Labor’s Missed Opportunity

by Randy Shaw In March 2009, then-SEIU President Andy Stern was optimistic about labor’s progress in President Obama’s first year. Stern told me that of labor’s top three priorities – universal health care, the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), and comprehensive immigration reform – he expected the first two to pass in 2009 if not [...]

Steelworkers, China Trade and Green Technology

by Jake Blumgart On September 9th the United Steelworkers (USW) union filed a trade complaint against the Chinese government for violating WTO free-trade rules, by pumping billions into the clean energy manufacturing sector. Six weeks later the Obama administration agreed to take up the case. If the governmental review, scheduled to wrap up in early [...]

Pilot Protests Underscore Passenger Safety

By Carl Finamore Several hundred pilots from the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) picketed Newark Liberty International airport on November 22 and Houston airport on November 23 with signs reading “Who’s Flying Your Plane?” The union also scheduled a picket for December 1 at the Chicago O’Hare hub of the world’s largest airline combine, newly-merged [...]

How to Fix TSA

by Ron Moore Those who believe government should be run like a business are providing a prime example of how that works in TSA. No government agency was set up to function with as little oversight and a top heavy management style as than this one. TSA management mirrored the dominant American business culture with [...]

Defend Social Security

DSA has joined the Strengthen Social Security Campaign, a national coalition organized to support and strengthen Social  Security, and oppose efforts to weaken it by privatization or reducing benefits.  The first shot in the Right’s campaign to cut Social Security was issued by the Presidential Commission on the Federal Debt when the Co-chairs, former Chief [...]

Albany Charter Group Wants to Raid City Cookie Jar

by Michael Hirsch They said charters would offer needed competition to community schools, but they didn’t say the competition would be about public dollars.  Last week Albany Times Union reported on the city’s Albany Leadership Charter High School for Girls “asking for $15 million in tax-free public financing to buy the brand-new charter high school [...]

Unstoppable is more than a Hollywood thriller

by American Rights at Work “Unstoppable” hit theaters last week and while it was no secret that stars like Denzel Washington, Chris Pine, and Rosario Dawson would save the day, the film treats audiences to an unpredictable plot twist. Spoiler alert:… the heroes are actually blue-collar union members. The movie is a Hollywood adaptation of [...]

Hyatt Sweeps Dirty Safety Record Under the Rug

By Carl Finamore The Hyatt Corporation just posted quarterly profits that jumped six hundred percent with their stock prices climbing at around the same rate. Along with this jumping and climbing, the corporation has taken up running, as in running away from the worst safety record in the industry. Hyatt ranks last in workplace injuries [...]

The Democrats and Social Class

by Jack Metzgar It’s more than a little frustrating trying to follow Democrats’ analysis of social classes in this country.  Most of the time now, there are only two classes – the rich (very precisely defined as those with at least $250,000 in annual family income) and the middle class, which includes everybody else.  But [...]

Bah, Humbug! Nominate the Scrooge of the Year

By Allison Fletcher Acosta The holiday season is fast approaching, and around here that means one thing: it’s time for our annual “Scrooge of the Year” election! Starting today, Jobs with Justice national is accepting nominations for the greediest, most cold-hearted company, CEO, or politician of the year for our eleventh annual “Scrooge of the [...]