By Doug Cunningham

Canada’s CTV News says a senior economic advisor to Barack Obama’s campaign phoned the Canadian ambassador to the U.S. and told him that Obama’s anti-NAFTA statements are just campaign rhetoric not to be taken seriously. CTV says Austan Goolsbee, a free trader economist at the University of Chicago, made the call. Rick Sloan of the International Association of Machinists says it’s outrageous.

[Sloan]: “I think this story has such powerful resonance that if it’s out people are going to stop and say wait a second. Now, he tells us one thing, but before he tells us that he signals the Canadian government that it’s only just campaign rhetoric? That’s unconscionable.”

WIN Week In Review February 29-March 2, 2008

By Doug Cunningham

Canada’s CTV News says a senior economic advisor to Barack Obama’s campaign phoned the Canadian ambassador to the U.S. and told him that Obama’s anti-NAFTA statements are just campaign rhetoric not to be taken seriously. CTV says Austan Goolsbee, a free trader economist at the University of Chicago, made the call. Rick Sloan of the International Association of Machinists says it’s outrageous.

[Sloan]: “I think this story has such powerful resonance that if it’s out people are going to stop and say wait a second. Now, he tells us one thing, but before he tells us that he signals the Canadian government that it’s only just campaign rhetoric? That’s unconscionable.”

Progressive leaders and thinkers from around the country will meet next month in Washington, D.C., at Take Back America 2008, a conference to discuss the challenges facing our country and the way forward.

 

The annual conference has become a ritual gathering place for activists and organizers to discuss strategies and tactics necessary to confront problems in the economy, foreign policy, the media, health care and more. The conference runs Monday, March 17, to Wednesday, March 19, at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C.

 

With so much bad economic news piling up, it's hard not to list a few of the more recent indicators that the U.S. economy is in trouble. Just in recent days, we've learned the following.

• Paychecks have been shrinking for 80 percent of the U.S. workforce since October. Wage earners aren't seeing just skimpier raises and higher prices. Real weekly earnings are falling faster than hourly earnings because the length of the work week is being cut as the job market weakens.

• 1.4 million people have exhausted their 26 weeks of unemployment compensation, but are still actively trying to find work. As Elizabeth Schulte says at Counterpunch: That's the population of San Francisco—times two.

This is a crosspost from Firedoglake.

We all know that when it comes to providing health care, maternity leave and retirement security for all their citizens, Britain, France and all the rest of "old" Europe make the United States look pretty pathetic.

For instance, Britain provides 72 weeks of paid maternity leave while even South Africa, at the low end of the spectrum, offers 12 paid weeks. The United States? Zero.

The list goes on and doesn't get any better.

But it's not enough for greedy corporations to endlessly lobby for their anti-employee agendas in Congress. They now are exporting the most insidious methods of preventing workers from attaining fundamental workplace freedoms: Union-busting.

Union-busting is a $4 billion industry in the United States. When faced with a group of workers who want to form a union, U.S. employers all too often turn to these firms, packed with corporate lawyers who, for a steep price, provide them with all the dirty tricks they can undertake within a hair of the law. The same hasn't been true in Europe. Until now.

A. Philip Randolph

The economic downturn is hitting black workers especially hard, reminding us again that unions are still the best hope for people of color to gain social and economic justice.

Throughout Black History Month, which ends today, black union leaders have reminded us how that message sprung to life through the first AFL-CIO African American union, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and its founder A. Philip Randolph.

Despite recent declines in African American union membership, the union still is the best bet for black workers. Today, African American union members earn 37 percent more than their nonunion counterparts and are far more likely to have health care coverage and secure pensions. (Click here to get a comparison of union and nonunion wages, health care and more.)

Economic Report:

Looking for an easy way to start budgeting? Consumerist.com suggests buying a high school composition book. Then, every time a bill comes in put it in the book and use one side of the page to list the bill, due date, and amount. When paid, check it off on the far right column. Easy as pie and will help you on the road to getting organized.

By Doug Cunningham

The first-ever online rally for paid sick days launches today, sponsored by the National Partnership for Women & Families. Fifty-seven million American workers have no paid sick days. Today’s online rally for paid sick days is in support of the Healthy Families Act, federal legislation that would guarantee workers up to seven paid sick days a year. You can join the rally online at Everyonegetssick.org