labor

May Day Fails Its Promise to Workers

Virtually no one in the United States celebrates May Day. Yet International Workers' Day all started here, and we continue to export the violence faced by the workers it commemorates. Workers who sew our clothes, grow our flowers, and mine the metals used in our cars and cell phones are still experiencing the same problems confronted by U.S. workers a century ago.

Posted in Economy/Trade, labor

May Day Protesters Clash With Police in Turkey, Greece and Germany

$Union members carry banners and flags during the traditional Labour Day march to denounce the government's economic policies in Marseille , May 1, 2009. The banner reads \"They are the crisis, we are the solution.\" (REUTERS/Jean-Paul Pelissier)$

May Day protesters clashed with riot police in Turkey, Greece and Germany yesterday while French unions led their biggest ever Labour Day demonstrations amid growing public anger in Europe at unemployment and the handling of global economic crisis.

Posted in Economy/Trade, labor, protest

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Universal health care and the reform of outdated labor laws are shaping up to be the two great policy battles of the year, if not the century.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?

Posted in EFCA, healthcare, labor

Support a Happy Ending for Women

Once upon a time there was a lonely woodcutter who had two children. His wife died when the kids were just a little boy and a little girl. And though he was alone, the woodcutter did all he could to raise them well. He gave them every necessity but very few luxuries. Each month he would save the money he got from cutting extra wood so that he could send them both to college.

Posted in labor, women's rights

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 27, 2009
3:02 PM

CONTACT: ACLU

Linda Paris, (202) 675-2312; media@dcaclu.org

ACLU Observes Equal Pay Tuesday With Call for Pay Fairness Law

WASHINGTON - April 27 - To mark Equal Pay Day tomorrow, April 28, the American Civil Liberties Union calls for the passage of a strong law to eradicate pay discrimination against women. On a day meant to raise awareness about the continuing pay gap between the genders, members of the ACLU plan to ask their Senators in emails, calls and letters to pass a bill addressing pay discrimination, known as S. 182, the Paycheck Fairness Act. This legislation would provide a much needed update to the Equal Pay Act of 1963, by closing loopholes and strengthening its weak remedies over 45 years.

###

The ACLU conserves America's original civic values working in courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in the United States by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

ACLU Links:

Posted in civil liberties, inequality, labor

How Corrupt Is That?

The AFL-CIO recently posted a health care survey on its web site.

And in the key question (question 21) about the future of the health care system, the AFL gives you a choice.

Health care reform should let people choose to have private insurance or a public health insurance plan.

or:

Health insurance should remain in the hands of private insurance companies.

There is no choice for single payer:

Posted in labor, singlepayer

Will Obama Reboot Capitalism Anew?

Over six million people are now out of work, and unemployment figures released today show that now-record number is continuing to climb.

Posted in economic policy, EFCA, financial crisis, labor

Wall Street Sharks Circle the UAW

Barack Obama's commitment to helping labor has always been suspect, but handing over the American car business to the investment banker Steven Rattner might well turn the president into the last great union buster.

Posted in auto bailout, labor, wall street

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.

Posted in EFCA, labor

Which Union Do I Belong to Now?

The life of American unions these days seems modeled after that of the amoeba: Splitting and recombining are the order of the day.

The unions of the AFL-CIO and unions that split away from it in 2005 to form the rival Change To Win (CTW) federation are currently engaged in talks to see if they can come together yet again. The three million member National Education Association, which has never belonged to a labor federation, is also involved in the discussions.

Posted in labor