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News Release Archive | labor | Accuracy.Org

Jobs Numbers, Cheered in Washington, “Reveal Weak Roots of Recovery”

April 1, 2011

MARK BRENNER
Brenner, labor economist and director of Labor Notes, said today: “Today’s better-than-expected jobs numbers are being trumpeted by the Obama administration and other beltway insiders, anxious for signs that the Great Recession is over and recovery underway. But examining the 230,000 new private sector jobs created last month offers less reason to cheer and reveal the weak roots of the recovery.

“If you dig into the numbers, I think there should be a lot more hand-wringing than backslapping. If you think you can build a recovery around more Home Depot cashiers and Wal-Mart greeters you need to have your head examined.

“Almost half of the new jobs in the private sector are in low-wage occupations like retail trade, food service, and temporary services, with few signs of life in higher wage occupations. If you’re looking for jobs that can help you pay for a mortgage or send your kids to college, you’re out of luck.”

Brenner also warned that “once the ax starts falling on state and local budgets, private sector growth is likely to stall, if not completely reverse in some sectors, most notably in healthcare where government funds account for one out of every two dollars spent.”

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167

Filed Under: Tagged With: labor,

The Attack on Unions

February 23, 2011

NELSON LICHTENSTEIN
Lichtenstein is professor of history at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he directs the Center for the Study of Work, Labor and Democracy. He is the author of State of the Union: A Century of American Labor and The Retail Revolution: How Wal-Mart Created a Brave New World of Business.
He recently wrote the piece “Why Everyone Needs Unions” for Politico.

BILL FLETCHER
Fletcher is co-founder of the Center for Labor Renewal and author of the book Solidarity Divided: The Crisis in Organized Labor and a New Path toward Social Justice.
He just wrote the piece “Modern-day Pirates: the Republicans vs. the Public Sector.”
Fletcher has been a critic of unions as well, see this interview: YouTube.

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167

Filed Under: Tagged With: labor, unions,

Wisconsin and Egypt: Waves of Protests and Solidarity

February 22, 2011

KAMAL ABBAS, TAMER FATHY
Abbas is general coordinator for the Center for Trade Union and Workers Services in Egypt. Fathy is international relations coordinator for the group, which is an umbrella advocacy organization for independent unions in Egypt. It has been awarded the French Republic’s Human Rights Prize, suffered repeated harassment and attacks by the Mubarak regime and critically joined the protests against Mubarak in early February. Labor mobilization has been a driving force against the Mubarak regime for several years; the April 6 movement gets its name from labor support actions among Egyptian youth. Abbas has recorded a video statement in solidarity with the protesters in Wisconsin.

ROBERT KRAIG
Kraig is executive director of Citizen Action of Wisconsin. He is at the Capitol in Madison and is closely following developments. He recently wrote the piece “Walker’s National Guard comments a thinly veiled threat against workers.”

BEN MANSKI
Manski is executive director of the Liberty Tree Foundation and a spokesperson for the new umbrella group Wisconsin Wave. He is a lifelong Wisconsinite and a public interest attorney. Manski said today: “This is what Wisconsinites face: the loss of our unions, the selling off of our universities, the elimination of our health services, the end of our middle class. No wonder Wisconsinites are rising in a wave of protest.”

KABZUAG VAJ
Vaj is a co-founder and current co-executive director of the group Freedom Inc. She is a long-time advocate for women of color and a Hmong refugee. Vaj and her family have been active community members in Madison for more than 25 years. She said today: “This anti-union bill includes serious threats to Medicaid — it would give broad authority to the Department of Health Services and supersede statutory provisions, which is expected to limit eligibility. On its heels, we expect further cuts to life-saving services, discriminatory voter ID legislation and Arizona-type anti-immigrant proposals.That’s why we are part of a wave of resistance with union workers, low-income families and communities of color across this state.”

STANLEY KUTLER
Kutler just wrote the piece “What Gov. Walker Won’t Tell You,” which states: “There is a kernel of truth in Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s claim of a ‘budget shortfall’ of $137 million. But Walker, a Republican, failed to tell the state that less than two weeks into his term as governor, he, with his swollen Republican majorities in the Wisconsin Legislature, pushed through $117 million in tax breaks for business allies of the GOP. There is your crisis.”
Kutler is the author of The Wars of Watergate and other writings. He taught constitutional and legal history for 35 years at the University of Wisconsin.

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020, (202) 421-6858; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167

Filed Under: , Tagged With: Egypt, labor, protest, unions, Wisconsin,

Wisconsin: “Closest Thing to a General Strike”

February 17, 2011

Reuters is reporting: “Amid increasingly vocal protests, Wisconsin’s Republican-controlled legislature was poised to vote on Thursday on a budget measure that would strip away most collective bargaining rights for public employees.

“Many schools throughout the state closed Thursday — Madison’s for the second day in a row — after the state’s largest teachers’ union, the Wisconsin Education Association Council, urged members to come to Madison and join thousands of others protesting around and inside the state capitol.”

MATTHEW ROTHSCHILD
Editor of The Progressive magazine, based in Madison, Wisconsin, Rothschild said today: “The people of Wisconsin have risen up against Governor Scott ‘Hosni Walker,’ as some of the signs say. He and his Republican henchmen in the legislature want to destroy public sector workers and in the process they intend to inflict maximum pain on teachers, nurses, child care workers, secretaries. I talked with a secretary at the University of Wisconsin who has worked there for 30 years and is still making less than $40,000. With Walker’s cuts, she’d lose $5,500 a year in salary. We are witnessing in Wisconsin the closest thing to a general strike that this country has seen since the 1930s.”

Rothschild just wrote the piece “Glorious Rallies in Madison, Ground Zero of the Fight Back.”

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167

Filed Under: Tagged With: labor, unions, Wisconsin,