Working Life

Excuse me, but does Tom Buffenbarger have a grip on reality? I had to read the Machinists’ president’s most recent letter to the Federation’s Executive Council members several times, each time thinking he’d say at the end, “just kidding!!!” But, it’s scary–he’s serious. You might remember his previous letter less than two weeks ago. That […]

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There’s some interesting stuff percolating up from the Central Labor Council front but first…a clean-up from a few days ago. Last week, John Sweeney, wearing his Federation president hat, issued a press release (see below) announcing approval by the Strategic Approaches Committee and the committee that deals with raiding issues of the officers’ proposals around […]

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Back in the 1980s, I wrote a longish article on how pathetic the system was for protecting worker safety and health. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) never had real power or resources–my grey cells seem to remember something like it would take 7 years for OSHA to make even a passing inspection of […]

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Not much has been said in the American press–I’m shocked–about what’s happening on the labor front in Australia so I thought it would be worth a quick little update. Fresh from re-election as the Aussie Prime Minister eight months ago, conservative John Howard, is trying to make the country into one of the most deregulated […]

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Had a chat yesterday with a senior UFCW person who said, “we’re disaffiliating. There’s not much question about that.” Though the union has made no official announcement, speaking of UFCW President Joe Hansen, my conversation partner said, “Joe wouldn’t have gone to the board to ask for authority if we weren’t going to do it.” […]

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My head hurts. No, not from over-imbibing during this long weekend. Your head would hurt too if you just finished reading through a ream of legal memos and memorandum mumbo-jumbo. But, I’m going to try to make this simple (and in doing so, I might oversimplify the story)—because it’s tale of a bitter dispute between […]

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I don’t know–maybe James Lynn, a former executive for the Beast of Bentonville, was having some after-hours interaction with a female who worked for him. But, that ‘s a completely different issue than the tale he is now telling: that The Beast’s goods were being produced in Central America by workers who were being abused. […]

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Sigh. I keep reading this letter sent to me and I wonder, “is this guy for real? Was this just sent to get his rocks off? Did he have anyone read the letter before he sent it?” The “guy” is R. Thomas Buffenbarger, president of the International Association of Machinists (IAM). Throughout the debate over […]

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Here’s some meat on the rhetorical bones: the Change To Win coalition is about to officially release a package of amendments and resolutions that will be presented at the AFL-CIO’s convention in Chicago at the end of July (tip-off is actually July 25th). Remember now, the coalition is going to have a hard time passing […]

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So, there’s been a document floating around Capitol Hill that just dropped into my little paws. It was described as a “draft” by the person who passed it on…and it makes for interesting reading on a topic that is really what this whole debate in labor is about: organizing. With a very sexy and inspiring […]

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