Posted on Sep 17, 2009 by J. Justin Wilson
Yesterday, at the AFL-CIO conference in Pittsburgh, UNITE HERE‘S president John Wilhelm announced that UNITE HERE will be leaving the Change to Win coalition and rejoining the AFL-CIO. Here is a quick summary of what drove them back into the fold. With the nasty split of the Change to Win coalition from the AFL-CIO in […]
Posted on Sep 16, 2009 by J. Justin Wilson
Before a cheer-beleaguered audience on Tuesday, Senator Arlen Specter announced that a revised Employee Free Choice Act will pass this year. He has long been the supporter, hater, leader lynch pin of the Employee Free Choice Act. Here’s the basic run down: Card check is off the table, but there will be shorter periods […]
Posted on by J. Justin Wilson
The New York Times may have backed labor unions a time or two thousand, but they’re not stupid. They see the writing on the wall about the future of American Labor just as much as the next guy. Their coverage of the AFL-CIO national conference this week included this little gem from Steven Greenhouse: [W]aiting […]
Posted on Sep 15, 2009 by J. Justin Wilson
Earlier this year, the United Steel Workers union filed a petition to staunch cheap Chinese tire imports. They claim a three fold jump in tire imports from China from 2004 to 2008 has led to a loss of an estimated 5,000 union jobs. The Adminstration has since dutifully imposed duties on tire imports from China, […]
Posted on by J. Justin Wilson
On the front page of today’s Investors Business Daily, Sean Higgins details how labor unions have refocused their efforts on political activity in an effort to stave off extinction. The trouble, Higgins points out, is that for all the money they’ve spent electing labor-friendly Democrats in Congress, unions haven’t done much to improve their popularity […]
Posted on Sep 14, 2009 by J. Justin Wilson
On Friday, the Census Bureau finally announced it will break ties with ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) in the 2010 Census. The general public’s concerns that a plethora of controversial issues discredited ACORN and would compromise the Census results finally convinced the Census Bureau to come around to seeing the light, The […]
Posted on by J. Justin Wilson
Labor’s had a tough year, but hope for the future rests in Pittsburgh this week. As the AFL-CIO holds its national conference in the city this week, fully expecting to elect their new leader, unions are forced to contemplate their future. But they can’t shake the feelings they’ve been here before. When John Sweeney took […]
Posted on Sep 11, 2009 by J. Justin Wilson
Stewart Acuff is the Director of Organizing at the AFL-CIO and blogger-extraordinaire for the Huffington Post. His Huffington Post biography includes a generous quote from AFL-CIO head President John Sweeney, where Sweeney notes Acuff’s “strong leadership skills and a deep passion for the potential of unions to lift working people’s lives.” This “deep passion” is […]
