div class=flexinode-body flexinode-1div class=flexinode-textarea-2div class=form-item
labelHeadlines:/labelbr /
ul
lia href= http://www.laborradio.org/node/10276EPI: Obama Stimulus Is In The Ballpark, But Workers Must Share In Recoverya//li
lia href= http://www.laborradio.org/node/10277Starbucks – Evil Corporation Or Good Corporate Citizen?a//li
lia href= http://www.laborradio.org/node/10278Union Says Boston Fire Lieutenant’s Death Is Result Of Decaying Fire Truck Fleeta//li
/ul
/div
/div/div
pOn Sunday the union representing firefighters in Boston alleged that the death of a lieutenant resulting from the crash of an out of control ladder truck was the result of a decaying vehicle fleet. Since the first of the month there have been three major ladder truck accidents in Boston, two resulting in fatalities. The Boston Firefighter’s Union is calling on the state to inspect and replace the aging vehicles. Maintenance issues have been a key point of contention in the ongoing contract dispute between the union and the city./p
p Is Starbucks really an “evil” corporation as suggested by opponents, or is it truly a “good” corporate citizen as supporters argue? The answer, according to a new book, isn’t quite so black and white. Jesse Russell reports:/p
pLabor activist Kim Fellner watched in 1999 as a trash can was hefted through a Starbucks window during the Seattle protests of the World Trade Organization. She says it was that moment that forced her to reconsider the role that what she had previously only considered as a coffee shop played in the scope of the world economy. The result is her new book “Wrestling with Starbucks: Conscience, Capital, and Cappuccino.” In it she argues that Starbucks struggles with “benevolent paternalism.” /p
pBy Doug Cunningham/p
pAs working people, can we count on the Obama economic recovery plan actually working for us? Christian Dorcy with Economic Policy Institute says the amount of government spending in the plan is “in the ballpark” to create the stimulus needed. Dorcy says essentially the economic crisis comes down to people not having the buying power they need to sustain the consumption required for economic growth./p
p[Dorcy]: “Consumers are not able to consume what the economy is capable of producing. That’s due to their declining income, their declining wealth – all statistic that we know very well. So when you have that gap, you have a huge reduction in aggregate demand. So there has to be something to fill that void, unless you want to go deeper and deeper into recession. So with no consumers out there – who account for 70 percent of all economic activity in this country, government is left as the spender of last resort.”/p
Eight years ago, President George W. Bush took office and we started what was to become one of the most popular stops on www.aflcio.org: BushWatch.
Over the years, we’ve chronicled the Bush administration’s executive orders, vetoes, policy decisions, legislative initiatives, regulatory actions and inactions that have had a direct impact on working families—none of it good.
We [...]
It’s awfully hard to find accurate and fair descriptions of unions, their leaders and issues in the mainstream media. Clichés and stereotypes that just won’t die far too often substitute for fair reporting or analysis.
That’s why yesterday’s in-depth profile of United Steelworkers (USW) President Leo Gerard in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette was so refreshing. In addition, [...]
* In the Laugh-if-it-Didn’t-Hurt-So-Much category:
In an interview with The Associated Press, Vice President Dick Cheney also said that President George W. Bush has no need to apologize for not foreseeing the economic crisis.
“I don’t think he needs to apologize. I think what he needed to do is take bold, aggressive action and he has,” Cheney [...]
This is the first in a series of occasional articles looking at health care reform proposals from a wide range of groups and experts.
The incoming Obama administration is still developing a comprehensive plan to address a broad range of health care concerns. The AFL-CIO has not endorsed a specific plan but has called for one that [...]
Members of the Machinists (IAM) in St. Louis authorized a strike after rejecting a contract over the weekend—and more news here from the “Bargaining Digest Weekly.” The AFL-CIO Collective Bargaining Department delivers daily, bargaining-related news and research resources to more than 900 subscribers. Union leaders can register for this service through our website, Bargaining@Work.
WORK STOPPAGES AND [...]
Pundits, journalists and even economists have strained to find the reasons for our nation’s economic meltdown, stumbling over tortured concepts like “structured investment vehicles” and “collateralized debt.”
The underlying problem is much simpler. In fact, it can be described in six words: The corporate search for cheap labor.
While some people may have overextended themselves by taking [...]
Recent Comments