It was tragic enough that her 11-year-old son became a quadriplegic after gunshots hit him while he was playing outside. But now Alberta, a single mother, worries every day because she can’t leave her job to take care of her son. Without her job, she has no way to get, or pay for, health coverage [...]
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Corporate opponents of workers’ freedom to form unions repeatedly have shown they are not interested in the welfare of their employees or any of the pseudo-lofty ideals they cite while fighting the Employee Free Choice Act. Now, they’ve made clear they will do anything–even destroy jobs, communities and harm the U.S. economy–to ensure that more [...]
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What bitter irony. Studs Terkel, who gave voice to working people throughout his life, passed away yesterday, just days before a potentially historic presidential election. Should Sen. Barack Obama win on Tuesday, his victory would be a sweet vindication for Terkel, whose affinity for America’s workers would be reflected in the policies of an Obama administration. Terkel, 96, [...]
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Sen. John McCain, meet Joe the plumber. Unlike Samuel Wurzelbacher, Joe’s given name is…Joe. And, unlike Wurzelbacher, he’s a licensed plumber. Joe Moenck, a plumber in Zumbrota, Minn., is a member of Plumbers and Pipe Fitters (UA) Local 6—which, like all building and construction trades unions, has high professional standards for its members—such as making [...]
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Before she became the first female Labor secretary in 1933, Frances Perkins had seen firsthand the tragedy of Manhattan’s 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist fire. Locked in by their employer, 146 mostly young girls died when they couldn’t escape the burning building where they toiled in sweatshop labor. Later, as the New York industrial commissioner, Perkins held [...]
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Worsening unemployment. Millions of home foreclosures. Two-income households unable to support families. America’s workers are facing economic disasters so severe, even the national media is paying attention. But the current crisis has long roots. America’s working families have been suffering through what is now a generation-long stagnation of wages and rising economic insecurity. Steps must [...]
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The issue of race in this presidential campaign is one we talk around, or whisper about, or don’t discuss publicly at all. Or, as with some McCain supporters, the issue of race is used as an ugly bludgeon in the spirit of Jim Crow. But AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka is taking the issue head on. [...]
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They may be party animals when chugging $8,204 worth of booze but, after the hangover is over, the staff at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce goes back to being their ugly anti-worker selves. Seems that some 100 or so Chamber of Commerce staff recently ran up an $8,204 tab at The Exchange, a sports bar [...]
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George W. Bush’s solution to our nation’s economic mess—that his failed policies helped create—is to applaud people who must work three jobs to make ends meet. Sen. John McCain colors his solution to working families’ financial struggles with similar crayons: He encourages us to make a living selling stuff on eBay. As reported on Bloomberg: [...]
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A woman who spends years in medical school emerges to take her place alongside a panoply of male physicians—who, on average, make 38 percent more than she does. Female attorneys fare better—they make 30 percent less than their male counterparts. But it’s not just a matter of higher pay for men in traditionally male [...]
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