This isn’t how conservatives wanted things to play out. They wanted to use the post-Tea Party period as a time to crush union membership. They sought out a coordinated strategy, in places like Wisconsin and Ohio and Indiana and Tennessee and Oklahoma and Idaho, to roll back and bust up unions. And despite all that, [...]

The National Labor Relations Board, in what could be one of its final acts before it goes dark due to a lack of a quorum, formally approved new rules that would accelerate union elections. Because there may not be a functional NLRB after January 1, however, there will be no immediate practical effect to this [...]

Occupy Wall Street is a community-based movement spreading across the country, from college campuses to small towns. The best way for people already invested in traditional politics, from elected officials to members of politically based groups, to approach it is not by aligning their issues with some issue you or your group is working on, [...]

Members of the political elite have finally had to confront the question of the #OccupyWallStreet protests and the larger movement for social and economic change that it represents. Sen. Jeff Merkley agreed with the goals of the protesters and their belief that the system is broken, and expressed interest in going to a protest. Ron [...]

You’re watching Colombia Trade Agreement. See the Web’s top videos on AOL Video We have known for years about the dangers of being a trade unionist in Colombia, of the murders of organizers and labor officials. The murders have increased in frequency in the years since the US negotiated a trade deal with Colombia. They [...]

The White House is getting an early jump on the House Republicans’ next potential hostage-taking event, and perhaps learning something in the process. In an event today, flanked by AFL-CIO chief Richard Trumka, Chamber of Commerce COO David Chavern and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, President Obama will call for a clean extension of the Highway [...]

Jed Lewison tallies up the numbers from CBO, and notices that the focus on deficits over the past 20 months was a success! At least with regards to long-term deficits. In the January 2011 CBO report, this was the analysis of revenues and outlays: Total revenues: $39.084 trillion Total outlays: $46.055 trillion Total surplus/deficit: $-6.971 [...]

I remember a lot of fanfare over this Joan Walsh column, where labor leaders claimed they were “declaring independence” and moving to state and local politics for the purposes of self-preservation. Indeed, some of that has happened. The International Association of Fire Fighters closed their federal PAC. Labor poured a lot of money into the [...]

Just about the only specific piece of the Gang of Six proposal, as explained well by Rep. Peter DeFazio above, is the move to chained CPI, a benefit cut for Social Security, veteran’s benefits and any program with a cost of living adjustment, along with a regressive tax cut. So that should give you a [...]

A new set of rules from the National Labor Relations Board would accelerate union elections and introduce an electronic element into the process. The labor board wants to tighten up the process by ensuring that employers, employees and unions receive needed information sooner and by delaying litigation over many voter-eligibility issues until after workers vote [...]

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka will make a speech today in Washington where he will call for an independent labor movement that protects the interests of the working class and does not look out for one party or the other. In a speech at the National Press Club, the head of the nation’s largest labor federation [...]