) started in Tampa, Florida which is trying to recruit Wal-Mart workers pre-union status. That is, bring people in so they […]

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I haven’t decided how much to post in the next couple of days since most normal people will be away from their computers–I hope. But, here are two impressions for those going to your Labor Day parades. Thought Number One: What about carrying “Remember the CAFTA 15” signs? And if you happen to be lucky […]

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At the risk of really sitting this place ablaze, throughout the day yesterday I had a number of conversations with people who argued that the Northwest strike is more like the P-9-Hormel strike of the 1980s then PATCO, which I had argued. Hmmmm…I think it might be a little of both–but the bottom line question […]

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It’s never easy to do crystal-ball stuff, but, heck, they can’t sue you, can they? Looking at this Northwest strike, all I can think is: it’s the 1981 air-traffic controllers strike all over again. But, it’s even uglier and potentially more far-reaching, if that’s possible. And there are a few lessons here about the whole […]

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I’ve been enjoying reading everyone’s additions to the unanswered questions about the future of labor (and, yes, some suggestions which are good, too). So, don’t stop…I’m on my way to Chicago tomorrow to speak before the Teamsters Black Caucus annual meeting (and to catch, by chance, the Yankees playing those hard-to-beat White Sox) but, while […]

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Questions, questions, questions…I think that’s been my pre-occupation for the past six months. While so many people seem certain that they have the right answers to the future of labor, I find so many questions still begging for an answer–partly because there is no easy answer for our predicament. And, repeatedly in this space, I’ve […]

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We get one for the good guys. Sort of. Friday night, a federal judge struck down the personnel rules adopted by the Department of Homeland Security because, as The New York Times reports today, the rules did not “ensure collective bargaining” even under the pathetic framework of the bill passed by Congress that created the […]

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I’m intrigued enough by the Solidarity Charters question to give it one more ride here, though I might also come back with some reactions from the CLC folks themselves. After reading the guidelines in John Sweeney’s letter to the Executive Council, I wonder (along with some intelligent commenters yesterday) how doable these charters really are. […]

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So, yes, all of you have written to ask (geez, didn’t know there was that much interest in this meeting) not much happened at the Building and Construction Trades Department meeting (as one participant said, “alot of meaningless resolutions and even more meaningless speakers”). Except that John Sweeney did talk about his concept of “solidarity […]

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