Working Life

   We have a huge crisis in the country. The private pension system is collapsing. The public pension system is on the brink of collapse, and people are being pitted one against the other. But, what we often fail to do is connect the dots: between the collapse of the public pensions system and the […]

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Here we are living at a time of the greatest class warfare in at least half a century. It is almost impossible to form a union legally in the U.S.–corporations have all power in the workplace. We have the greatest divide between rich and poor in 100 years. And now comes some clear evidence of […]

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Jay Gould, the 19th Century dastardly Robber Baron, once said, "I can hire one half of the working class to kill the other half." He’d be smiling right now. We see people being pitted against each other every day–whether its private sector workers complaining about public sector workers’ pensions, or parents and teachers tussling over […]

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So-called "free trade" is part of the relentless class warfare under way in America. And the so-called "free trade" deal with South Korea is no exception. That said, a lot of the shallow criticism of the UAW’s support for the deal is–well, shallow. Here’s my view about how we should engage the UAW–my union–via an […]

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There isn’t any other way of putting it: last night was a disaster for the labor movement and for its members and all working people. When the working class "hero" John Boehner choked up in recounting his humble roots, I said aloud, "will you remember that when you unleash Big Business to press its boot […]

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Each year, I pause on this day to remember Paul Wellstone, one of the truly great Senators in my lifetime. Eight years ago, Paul died in a plane crash. I will always remember where I was when I heard the news, in the way we all remember momentous events. And his absence seems even more […]

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   Maybe a trend: The Jimmy John’s restaurants here are known for serving attitude with their sandwiches. Many of their young workers wear nose rings, beards and dreadlocks, and the shops sport mottoes like “The Customer Is Usually Right” and “Subs So Fast You’ll Freak.” But recently, the employees at the 10 shops here have […]

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 Sure, elections do matter, at some level–it is no coincidence that, in the wake of Citizens United, a torrent of corporate money is flowing to mostly Republican candidates. But, the truth is that, whatever the results of the elections, we will not end up with a government willing to stop the global movement of jobs […]

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Yesterday, I wrote about how the decline of U.S. wages has made workers here cheaper to hire than workers in India, at least in the call center industry. Today, the news hails from Asia where workers are rising up against poverty-level wages.   From the Financial Times (and, as a side observation, the FT gives […]

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   Last month, I wrote about a welcome change in the laws covering union organizing in airlines and railroads. Looks like this is causing some action: Delta Air Lines Inc., on the heels of last month’s federal rule change making it easier for aviation workers to organize, is facing a stepped-up recruitment campaign by labor […]

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