Rock Netroots (Free subscription) | 11/25/2009
Here's some good news for a change and just in time for Thanksgiving. This collaborative effort should leverage collective strengths and resources to create meaningful long-terms impacts and help forge an outline to meet the educational system challenges of the future. The new alliance also might be able to make up for some of the charitable voids left in the wake of GM, and should be granted equal...
The Guardian (Free subscription) | 11/23/2009
• Supporters admit international levy needs US support • Obama administration and Wall Street unenthusiastic Advocates of a Tobin tax on financial transactions accept that any international levy would need US support and an increasingly vocal coalition of Democrats in Washington is pressing a sceptical Obama administration to get on board. The fourth highest ranking Democrat in the House...
Firedoglake (Free subscription) | 11/19/2009
After he was elected AFL-CIO president in September, Richard Trumka traveled around the country on a listening tour. Here’s one story he heard, which he described this week as the AFL-CIO, along with several key allies, launched a jobs initiative to help get our nation back to work. Last summer at an event in Ohio, I [...]
San Francisco FYI net (Free subscription) | 11/19/2009
On a very cold Wednesday night I walked over to Orbit Room Cafe on Market Street for Rebecca Prozan's "Fired Up!" Kick-Off Fundraiser. Rebecca's friends and supporters filled the room showing their support for her candidacy for Supervisor in District 8. San Francisco Community College District Trustee Steve Ngo gave opening remarks and said it best "it is an honor to support Rebecca...
AFL-CIO Weblog (Free subscription) | 11/19/2009
AFL-CIO President Emeritus John Sweeney accepts the Eleanor Roosevelt Award from American Rights at Work. AFL-CIO President Emeritus John Sweeney received the top honor at last night’s 5th annual American Rights at Work Eleanor Roosevelt Awards for his long-term dedication on behalf of workers’ freedom to form unions. Business Leaders for a Fair Economy and “West Wing” actor...
The Hotline on Call (Free subscription) | 11/19/2009
As centrist Senate Dems study Sen. Maj. Leader Harry Reid 's health care bill, some liberal groups are unhappy at some of the bill's provisions. AFL-CIO Pres. Richard Trumka praised Reid's bill as the "strongest steps yet" toward bringing down the cost. But, he said, the bill still includes an excise tax that would hit expensive health care plans, including many that cover union workers....
Firedoglake (Free subscription) | 11/19/2009
RYAN GRIM: Just this morning the blog Firedoglake organized a letter that's signed by the AFL-CIO, the SEIU and other economists saying we need to back the Paul/Grayson amednement and a vote for the Watt amendment is a vote for more secresy at the Fed, more secreat bailouts. But you also have unanimous Republican support for this in the committee, so you have this left/right convergence, kind of a...
Firedoglake (Free subscription) | 11/19/2009
This is what I call "solidarity." Richard Trumka, President of the AFL-CIO, Andy Stern, President of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), and Leo Gerard, President of the Steelworkers Union, both signed a letter with economists, labor leaders, and bloggers blasting Rep. Mel Watt's amendment to gut the audit of the Federal Reserve.
The Plank (Free subscription) | 11/19/2009
I haven't said much about Obama's China visit trip, in part because I'm no expert on Sino-American policy. But what Peter Beinart says here rings quite true for me: So it’s all well and good for the Obama administration to pay more attention to China. But the more attention the activist left and right pays, the harder it will be for Team Obama to come to terms with the new limits of American...
Daily Kos (Free subscription) | 11/18/2009
Our friends over at the Economic Policy Institute hosted a live Webcast Tuesday featuring six speakers. The key conclusion? Progressive leaders warn of lasting damage from jobs crisis . One speaker was Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO. Here's what he had to say: If you prefer to read than watch, here's a somewhat different version of the same material. As I noted Sunday in Jobs Summit Needs...
Truth Out (Free subscription) | 11/18/2009
Democratic leaders yesterday sent their strongest signals yet that they were eager to pass a jobs-creation and benefits-extension package to help stop the economic and political bleeding caused by a 10 percent official unemployment rate, the worst in a generation. They have to promote job growth, in part, to stem looming read more
Gateway Pundit (Free subscription) | 11/17/2009
This is weird. The NAACP and La Raza slammed Obama today over his historic unemployment rates. And, The New York Times reported the story. Weird. With unemployment among blacks at more than 15 percent, the N.A.A.C.P. will join several other groups on Tuesday to call on President Obama to do more to create jobs. The organizations — including the A.F.L.-C.I.O. [...]
democrats.com (Free subscription) | 11/17/2009
By David Swanson "If a majority of workers want a union, they should get a union. It's that simple. We need to stand up to the business lobby and pass the Employee Free Choice Act. That's why I've been fighting for it in the Senate and that's why I'll make it the law of the land when I'm president of the United States." --Barack Obama Nobody is making it the law of the land. Nobody is fighting...
FP Passport (Free subscription) | 11/17/2009
A " scurrilous idea " -- better known as the Tobin tax, a levy on foreign-exchange transactions -- seems to be taking on a life of its own. This week U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio is expected to propose a tax on all financial transactions (like stock purchases -- excluding those connected to health, education, and pensions). The idea of funding job creation in this way has the backing of a variety...
NDN Blog - NDN Blog (Free subscription) | 11/17/2009
Last night I joined Richard Trumka, President of the AFL-CIO, and Robert Kuttner, the co-editor of the American Prospect, on a panel in front of the House Democratic Caucus. Each of us offered our thoughts about what a new economic strategy for America could look like. After our presentations, a passionate and intense discssion broke out about the struggle of every day people in America today. Several...
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