June 2012 Labor Notes
May brought more disappointing news on the unemployment front, as the Labor Department announced that in April the economy added a measly 115,000 net new jobs. While the official unemployment…
Labor Watch
Should Union Members Get to Re-Elect Their Unions? One Way to Make Unions Accountable
(From the June 2012 publication, Labor Watch, PDF here) It’s the law: when employees are unionized they may not negotiate wages, benefits, or other working…
Corporate Campaigns: How Unions Take the Secret Ballot Away from American Workers
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka once called a corporate campaign the “death of a thousand cuts.” He was referring to a type of union organizing strategy that uses an arsenal…
The Battle for the Postal Service: Postal Unions Go Postal
The Battle for the Postal Service: Postal Unions Go Postal by Cheryl K. Chumley Labor Watch, April 2012 (available as PDF) Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe recently explained to Congress…
The Battle for New England
The Battle For New England Labor Watch March 2012, by Ivan Osorio (PDF available here: LW0312) Summary: Like the rest of the nation New England is reeling from…
The Battle For California
(view as PDF here: LW0212) California voters may soon get to decide whether to change the state’s public employee pension system. Supporters of a pension reform ballot…
Labor Notes: January 2012
The drop in the national unemployment rate from 9 to 8.6 percent in November was hailed by many as a welcome bit of good news. A closer look at the…
The Union Difference: A Primer On What Unions Do To The Economy
(From the January 2012 publication of Green Watch, PDF here) Everyone knows that unions try to raise…
Police Officer Union Organizes a Mob
In New York City, 16 police officers have been arraigned on charges ranging from fixing parking tickets to drugs and grand larceny. One officer, Jose R. Ramos of the 40th…
Unions Heart Occupy Wall Street
Unions have provided Occupy Wall Street (OWS) protestors with resources including office space, photocopying services and food, in exchange for the activists “…pitching in to help unions ratchet up action…