Housekeepers Charge Hyatt Fired Them for Taking Down Their Own Photos

By Josh Eidelson Becoming a pin-up without your permission: another downside of workplace autocracy Passing through the halls one day in September, Martha Reyes stopped to see why a group of her Hyatt co-workers stood laughing in front of a bulletin board. Looking closer, she saw photos of her head, and those of other housekeeping [...]

SEIU-UHW’s Statewide Ballot Measures On Hospital Costs: Serious Proposals or Publicity Stunt?

by Randy Shaw Last week, SEIU-UHW filed two statewide initiatives for California’s 2012 ballot: the Charity Care Act, which sets a 5% minimum level for charity care payments for nonprofit hospitals, and the Fair Healthcare Pricing Act, which prohibits hospitals from charging more than 25% above the cost of patient care. The measures are part [...]

Where is the Beef ? An open letter to Dan La Botz on DSA and the Democrats

Dear Dan, What gives? As a member of Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), I am puzzled and disheartened by your criticisms of our organization in your article “Occupy the Democratic Party? No Way!”  This article, first published on New Politics, has gone viral on other blogs.  While we can speculate why it is so popular, [...]

Workers Increase Pressure for Climate Action As Negotiations Start in Durban

ITUC OnLine South African mine workers, Japanese energy workers, Argentinian construction workers, and UK teachers will join more than 250 unionists from 100 countries to showcase national actions to tackle climate change and create jobs in the ‘World of Work’ pavilion at the UN Climate Change talks in Durban. As governments prepare to embark on [...]

Starbucks’ Crackpot Solution to Jobs Crisis: Donate and Wear a Wristband

By Josh Eidelson This month Starbucks launched its Create Jobs for USA initiative, the coffee chain’s official response to America’s unemployment crisis. In a press release, CEO Howard Schultz says the program gives customers the chance to “take meaningful action to help create and sustain American jobs.” “We hope this a galvanizing moment as Americans [...]

New Report Suggests National Politics are an Important Factor in National Unionization Rates

The national political environment, not globalization or technology, is the most important factor driving long-run changes in unionization rates in the United States and other rich economies, according to new research from the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR). The report, “Politics Matter: Changes in Unionization Rates in Rich Countries, 1960-2010,” reviews unionization data [...]

It’s the Tax Cuts, Stupid!: Supercommittee Post-Mortems”

by Jack Rasmus The collapse of the Supercommittee’s effort to produce a joint package of recommendations for deficit reduction proves conclusively that for Republicans and their corporate allies that deficit reduction is, and always has been, a secondary objective. The primary objective is to protect and expand the Bush tax cuts. From reports now leaking [...]

Republicans Deep-Six the NLRB

by Harold Meyerson Doing filibustering Senate Republicans one better, the one Republican member on the (currently) three-member National Labor Relations Board appears to have decided to bring the board to a screeching halt by refusing to vote and thus denying it a quorum. In a letter made public yesterday, Republican Brian Hayes wrote fellow GOP-er [...]

Occupy Wall Street: Phase Two

On the two-month anniversary of Occupy Wall Street, the 99 percent poured into the streets for a massive day of protest against glaring inequalities of wealth and political power. Following nationally coordinated police raids on protest camps, occupiers face new choices about the direction of OWS. What next? On Monday, November 28, Dissent, Jacobin, and Columbia’s [...]

Talking Turkey with Your Loved Ones: Making Sense of the 99% Movement over the Holidays

Working America has put together a great document on how to talk politics with family over the Thanksgiving holidays. What’s your favorite part of the holidays? Big meals? Mashed potatoes and gravy? Cranberry sauce? Sleeping off your meal over the big football game? How about those never-ending discussions with your family about everything from Dancing [...]