Working Life

There is a great economic emergency looming in our country. But, it seems to me that we—or at least our elected leaders—have only looked at one side of the crisis, that of the housing bubble-inspired financial credit crunch. By doing so, we’ve missed the bigger picture and the solutions needed. So, here is one person’s […]

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   It was an overcast afternoon but people still turned out for a very spirited rally organized in a very short time by the New York City Central Labor Council. People came from a whole range of unions–Teamsters, Teachers, UAW, RWDSU, Laborers, AFSCME…John Sweeney was there. Gary Labarbera, the head of the CLC, lead off […]

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   The New York City Central Labor Council is calling for a mobilization tomorrow in Wall Street to protest the bailout for bankers. Here is a piece of the statement which outlines the demands: In response to the growing concerns for worker’s needs, the Central Labor Council Executive Board today announced the following “Seven Conditions […]

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   Since I posted yesterday’s appeal to labor to really dive into the financial crisis, I’ve gotten a number of calls or emails pointing to various statements made by labor leaders. As I said yesterday, I’m truly glad that John Sweeney, Andy Stern and others have made strong public statements.    BUT…statements are not enough. […]

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With the country facing the biggest financial crisis in 100 years, which threatens the homes, livelihoods and bank accounts of millions of working Americans, where is the labor movement? This moment fits the classic observation by community organizer Saul Alinksy that the Chinese character for "crisis" means both "danger" and "opportunity". The "danger" part is […]

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   So, friends, here in Denver, I’ve finally gotten strapped to my chair after a very busy morning (okay, it was a groggy one given the…eh…number of margaritas that I was forced to consume last night–only in the service of talking to people to bring you the best info).   Yesterday, I attended two briefings […]

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   Yesterday, I wrote about whether Joe Biden was good for labor. Relatively speaking, the answer is yes. Relative speaking because Paul Wellstone is not alive and, compared to the other people being considered, Biden was a decent choice.    In the analysis, I used a quick-and-dirty look at 12 years of the AFL-CIO’s legislative […]

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   As a whole, Joe Biden is considered a friend of labor. But, he doesn’t have a perfect voting record as far as labor is concerned. Lifetime, he has an 85 percent voting record on votes the AFL-CIO considers crucial over the past 12 years (that is the time period available on-line…and that’s the best […]

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   I’m working on Denver time now and, after being out drinking a lot of wine, I’m strapped back into the saddle. Now, this is really good news and a lot of kudos go out to the leadership of the New York State AFL-CIO: at its most recent statewide convention this past week, the State […]

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   Where does a politician, or a political party, draw the line in the willingness to sacrifice principles for a few bucks? When we talk about the need to "change" the political environment and the culture of money and politics, isn’t there some place where you can say, "right here, this is the perfect example […]

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