Troublemakers Blog
October 29, 2010 /
A slate of union reformers won a narrow victory Wednesday in the first round of a teachers’ union election in Washington, D.C. The election has far-reaching implications because the D.C. school district has been celebrated as a national model for the corporate version of school reform being carried out by President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan.
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October 29, 2010 /
As French President Nicolas Sarkozy moved within inches of passing unpopular pension cutbacks, workers continued to strike and march in protest. Close to two million people filled the streets throughout France October 28, marking the seventh national day of action in less than two months.
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October 27, 2010 /
Public employees are the “welfare queens” of the 2010s--the ones supposedly feeding at the public trough, at our expense. This video argues that public employees aren’t living that high off the hog.
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October 26, 2010 / Mark Brenner
With the midterm elections a week out, the headlines are all about money in politics. But the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal can't agree on who deserves more scrutiny—business or labor.
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October 25, 2010 / Dan DiMaggio
The unemployment crisis in this country coincides with a decades-long growth in employment by temp agencies, making millions of Americans’ search for secure, decent-paying jobs even more difficult. The bizarre experience I had last week along with more than 500 other Twin Cities job-seekers sheds some light on what “flexibility” means in today’s labor market.
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October 20, 2010 /
In a time when politicians are wringing their hands over “out-of-control” spending, Pennsylvania’s Office of Homeland Security has contracted the Institute of Terrorism Research and Response, a private company, to assess terrorist threats--like Jobs with Justice.
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October 13, 2010 / Mischa Gaus
The farmworker group Coalition of Immokalee Workers announced today it has reached a landmark deal with a Florida tomato grower to govern conditions in the fields.
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October 13, 2010 /
Striking musicians of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra received an additional bravo after their successful self-produced concert October 10. As they left the stage they learned that their campaign to get internationally acclaimed violin soloist Sarah Chang to cancel management's replacement concert had succeeded.
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October 12, 2010 /
What are workers to do when, after they file a petition for a union election, the employer declares the entire workforce no longer employed? That’s what happened early this summer to adjunct faculty trying to organize at East-West University in Chicago.
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October 08, 2010 /
[This article was written for the newsletter of the American Postal Workers Union Greater Seattle Area Local, where David Yao is vice president.]
The following is my own transcribed version of the notorious September 16 episode of a Fox Business Network show that insulted postal workers, called for postal privatization, and said that much of the American »