Working Life

   I recall walking the picket lines in the sleet and rain in 2007-2008 during the Writer Guild strike. And now it seems like we might be in for another round: Bitter disputes over health and pension payments to union members have created plenty of drama in states and cities this year. But do not […]

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   Nobody noticed that this past Friday was the first official day the Laborers were back in the AFL-CIO. I tweeted it and posted the fact on Facebook (I’ve not quite gotten back to blogging here full-time again but hope to do so soon). Which made me think: when will Change To Win officially fold? […]

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    I’m a little surprised that this story has become more than it should be. Apparently, yesterday’s story in The Wall Street Journal that related Barack Obama’s pledge that he would work to end the government control over the Teamsters has caused a bit of a hoo-hah. It elicited this story today in The New […]

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    The Wall Street Journal has this interesting story today: Sen. Barack Obama won the endorsement of the Teamsters earlier this year after privately telling the union he supported ending the strict federal oversight imposed to root out corruption, according to officials from the union and the Obama campaign.     And… Neither Sen. Obama nor […]

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    I’ll be writing a lot more in the future about the links between labor and the environment. Here’s a development that I’ve been following for some time. The Teamsters have had a long-term project to organize drivers in the ports, particularly on the West Coast–there are thousands of drivers who could potentially be Teamsters […]

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    Just caught this on CNN ticker: The International Brotherhood of Teamsters plans to endorse Sen. Barack Obama for president, two Democratic sources tell CNN. Obama is scheduled to meet with Teamster President James Hoffa in Austin, Texas, on Wednesday, according to The Associated Press. The union is expected to announce its endorsement soon after […]

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    Just caught this on CNN ticker: The International Brotherhood of Teamsters plans to endorse Sen. Barack Obama for president, two Democratic sources tell CNN. Obama is scheduled to meet with Teamster President James Hoffa in Austin, Texas, on Wednesday, according to The Associated Press. The union is expected to announce its endorsement soon after […]

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    They’ve poisoned the State Department, the Labor Department, the EPA…you’d think that the Bushies would be exhausted by now–it isn’t easy to dismantle a government either by defunding it or making a mockery of its original intent. But, you have to eat least tip your hat to those folks–they just don’t get tired. So, […]

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    They’ve poisoned the State Department, the Labor Department, the EPA…you’d think that the Bushies would be exhausted by now–it isn’t easy to dismantle a government either by defunding it or making a mockery of its original intent. But, you have to eat least tip your hat to those folks–they just don’t get tired. So, […]

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    This past week, I pondered how immigration was going to end up conjuring up the Willie Hortons of the 2008 election. If you had any doubt about the power of fear on immigration, check out what happened in the union representation vote at Fresh Direct in NYC. Two weeks before the vote, the company […]

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