May 21, 2008
Last week security guards working at Kaiser Permanente facilities in California went on strike to protest illegal anti-union activities on the part of their employer, Inter-Con Security. Instead of hiring security guards directly in California, or using a union-friendly security contractor, Kaiser contracts with Inter-Con. The strike lasted three days.
...Dave Johnson | Posted May 10, 2008 | Business
This week I wrote about the Kaiser Permanente / Inter-Con Security Security Guard strike.
The post Security Guards Striking for the Right to Have Our Laws Enforced discussed why the guards are striking. They are employees of Inter-Con Security, Inc., which contracts services to Kaiser Permanente facilities in California....
Dave Johnson | Posted May 9, 2008 | Business
I have been writing about the strike by California Kaiser Permanente security guards working for contractor Inter-Con Security, who are demanding that laws be enforced and their rights be honored.
SEIU sent out a press release on the situation, titled, Workers With No Healthcare Protecting Kaiser Facilities, Security...
Dave Johnson | Posted May 7, 2008 | Business
Yesterday I wrote about the security guards who are striking at Kaiser Permanente because their contractor-employer is engaging in illegal tactics while trying to block them from forming a union. The guards work for Inter-Con Security Inc., which is contracted by Kaiser to provide security services.
You can read...
Dave Johnson | Posted May 6, 2008 | Business
There is a three-day strike starting today at Kaiser Permanente hospitals in California. 1800 security guards are striking for three days in an "unfair labor practice" action. This strike is not against Kaiser and is not to ask for money or benefits; it is not even to form a...
Chris Weigant | Posted May 2, 2008 | Politics
If every port on the West Coast of the United States of America was shut down because of a terrorist threat, do you think it would make the news?
So do I. Any event of this magnitude would be the lead story on every evening news broadcast in the nation....
Dr. Gabriela D. Lemus and Hector E. Sanchez | Posted May 2, 2008 | Politics
On May 1, 2006 millions of immigrants and their supporters took to the streets in 140 cities in 39 states across the United States as part of a wave of mass marches that spring in repudiation of extreme anti-immigrant legislation, passed by Republicans in the House of Representatives. The vast...
David Nassar | Posted April 30, 2008 | Business
It's tax rebate time, and no one is hungrier for the tax rebate checks arriving in mailboxes today than Wal-Mart. The retailer is advertising tax-rebate sales and has offered to cash the checks for free -- all in hopes that consumers will spend their newfound money at Wal-Mart stores. But...
Andy Stern | Posted April 25, 2008 | Politics
There is a real and important debate being held in both the labor movement and in our country right now about how to best serve workers' interests.
We believe it is both healthy and a sign of a vibrant democracy for people to stand up -- in both their...
Mary Beth Maxwell | Posted April 22, 2008 | Politics
Recent headlines reveal what many of us already know -- Americans are witnessing the highest inflation rates seen in over 20 years. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, food prices climbed nearly five percent in 2007, and as housing and energy costs skyrocket out of control, working families are...
At the center of today's "Three Amigos" Summit in New Orleans between George W. Bush and his homologues, Mexico's Felipe Calderon and Stephen Harper of Canada, is the sovereignty-swallowing nexus between trade, migration and military policy.As mentioned in the Times Picayune, Bush and Calderon held bilateral talks today in...
Gerald McEntee | Posted April 18, 2008 | Politics
Apparently, some people think it's big news that Robert Reich has decided to publicly endorse Barack Obama. We shouldn't be surprised. For months now, Reich has been criticizing Hillary Clinton on his blog and elsewhere, distorting her policies and her positions. He's criticized Senator Clinton's solutions on the foreclosure...
David Sirota | Posted April 18, 2008 | Politics
Last week, I published the first of a two-part column series commemorating the anniversary of the Ludlow Massacre, which happened in southern Colorado in 1914. I showed how the legacy of that horrific event is being embraced and exported by our government in...
Kelly Candaele | Posted April 17, 2008 | Off The Bus
By Peter Dreier and Kelly Candaele
Just as we are on the precipice of a major political realignment, a possible resurgence of progressive politics in Washington, the backbone of that movement -- organized labor -- is engaged in a self-destructive internal battle. This could not only...
Peter Dreier | Posted April 17, 2008 | Off The Bus
By Peter Dreier and Kelly Candaele
Just as we are on the precipice of a major political realignment, a possible resurgence of progressive politics in Washington, the backbone of that movement -- organized labor -- is engaged in a self-destructive internal battle. This could not only...
Dr. Karen Stephen | Posted April 16, 2008 | Politics
I've had a number of brief flirtations in my life. One was in 1993. I decided to become a manager. The experience was earmarked by all the characteristics of brief flirtations: heady anticipation followed by heaps of disappointment. As with all ill-fated assignations, a singular moment in time marked its...
Raquel Mack | Posted April 16, 2008 | Living
Last weekend, I joined with 1500 of my colleagues to sign the first ever union contract for private security officers in Washington, D.C. It was a big deal. Even the Washington Post wrote about our win -- how we secured a significant hourly pay increase, minimum annual raises, paid sick...
Brendan Smith | Posted April 15, 2008 | Politics
Jim Barrett, executive director of Redefining Progress, lays awake at night worrying about global warming's "nightmare scenario." He's concerned that poorly designed measures to cut greenhouse emissions might lead to an anti-environmental political revolt.
As Barrett recently explained to a group of trade unionists and environmentalists who came...
Sen. Bernie Sanders | Posted April 15, 2008 | Politics
Last January, I visited Immokalee, Florida, to get a first-hand view of what was going on in the farm fields of Florida. On one of the days when I was there, a federal grand jury handed up an indictment alleging that workers were held in conditions that amounted to slavery....
The Uptake | Posted April 15, 2008 | Off The Bus
From: The UpTake
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Listen to the talking heads...
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Dave Johnson | Posted May 16, 2008 | Media