Working Life

I’m always on the lookout for things to add to the George Orwell list of “War is Peace” double talk. So, now, comes a threat to the whole idea of winning neutrality agreements in union organizing campaigns.

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No secret — working in a fast food restaurant is not a ticket to a middle-class life. But, it’s not because of a natural phenomena or because of a penalty you pay for serving grotesque food. It’s about power and greed. Some people are trying to change all that.

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Since there is no money in being right about the election, pardon me while I strut for just a few hours, having nailed on the nose the Electoral College vote weeks before (Florida is going to end up in Obama’s column—the remaining votes are from heavily Democratic areas). But, moving quickly on to an important lesson, because bragging only carries you as far as the first yawn from a friend, there is a lesson to consider.

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    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 […]

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    To step back for a moment from the terrific on-the-ground accounts of this morning’s action to defend Liberty Square, I took a moment to think about what took place–and why this make me even more optimistic than I was even a week ago that we are building something. Lesson Number One: some things are […]

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   Apparently, in the alternate universe Republicans inhabit, socialism is on the march and the attack against the "free market" is unrelenting. Where? At the National Labor Relations Board, of course. The truth is–shocking, I know–quite different, and it speaks volumes about the playing field for workers in the real world.    The NLRB has […]

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  This is a post simply suggesting we ponder what it means to live in a conflicted, grey world. Yeah, I hate that. It would be nice if everything was clear cut. But, it isn’t. Especially for people who are trying to survive in a corrupt economic system.   On the one hand, I am […]

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   We can wait until the next inevitable capitulation–anyone want to take bets on the Bush tax cut expiration deal?–or we can keep debating about what has already, predictably, happened. We can complain about the Tea Party, FOX News etc–but I confess to being bored by that discussion simply because, get over it, they are […]

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   No one should be against fairer election rules–well, no one outside the corporate, wing-nut world. But, we should take the new proposed NLRB rules with a grain of salt: The proposed amendments are intended to reduce unnecessary litigation, streamline pre- and post-election procedures, and facilitate the use of electronic communications and document filing. The […]

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   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 […]

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