Labor

If Obama and the Dems cave on the necessary policy changes, next Labor Day may be even grimmer than this one.read more

(This is a series of excerpts from The Progressive magazine in the 1930s that are especially relevant today. You can find other delectable items in the current issue of The Progressive, which commemorates the magazine’s 100th anniversary.)read more

My guest this week is Bill Fletcher, the executive editor of blackcommentator.com and the co-author of Solidarity Divided: The Crisis in Organized Labor and a New Path toward Social Justice.

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For those of us in Wisconsin, it’s been a long cold winter already. The idea of only being halfway through seems daunting. I take solace in knowing gardeners and farmers are already at work planting seeds. Spring is inevitable even if the ice on the lake is a foot deep.read more

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Obama’s solidarity with the sit-down strikers at Republic Windows and Doors signals a stark change from Reagan and Bush.read more

The U.S. Supreme Court just made a good decision by not making a decision. It declined to hear a case brought by Agriprocessors, the kosher meatpacking company. By so doing, it has assured undocumented workers the right to organize.read more

My guest this week is Susan Quinn, who has just finished a new and fascinating book on the WPA’s Federal Theater Project of the mid to late 30s entitled Furious Improvisation.

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On this Labor Day, unions are thinking about Election Day.

They’re looking for a candidate who will enforce their rights, expand their legal protections and not buckle under pressure.

They’re betting on Sen. Barack Obama. But even if he wins, their job will not be over.read more

The labor organizer and folk singer Utah Phillips died on May 23.

In a letter to friends nine days before he died, he wrote: read more