Harold Meyerson on health care: if not now, when?

Written the day before Thursday’s health care summit, Harold Meyerson’s column is well worth reading. Unless the sun rises in the West tomorrow, Thursday’s health-care reform summit will yield no bipartisan concord. Congressional Republicans remain unalterably opposed to health reform; the ideas they’ve advanced — which the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says would insure no [...]

Thousands to march in budget protests in California

The California Faculty Association along with public education supporters from Pre-K through PhD continue to prepare for a growing national effort and statewide day of action. 

In California, March 4th will be a unified effort of education supporters from all segments of public education in California where participants will hold rallies, demonstrations, teach-ins, and other [...]

ILO Director will speak at Brookings on employment-based recovery

Friday, February 26th, the Brookings Institution (Washington, D.C.) is hosting Director-General of the International Labor Organization Juan Somavia for a public event. In addition, US Treasury Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy Alan Krueger and US Labor Department Deputy Undersecretary for International Affairs Sandra Polaski will be participating in a panel with the Director-General. The topic [...]

UFW leader slams Schwarzenegger water bonds

Arturo Rodriguez, president of the United Farmworkers Union (UFW), today blasted the $11.1 billion water bond on the November ballot in an op-ed in the San Francisco Chronicle. “The water bond that was recently approved by our lawmakers will give agricultural companies billions more in subsidized water,” said Rodiguez. “The state treasurer has asked the [...]

McJobs

by Eric Lee McJobs — we all know what those are. One online source defines a McJob as “a low-paying, low-prestige job that requires few skills and offers very little chance of intracompany advancement”. McDonald’s was never very happy about the use of this term. In fact, the company bought the domain name “mcjobs.com” just [...]

Inside Organizing and Outside Representation: Unite Here Local 2 and SF Hotels

By Carl Finamore Organizing workers into a union usually brings out the best in labor. Organizers are truly motivated, committed, work long hours and genuinely believe in helping workers. But not everything is always as good as it appears. We know from watching pumped-up 30-second movie trailers that the full 90-minute release might not actually [...]

Transportation Security officers file to make AFGE their union

by Ron Moore After 9/11 Americans faced a dilemma; namely how to get the airplanes off the ground while the nation was still shaken by the attack. A decision was made to take aviation security from the patchwork for-profit system and establish one unified agency. That agency was the Transportation Security Administration established in November, [...]

Detroit-area progressives push back

by Eric Ebel The progressive Democratic community of the Detroit metro area met to answer the Tea Baggers at a “Call for Action” rally on the evening of February 18. Some 325 people attended the rally, which was held in the United Food and Commercial Workers hall in Madison Heights and sponsored by a wide [...]

Miami-Dade County passes historic measure against wage theft

by Interfaith Worker Justice Miami-Dade County yesterday overwhelmingly passed the first county-wide ordinance in the country to combat wage theft, making it easier for workers to bring legal action against employers who fail to pay or underpay them. Miami-Dade County yesterday overwhelmingly passed the first county-wide ordinance in the country to combat wage theft, making [...]

Deficit Scaremongering Undermining Economic Recovery

Center for Economic and Policy Research The Great Recession has left tens of millions of families facing unemployment, underemployment and the possibility of losing their home. However, concerns over the deficit threaten to derail efforts to turn around the economy and spur employment. A new report from the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) [...]