Is Yglesias A Tool Of Capitalism Or ...

Seattle socialism: Kshama Sawant has some bad ideas.:

...Can Boeing's front-line workers actually retool an airplane factory and turn it to bus production and win contracts to sell buses that raise enough revenue to keep everyone employed? Only time will tell for sure, but in the real world the answer is "no." This is exactly what you need executives for. Retooling plants, establishing relationships with suppliers and customers, understanding the size of the market for buses, and all that other stuff is a nontrivial task...

So an econ professor can't recognize the real world? Maybe she has.

Union Rallying

Michigan union supporters to protest in record numbers - CBS News

Protesters are expected to turn out in droves at Michigan's state capitol on Tuesday, to continue their spirited defense of one of the biggest union strongholds in the U.S.

The protests are in responce to Michigan's proposed right-to-work legislation, which would make it illegal to force workers to join unions or pay dues. Republican lawmakers in Michigan broadly support the measure, and pushed it through last week without any debate, sparking widespread outrage...

Kicking A Man While He's Down

Michigan Republicans confront unions over right-to-work | Reuters

Michigan Republicans on Thursday announced a drive to make the home of the U.S. auto industry the 24th "right to work" state banning mandatory union dues, setting off a confrontation with organized labor that immediately led to arrests of protesters...

Lies From Fox

Even their own story shows that it is misleading. Union Red Tape in N.J. Causes Alabama Recovery Crew to Head Home | Fox Business

Economic Truths

Hope On The Labor Front

Walmart Worker Wildcat Strikes Spread | FDL News Desk

For the second time in a week, workers at Walmart stores, this time in five states, have walked out on the job. While Walmart does not allow unions, and the strikes are relatively time-limited, this surge of worker activism at the nation’s largest employer is one of the biggest stories in US labor relations...

Making Business Sense

Measure Results, Not Hours, to Improve Work Efficiency - NYTimes.com

Outing Jawbones

Well, if they're criminals...

New Labor Dept. Rule Would Require Employers To Out Their Own Lawyers - Forbes

Even Larger Protest Than 'Nam

Up to 100,000 protest Wisconsin law curbing unions | Reuters:

"...Up to 100,000 people protested at the Wisconsin state Capitol on Saturday against a new law curbing the union rights of public workers that is seen as one of the biggest challenges in decades facing U.S. organized labor.

Madison police spokesman Joel DeSpain estimated the crowd at 85,000 to 100,000 people, which would top the size of protests in Madison during the Vietnam War..."

Lies And More About Union Positions

Spreading Anti-Union Agenda - NYTimes.com:

"...In Wisconsin, union leaders agreed to concessions requested by Mr. Walker: to pay nearly 6 percent of their wages for pension costs, up from nearly zero, and double payments for health insurance. At that point, most governors would declare victory and move on. Instead, Mr. Walker has rejected union concessions and won’t even negotiate. His true priority is stripping workers of collective-bargaining rights and reducing their unions to a shell. The unions would no longer be able to raise money to oppose him, as they did in last year’s election, easing the way for future Republicans as well.

The game is up when unionized state workers demonstrate a sense of shared sacrifice but Republican lawmakers won’t even allow them a seat at the table. For unions and Democrats in the Midwest, this is an existential struggle, and it is one worth waging."

Classism and Detriot

The column is a week old but the ideas are worth revisiting.

E. J. Dionne Jr. - Crunch Time for the Big 3 - washingtonpost.com: "There is a paradox at the heart of the proposed bailout of the auto industry. The rescue would have no chance of passing without the muscle of the Big Three's unionized workforce. Yet you can't turn around without hearing someone trash autoworkers for the terrible crime of trying to earn a decent living...

...The auto companies are having trouble securing help precisely because members of Congress are overwhelmed, even appalled, by the hundreds of billions of dollars they have already shoved out the door on behalf of the finance industry. One of Pelosi's top lieutenants referred to the phenomenon as "bailout fatigue."

Yet the auto industry will almost certainly be tided over precisely because the economy is in such turmoil. The dominant view in Congress is that the country can't afford to risk the financial and human calamities that bankruptcy by the Big Three would inevitably trigger...

...The failure of the Big Three is regularly attributed to the high wages and benefits earned by members of the United Auto Workers union, and it's true that the Detroit-based auto companies operate under heavy "legacy costs" for retirees' pensions and health coverage negotiated during the industry's fat times.

But the blame-the-workers-first cant ignores the fact that if the Big Three had designed better cars, they would not have lost as much market share to Toyota, Nissan and other competitors. The unions did not prevent management from producing a better product -- and I say that as someone who has enjoyed driving Saturns for the past 15 years..."

Clinton Flames-On

Quoted from http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/02/23/hillary-clinton-throws-down-the-gauntlet/:

 

Crooks and Liars » Hillary Clinton Throws Down The Gauntlet

 

Anyone who thought that Hillary Clinton’s wistful closing statement at the Austin debate last week was a prelude to her conceding the Democratic presidential nomination to Barack Obama might want to look at this video. Angered by mailers sent by Barack Obama to Ohio voters on her healthcare plan and NAFTA stances, Clinton lashed out angrily, characterizing it as the worst kind of Rovian tactics.

 

Time and time again, you hear one thing in speeches and then you see a campaign that has the worst kind of tactics, reminiscent of the same sort of Republican attacks on Democrats. Well, I am here to say, that it is not only wrong, it is undermining core Democratic principles. Since when do Democrats attack one another on Universal Health Care? I thought we were trying to realize Harry Truman’s dream. I thought this campaign finally gave us an opportunity to put together a coalition to achieve Universal Health Care. That’s what Senator Edwards and I fought for and talked about throughout the campaign. Just because Senator Obama chose not to present a Universal Health Care plan does not give him the right to attack me because I did. So, let’s have a real campaign. Enough with the speeches, and the big rallies, then using tactics that are right out of Karl Rove’s playbook. This is wrong. And every Democrat should be outraged, because this is the kind of attack that not only undermines core Democratic values, but gives aid and comfort to very special interests and their allies in the Republican party, who are against doing what we want to do for America. Shame on you, Barack Obama. It’s time you ran a campaign consistent with your messages in public. That’s what I expect from you. Meet me in Ohio, let’s have a debate over tactics and your behavior in this campaign...

 

Pumping The Outrage Boiler

Firedoglake - Firedoglake weblog 'We Make It; They Take It: "U.S. workers are the most productive in the world and they put in longer hours than workers in any other developed country. Yet, even though our economy generates more than $13 trillion in income, the economy is not delivering for workers. In fact, average wages today are only 15 percent higher than in 1980, despite a 67 percent increase in productivity.

The annual release of CEO compensation last week highlights one reason why the gap between the richest in America and the rest of us has grown significantly over the past 25 years.

In 2006, the average CEO of a Standard & Poor’s 500 company made $14.78 million in total compensation, according to initial estimates by the Corporate Library and highlighted on the 2007 AFL-CIO Executive PayWatch website, which includes some of the executive compensation data required under new rules issued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 2006. The new disclosure rules go further than ever before in revealing just how much executives are paid, making transparent previously hard-to-find information such as pension totals..."

Low Lights and Bad Bosses

". . .We all know about Bad Bosses. But this summer, when Working America held its first-ever My Bad Boss Contest, the roaches really crawled out of the woodwork.

Like the boss who told his part-time staff person she had to work longer hours—even though she wanted to spend more time with her dying mother.

Or the one who made his employee pay for his own chair at work.

And the boss who “Googles™” employees to dig up dirt on their personal lives and spends time walking around the office barking like a dog, whinnying like a horse and making cicada noises.

More than 2,500 employees submitted their bad boss stories to Working America, an AFL-CIO community affiliate. Visitors to the My Bad Boss Contest site voted for the worst boss of the week, and the embattled grand prize winner got a much-deserved week’s vacation getaway and $1,000 toward airfare, compliments of the AFL-CIO membership benefit organization, Union Privilege.

The winning entry described her boss as a millionaire dentist who, because so many patients canceled appointments on Sept. 11, 2001, took the money he would have made that day out of his employees’ paychecks. . ."