Working Life

Steven Greenhouse reports in today’s NYTimes on the coalition formed to combat Wal-Mart: Led by Wal-Mart’s longtime opponents in organized labor, a new coalition of about 50 groups – including environmentalists, community organizations, state lawmakers and academics – is planning the first coordinated assault intended to press the company to change the way it does […]

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A good morning to thumb through the papers, what with the drenching rain making it look almost like night. Dreary, indeed, are some of the signs: First, we saw the creation of half the number of new jobs that were predicted just one month ago (of course, the stock market went UP initially when that […]

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How about this? The media is doing extensive coverage of a huge labor battle, with the networks sending their anchors down to the site, cameras set up to record the daily struggle; CNN has a full-time correspondent on the scene. Here are the details. For many years, workers having been trying to organize at Smithfield […]

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Today’s Wall Street Journal editorial (subscription required) on Social Security is the usual kooky—but extremely well-written (if only the Left had similar talents)—rant on the mythical power of “Big Labor” (did someone not yet tell the Journal writers that “Big Labor” is below 8 percent in the private sector?). But the editorial, entitled “Pension Fund […]

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Let’s hear from you—any other thoughts on Wal-Mart’s culture of greed and crime? Examples from your communities? In today’s Tom Paine piece, I didn’t even mention Wal-Mart pleading guilty to 25 charges of violating Canadian safety and health laws, for which it was fine $500,000 (Canadian dollars) on February 9th 2005.

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A pause for a moment to reflect on a little project I’ve been involved with for, geez, almost 15 years. A settlement has been reached with publishers and database companies that will bring authors up to $18 million—I was part of the negotiating team that reached the deal. The deal will come before a U.S. […]

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A quick heads-up on a debate I’ll be participating in on the topic “Is Wal-Mart Good For America?” Below are the details. More to come: there will be a webcast and probably a C-SPAN showing. Those of you in New York might want to get there early–these have been sell-outs in the past. “What’s Good […]

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So, what does this flurry of petty thieves departing the ranks of Wal-Mart management tell us about the culture of Wal-Mart? Even the Financial Times chose to give front-page play today to the resignation of Thomas Coughlin as a company director because of an “alleged unauthorized use of corporate-owned gift cards and personal reimbursements that […]

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I was just rereading the AFL-CIO’s petition, filed almost a year ago, with the U.S. Trade Representative’s Office that sought to force the U.S. to hold China accountable for its repressive labor practices. It’s a startling story of the challenge Chinese workers face—and, by extension, what labor faces in the U.S. in trying to grapple […]

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Nice piece in Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal on the AFL-CIO’s Bill Patterson and the continuing efforts to pressure Wall Street firms to get out of the pro-privatization movement: Social Security Change Faces Labor Muscle AFL-CIO Investment Official Uses Heft of Pension Assets To Influence Wall Street’s Views By JEANNE CUMMINGS Staff Reporter of THE WALL […]

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