The Dance of Sweeney and Stern: “Big” Labor in 1990
The 1990s saw a shift in the leadership of organized labor. Out went Lane Kirkland, the social democratic Cold Warrior head of the AFL-CIO since 1979, and his backers in…
Obama Administration
The Dance of Sweeney and Stern: Justice for Janitors
While the Long Decline amid the Reagan Revolution persisted, Big Labor and its increasingly militant left wing did have a silver lining that might show a path back to power…
The Dance of Sweeney and Stern: Sweeney Ascends
Pressuring Kirkland into retirement was not enough for Gerald McEntee and the other leaders of labor’s left wing. They instead turned to John Sweeney of the SEIU, the architect of…
The Dance of Sweeney and Stern: Sweeney’s Understudy Becomes a Rival
When Sweeney took over the AFL-CIO, he created a vacancy in the leadership of the SEIU. Richard Cordtz, Sweeney’s number two, initially took over ad interim, but Sweeney’s former campaign…
The Dance of Sweeney and Stern: Stern Pushes the Button
By mid-2005, Stern, his New Unity Partnership allies, and some new allies (had had enough with the Sweeney regime. Shortly before the 50th anniversary of the union of the American…
InfluenceWatch Friday
The information compiled in InfluenceWatch gives news outlets and other interested parties to use this research in future reporting on significant topics that are often overlooked by the American public.
‘Bonkers’ About Batteries: The Unauthorized Biography of Jennifer Granholm
Earlier this month the Doomberg page on Substack chewed up the news that Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm thinks every U.S. military vehicle will be electric powered by 2030. What followed…
Corruption in the Labor Movement: Labor Rackets
Corruption by labor union officials, whether in service to themselves, political allies, or organized crime syndicates, has been a fixture of American labor history since the labor movement first began…
Corruption in the Labor Movement: A New Cast of Thieves
What is likely the largest federal union corruption investigation since the 1990s centered on a kickback scheme run through a joint union-management training center. Fiat Chrysler executives and agents would…
Corruption in the Labor Movement: Philly’s Labor Fixer
Before 2019, John “Johnny Doc” Dougherty Jr., the longtime business manager of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 98, was one of the most powerful men in Pennsylvania. From…