The rumor of card-check death is greatly exaggerated
Mark Twain’s famous quote is what Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) paraphrased to thousands of progressive activists at the America’s Future Now conference this week regarding the Employee Free Choice Act.
Doubling down on green jobs
WASHINGTON (Sierra Club) -- Last August, then-candidate Barack Obama declared that, if elected, he would create five million new, green jobs. He's pushed that promise hard, with his stimulus package, appointments, and support of an ambitious climate-protection bill. But since he made the promise, more than five million Americans have lost their jobs. The fossil-fuel monopolies of the past -- coal and oil -- have mounted a vicious counterattack, hoping to strangle the clean-energy recovery before it can gain momentum. And Congress -- ever inclined to water things down and split the difference -- is showing more and more signs of missing the point: We need to do something BIG.
Quad City workers target Wells Fargo to save jobs
Rock Island, Ill. – Deb Johann has lived here her whole life. She has worked at the Quad City Die Casting factory in nearby Moline for the last 31 years. Johann is a proud member and leader of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) Local 1174.
SPEECH Labor unity and overcoming racism
Remarks by Richard L. Trumka, secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO, at the 38th Annual Convention of the Coalition of Black Trade Unions, Atlanta, Ga., on May 22, 2009.
Americas Future meet: Calls for new economic model for green jobs
WASHINGTON — 'Now is the time for bold investments in sustainability. Now is the time for a fundamental shift in how we think about our economy, the workers in it and our new energy future,' Kate Gordon of the Apollo Alliance told several thousand national and local labor, political, social justice and environmental leaders and activists attending the America's Future Now conference here June 2.
HartMarx workers win court fight to keep jobs
CHICAGO – HartMarx workers won a court battle in their fight to keep the suit maker in operation and save over 3,000 union jobs. On June 1 Federal Bankruptcy Judge Bruce Black approved the bid of the British private equity firm Emerisque to buy the company. Wells Fargo Bank, the chief creditor of HartMarx, who wanted another bidder to be approved so the company could be liquidated, had fiercely opposed the bid. They relented under immense pressure.
Mobilize for health care this Saturday, unions urge
The following is a message from the AFL-CIO for a nationwide health care mobilization on June 6.
Card check remains on table, Senate leader of free choice battle says
WASHINGTON — Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) told the World today that he is holding onto majority sign-up as a key component of the Employee Free Choice Act, in rounds of “intense negotiations” with senators whose support is needed for passage of the landmark labor law reform measure. Although Harkin would not specify the precise form in which majority sign-up might emerge from the negotiations, he said “there are about five versions of it that are being talked about.”
GM bankruptcy spurs demand to reinvest in America
LANSING, Mich. — The General Motors bankruptcy, announced Monday, was expected, having been predicted for weeks if not months. But the enormity of how far this once mighty giant of U.S. monopoly capitalism has fallen is shocking nevertheless. For many it seems like not so long ago when GM was not only the leader of all auto producers with a commanding 54 percent of the U.S. market, it was also the undisputed dominant corporation in the country’s economy.
Progressives to spend $82 million to ensure universal health care
This is the second of a series of on-the-spot reports from the America’s Future Now conference. Check back for more. WASHINGTON — Progressive groups will spend more than $82 million to support President Obama’s goal of achieving quality, affordable health care for all this year, leaders at the America’s Future Now conference here told reporters today.
