Today many workers who try to band together to improve their jobs through traditional workplace organizing face significant impediments at the hand of hostile employers and outdated labor laws. Those challenges are even more noteworthy for the nearly quarter of the workforce that has no protection under the federal National… Read More»
Anyone who knows the frenzy of March Madness should understand that college sports are big business. Between ticket sales and lucrative licensing deals that allow for televised game coverage and profitable merchandise revenue streams, college sports is a billion-dollar industry. Businesses, of course, have employees. Yet, for far too long,… Read More»
Recently, Evan Soltas and I debated the role of unions in the U.S. economy and the reasons for their decline. In doing so, I primarily focused on the macroeconomic benefits of unions – for example raising wages and reducing poverty for all workers. Unions, however, do more than ensure workers… Read More»
The USDA’s dangerous proposal to overhaul of the chicken inspection system that would compromise jobs and food safety. The agency is proposing to lay off thousands of food safety inspectors in the name of budget cuts, leaving chicken contamination inspections to poultry processing plants instead. Despite mounting protests, the president’s… Read More»
The debate on the need for unions, initiated by blogger Evan Soltas’ call to let them die, has gained considerable attention. On the Washington Center for Equitable Growth’s blog, Brad DeLong nicely compiled the back-and-forth – which has grown to include, among others, Kevin Drum, Timothy Noah and Michael Hiltzik.… Read More»
Like many cities during the Great Recession, Cleveland was facing budget cuts that threatened services and jobs at its public libraries. Instead of accepting layoffs, Cleveland Public Library’s (CPL) management and its union, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) District 1199, came up with a creative solution of transferring employees… Read More»
Evan Soltas would like you to know he read a book about unions. In his recent Bloomberg View column, Soltas ponders the thesis of Richard Freeman and James Medoff’s seminal book What Do Unions Do? and concludes that unions don’t do much in today’s economy. As Soltas notes, Freeman and… Read More»
Last week’s union election at Volkswagen’s Chattanooga, Tennessee, assembly plant – where workers fell 86 votes short of gaining union representation through the UAW – leaves a foul taste in my mouth. My reaction isn’t a matter of sour grapes, as I deeply respect the right of workers to decide if… Read More»
“Unions Are Still One of the Best Ways to Ensure a Clear Pathway to the Middle Class” CONTACT: Ori Korin, ori@jwj.org 202-393-1044 x126 Washington, D.C. – Following today’s release by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics of the annual union density numbers, Jobs With Justice executive director… Read More»
New Report Highlights Innovative Labor-Management Partnerships in the Public Sector CONTACT: Ori Korin, ori@jwj.org 202-393-1044 x126 Washington, D.C. – As the 2014 state legislative sessions commence, an increasing number of elected officials have declared open season on public employees and their unions. Yet examples abound of productive labor-management relations in… Read More»
