Union Label Week is September 7-13
Labor Day falls on September 7, 2015, this year, and is also the day in history when the United States got its nickname Uncle Sam. “Uncle Sam” is linked to Samuel Wilson, a meat packer from Troy, New York, who supplied barrels of beef to the United States Army during...
President Obama, Don’t Sign Trade Promotion Authority
President Obama has Fast Track Authority legislation in hand this will empower him to rush the Trans Pacific Partnership, a massive trade deal, through Congress to an up or down vote. And other trade deals lurk nearby. But he can disprove Lord Acton's aphorism,...
Remembering Our Labor Heroes this Labor Day
By Rich Kline, Union Label and Service Trades Department, AFL-CIO Ah, Labor Day. Picnics and parades, sales and vacations, what more could one ask for to celebrate the end of summer. Only, that isn’t what Labor Day is about. Labor Day, which originated in the late...
Trans Pacific Partnership: Threat to Jobs and Quality of American Life
The Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) threatens more than American jobs, its full impact could undermine the quality of life for all Americans. This free trade agreement, if signed by the US, will undermine food safety, Wall Street regulation, Buy American requirements...
Pritzker Nomination to Commerce Secretary Delivers Stinging Slap to Labor Movement
Penny Pritzker's nomination by President Obama to serve as Secretary of Commerce is a slap in the face to the Labor Movement. Maybe the stinging blow will serve as a wakeup to the Administration's hypocritical stand on labor issues. Penny Pritzker is a billionaire...
Competitive Asian FTAs Might Impact Worker Protections
The Obama administration is pushing for passage of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with 11 Asian nations not including China. Meanwhile, the ten-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations is pushing its own regional FTA and would...
Romney as a Metaphor
Willard "Mitt" Romney is quickly becoming a metaphor for crass scorn and disdain of those less advantaged than himself. He serves as a figure of speech, if nothing else. He is akin to Scrooge. Or, maybe, Scrooge McDuck, selfish and inept. His scorn for the people he...
Buy Union Week and Labor Day
Labor Day did not begin with a picnic. It began with a march demonstrating the power of organized labor. Now Labor Day marks the end of summer for many Americans and, unfortunately, not much more. Too few of us, far too few, understand what Labor Day truly symbolizes...
Labor Day Marks the Beginning of Union Label Week
From Labor Day, Monday, September 3, through Sunday September 9, 2012, American labor will observe Union Label Week—the time traditionally set aside for union families and all consumers to make a special effort to support good jobs by looking for union-made goods and...
Wal-Mart May Sell Groceries, Blue Jeans, and CD’s But their Single Largest Product is Poverty
By Maria Elena Durazo, Executive Secretary-Treasurer, Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO Decades ago the saying, "What's good for General Motors is good for the country," was largely true. Those unionized standards set the bar for the whole economy and...
