Wendy McElroy: Unions are dropping their enthusiasm for Obamacare. Some push for the new subsidies. Others bristle over the excise tax. Many protest the impact of health care cutbacks by employers who cannot afford to fully implement Obamacare.
United Mine Workers Need Your John Hancock
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Berry Craig: Peabody, Arch and Patriot Coal appear willing to stand by and do nothing as these brave miners and their spouses suffer and die from their work-caused illnesses and injuries without the health care these companies promised them.
Ashley Judd: Kentucky’s Joan of Arc?
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Berry Craig: If movie star Ashley Judd runs for the senate in Kentucky she’ll likely find friends among Bluegrass State voters who pack union cards.
Chicken’s Tastier Than Feathers
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Berry Craig: Romney and Ryan are two of the most anti-labor politicians around. But they think they can peel off some union votes with the old social issues sucker bait.
Albany County Issues a Peace Dividend Proclamation
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Lawrence Wittner: The legislature of Albany County, New York has approved a proclamation calling upon Congress to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan, cut the U.S. military budget, and use the savings to fund vital public programs at home.
Romney’s Extraordinary Detachment from the Truth
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Berry Craig: Romney and his campaign staff must be high-fiving and fist-bumping each other over the Fourth Estaters who are, for whatever reason, acting more like lapdogs than watchdogs in covering him on the campaign trail.
Mission Impossible: Finding a Mini-Van Made in America by Union Workers
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Walter Brasch: We can wave flags and tell everyone how much more patriotic we are than them, but we still can’t buy a minivan made in America by unionized workers—even when the price is lower than that of the non-unionized competition.
The “Flim Flam Man” Fibs Again
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Berry Craig: Romney told another whopper about unions the other night. “We will stop the unfairness of requiring union workers to contribute to politicians not of their choosing,” he said.
Working Smarter to Save Workers’ Lives
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Diane Lefer: Employment-related death, disability, and illness exact a high toll not only on workers and their families, but on business and the economy as a whole.
Naturally, “Motor City Madman” Ted Nugent Dodged the Draft
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Berry Craig: Nugent is more proof, as if proof were needed, that talk is about the cheapest commodity around. And tough talk from a foul-mouthed old draft dodger is not just cheap, it’s worthless.
Why Campaigning for Democrats Cripples Labor Unions
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Shamus Cooke: Millions of union and non-union workers have seen their lives worsen under Obama while he promotes stunts that are intended to serve the wealthy and fool everybody else.
Occupy and Organized Labor: Dare to Struggle, Dare to Win
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Mark Naison: If I dare to dream, I can see where this collaboration between Occupy and Labor might lead—to the unionization of Wal-Mart, to the unionization of McDonalds, to the unionization of financial services workers in the nation’s largest banks.
Chris and David: Do Your Homework
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Berry Craig: I’m not against Romney just because he was born on third base and thinks he hit a triple. Likewise, it makes no sense for any union member to vote for Santorum just because his grandfather was a coal miner.
NAFTA of the Pacific?
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Trans-Pacific Free Trade Agreement – Out of the public eye, trade ministers and corporate lobbyists are pressing for a NAFTA-style deal that would encourage off-shoring of US jobs and drive down wages
Top 10 Most Read Articles Topped by Mark Naison
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Fordham Professor Mark Naison’s article, “Where is the Love? Thoughts on Teachers and Teaching That Educational Reformers Don’t Seem To Get,” attracted the most readers for articles published between January 7 and 14 by LA Progressive.
Rick Santorum: “The Most Dangerous Man in the Room”
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The not so decisive victory of Mitt Romney in Tuesday’s Iowa caucus has a lot of people talking about the guy he almost lost to, a certain former Senator from Pennsylvania named Rick Santorum. Whether or not Santorum has the ability to capitalize on his strong showing in Iowa going forward in the Republican presidential [...]
‘Right to Work Is a Cancerous Ideology’
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Berry Craig: Simply put, right to work laws are designed to weaken large unions, destroy small unions, and keep unorganized workers from unionizing.
Retirement: Sitting on a One-Legged Stool
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Vivian Rothstein: According to the American Association of Retired People (AARP), a frightening 35 percent of Americans over 65 currently rely only on Social Security (an average person gets benefits of $14,000/year) to survive.
Professionals Moving to Organized Labor
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Sharon Kyle: Labor union membership has declined significantly in the United States over the last 50 years, but this segment of the labor market is booming.
Alan Grayson Visiting Los Angeles
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Want to spend your afternoon at an event hosted by Richard Trumka, Tim Robbins, Ed Asner, Ry Cooder, Tim Robbins, Michelle Phillips, John Heard, Elliot Gould, Ed Begley Jr, Mike Farrell, Joan and Kurtwood Smith,Valerie Harper, Jon Bauman, Eric Roberts, Earl Katz, Mimi Kennedy, Frances Fisher, Peter Coyote, Sara Nichols, Norman Lear, Jeff Wald and Jordan Sommers, Steven Nemeth, Naren and Cheri Shanker, Joel Diamond, Michael Butler, Jan Goodman and Jerry Manpearl, Sylvia Aroth, Lili Haydn, Vivek Maddela, Lila Garrett, Nina Merson, Jodie Evans, Teray Stephens, and Paul Cummins?
Why Teachers Must Become Community Organizers and Justice Fighters
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Mark Naison: Teacher Activists must put forth a vision of Radical Democracy which envisions an education which empowers students as critical thinkers and agents of historical change, not just as obedient test takers and which envisions schools playing a central role in neighborhoods united and mobilized to get a fair share of the nation’s resources.
From Occupation to Door-to-Door
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Craig Williams: Now is a great time for the AFL-CIO and a coalition of groups involved in the Occupation of Wall Street movement to begin a national door-to-door campaign. It might not only be helpful to the effort but necessary given the commercial media’s negative coverage of the movement.
Whistling Past the Graveyard
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Jeff Wiggins says David Williams is making his job a lot easier. “He just keeps on proving the point that I’m trying to get across to our members,” said Wiggins, president of Steelworkers Local 9447 in Calvert City, Kentucky “David Williams hates us.” Williams is the Republican candidate for Kentucky governor. He hopes to unseat [...]
Jobs, Jobs, Jobs, GOP Fiscal Terrorists
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Jerry Drucker: The strongest answer to date in stopping the GOP onslaught is to replicate the wonderful and wise voters of Wisconsin.
Can Labor Confront Obama Over Jobs?
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Shamus Cooke: Hefty splits in the labor movement have already emerged on whether to support Obama’s reelection, based on his complete lack of action on creating jobs combined with his false promises in the 2008 election.
Bringing Teach for America Back to Its Roots
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Mark Naison: It behooves us, as progressive organizers and justice fighters, to keep the lines of communication open to people in these organizations, and be there to work with them if they join us in resistance to policies that concentrate economic sacrifice amongst America’s poor.
10 Lessons for Today’s Unions from Labor’s Militant History
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Ann Robertson and Bill Leumer: As a first step, organized labor should organize massive demonstrations in major cities across the country on Labor Day to raise these demands. Working people strongly oppose these cuts and desperately want job-creation programs.
Gerard Crashes Tea Party on TV
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Berry Craig: This AFT-card carrying teacher hopes more union officials will take off the gloves and take on tea party brass hats like Gerard did.
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