… but apparently he is dumb enough to be considering Frederick Smith, CEO of FedEx and a notorious union-buster,for the Vice-Presidential slot on his ticket. Late yesterday, our Chair, Anna Burger, issued a statement explaining why this would be...
I told you a few days ago about Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa’s landmark announcement that the Teamsters were rejecting the “drill our way out” approach to the oil crisis and embracing sustainable, green solutions. Well, now I’ve got video...
Well, I promised you that I would post the video of our Netroots Nation panel when it became available, and lo and behold, available it has become! So here it is:...
Last week’s announcement that OSHA was seeking an enormous fine from Imperial Sugar for their actions leading to the explosion that killed 13 workers was encouraging, insofar as it means that the company’s negligence will carry a price tag. But...
Ezra Klein has a great post up today showing how you much you can learn about the value of the Employee Free Choice Act just by watching The Office. As they say, read the whole thing....
Ever since the Imperial Sugar plant in Port Wentworth, Georgia, was destroyed in a massive blast caused by “combustible dust” — an explosion that killed 13 workers and led to nationwide inquiries about the risks posed by this threat —...
Seen around the Web today… On Daily Kos, diarist TomP asks “how many farmworkers must die before somebody cares?” The Wall Street Journal reports on the emerging consensus that deregulation set our economy up for a fall. At Working Life,...
Today’s face of employee free choice is Manuel Zuniga, Jr. of Pittsburgh, PA, seen here with his beautiful family: I asked Manuel why he supports the Employee Free Choice Act, and here is his response: With the current economic environment,...
Today’s face of employee free choice is Shane Holman of Hattiesburg, Mississippi: I asked Shane why he supports the Employee Free Choice Act, and here’s what he told me: I support the Employee Free Choice Act! Through such legislation labor...
Big news from the Teamsters — yesterday General President Jim Hoffa announced a major shift in that union’s direction on energy and the environment: Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa said today that working Americans hard hit by rising gas...
Above: Wall Street Journal Editor The Wall Street Journal discovers today (!) that eight years of Bushonomics have been great for the richest 1% and bad for everyone else: In a new sign of increasing inequality in the U.S.,...
I’ve written before about the Bush Labor Department’s glacial pace when it comes to taking action to protect workers’ health and safety. So naturally I was surprised to see a story in today’s Washington Post about how they are suddenly...
Today’s face of Employee Free Choice is Erin Harris of Albuquerque, New Mexico: I asked Erin why she joined the One Million Strong for Employee Free Choice campaign, and here’s what she told me: Talk of economics does tend to...
Meet our next face of Employee Free Choice — Dr. Harold Appel of New York City: I asked Dr. Appel why he supports the Employee Free Choice Act, and here’s his response: I am a 66 year old physician who...
The One Million Strong for Employee Free Choice campaign is rolling on, and the response has been tremendous — more than 300,000 people have joined already in just the few days since the campaign was launched! It’s inspiring to see...
One of the things people have been talking about here at Netroots Nation is how they can take concrete actions to help advance the cause of workers. So here’s a new initiative open to all bloggers that will let...
Hey everybody… I’m at the Netroots Nation conference in Austin, TX today and our panel, “Growing the American Dream Movement”, is just getting started. The kind folks at ustream.tv are streaming it live, so without further ado, here’s the video…...
Thankfully this isn’t a report of another death, but it’s nearly as bad: Heat puts farm worker on breathing machine Another Central Valley field laborer loading grapes became ill last week in extreme heat and remains in serious condition, breathing...
On June 2, I wrote about “The Short Life and Preventable Death of Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez” — a teenage farmworker who died in May from heat exposure while working in a California vineyard: On May 13, seventeen-year-old Maria was...
Over at Talking Points Memo’s sister site TPMCafe, Nathan Newman is challenging the online progressive left — the “netroots” — to start grappling with one of their longstanding blind spots: workers’ rights and the decline of the American Dream. Yesterday...
In Denver on Monday, Republican presidential candidate John McCain said that it was an “absolute disgrace” that Social Security taxes workers to pay benefits to retirees: Americans have got to understand that we are paying present-day retirees with the taxes...
If you’re reading this blog, you know that the American Dream is slipping further out of reach of millions of working men and women every day. But you may wonder — what can we do about it? Probably the...
The Labor Department reported today that June saw the sixth straight month of job losses in America: Employers trimmed jobs from their payrolls in June for the sixth straight month, as the government’s closely watched report Thursday showed continued...
Looks like we may have Circuit City to kick around for a while longer! Faithful readers of CtW Connect know that Circuit City is one of our favorite examples of how decisions by management to throw workers overboard can...
As John McCain prepares to fly to Colombia — the country where standing up for your rights at work can get you killed — to pledge his fealty to the doctrine of “free” trade, a new poll from CNN...
