Will Wal-Mart Cash In Support For Health Care Reform To Crush EFCA?

One of the biggest developments on the health care front this week was Wal-Mart's decision to back an employer mandate as a major provision of reform legislation. The move rankled the Chamber of Commerce, which accused the retail giant of using the government to build competitive advantage against its competitors--all despite the fact that Wal-Mart is the Chamber's largest member. But liberals were by and large pretty happy with the development.

Arlen Specter Checked A Card

Somehow, what's been lost in all this debate is that democracies typically invite people to check a card to register their desire to participate in that democracy. In the USA, for example, we call it "voter registration."

Crying Wolf on Universal Healthcare and Labor Rights

Universal health care and the reform of outdated labor laws are shaping up to be the two great policy battles of the year, if not the century. Business interests are dusting off decades of campaign rhetoric warning about the doomsday scenarios if Congress enacts "socialized" health care and the Employee Free Choice Act to give workers a decent shot a organizing unions. They're wrong about both issues, but will politicians and pundits believe them anyway?

Reform US Foreign Policy by Passing EFCA

Sometimes an opportunity for reform comes along that is "strategic" in that it changes the playing field for efforts to win other reforms in the future. The passage of the National Labor Relations Act - establishing the right of American workers to organize unions and bargain collectively - was a strategic reform. It increased the power of people previously excluded from power, and thereby reduced the power of corporate interests.

Will Obama Reboot Capitalism Anew?

Corporate Offense Against Unions Relies on Myths

Economic crises are as endemic to capitalism as is its resilience. Nonetheless, the system seldom survives in the terms predicted even by its most powerful players. The corporate CEOs that dominate contemporary capitalism know that the system cannot survive in its present incarnation. Most, however, demand that however much they rely on public dole, they should continue to dominate business and finance.

Why Workers Need the Employee Free Choice Act

Unions are good for workers. Today, median weekly pay for union members is $886, compared to $691 for nonunion workers. Moving cargo on the Oakland waterfront pays three times what stocking shelves does at Wal-Mart because longshore workers have had a union contract since 1934.

Stimulus from the Bottom Up

In the United States, working people find the deck stacked against them. The structure of labor law makes it extraordinarily difficult for them to organize. And if they cannot organize, they have little ability to fight for fair wages or ensure that their constitutional rights are respected at the workplace.