By Glynn Wilson – MOBILE, Ala. — While many local and state governments across the country are joining the federal government in turning away from the development of fossil fuel production in favor of clean, renewable energy to fight climate change due to global warming and create the good, high paying jobs of the future,…
By Robert Reich – Momentum is building to raise the minimum wage. Several states have already taken action. Connecticut has boosted it to $10.10 by 2017, the Maryland legislature just approved a similar measure, Minnesota lawmakers just reached a deal to hike it to $9.50. A few cities have been more ambitious — Washington, D.C.…
By Robert Reich – What does the Supreme Court’s “McCutcheon” decision this week have to do with today’s jobs report, showing 192,000 new jobs for March? Connect the dots. More than five years after Wall Street’s near meltdown the number of full-time workers is still less than it was in December 2007, yet the working-age…
National Labor Relations Board to Begin Hearings on Workers Complaint Against Mercedes April 7 – By Glynn Wilson – BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Union workers and members of the public who understand the important role organized labor plays in public affairs across America will be watching to see what happens when the National Labor Relations Board…
By David Underhill – MOBILE, Ala. – The video to show how foggers work to suppress coal dust didn’t work. An engineer pitching a coal terminal to the Mobile planning commission on March 20 had the opening scene of the video on a screen looming over the big crowd at the meeting to decide if…
Gallup Finds the Largest Partisan Gap Ever on This Question – By Glynn Wilson – If given a choice, a majority of Americans by a 50 percent to 41 percent margin are more likely to say protecting the environment should be given priority even at the risk of curbing economic growth, even though the risk…
By Glynn Wilson – After weathering the Bush “Great Recession” and five years of hard work and determination by the Obama administration, the United States of America is creating jobs and rebuilding its economy. But as a result of shifts that have taken hold over more than three decades, too many Americans are working harder…
By Glynn Wilson – President Barack Obama announced Wednesday that he will ask Congress for $300 billion to begin rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure starting with aging roads and railways, making the argument that the taxpayer investment is a worthy cause that will pay huge dividends by attracting businesses and helping get unemployed people back to…
Company Officials Now Consider Closing the Chattanooga Plant – By Glynn Wilson – The United Auto Workers union has filed an appeal with the National Labor Relations Board claiming outside political interference by special interest groups in Chattanooga, Tennessee, when Volkswagen workers narrowly voted against union representation by 44 votes. Inside sources say now instead…
By Chris Kromm – Facing South – Forty-four votes. If 44 workers at Volkwagen’s factory in Chattanooga, Tenn. — less than 3 percent of the plant’s 1,560 hourly employees — had voted “yes” instead of “no” in last week’s closely-followed union election, the United Auto Workers and labor would be celebrating a “historic” victory in…
Connecting the Dots – By Joshua Holland – A three-day election process ended on Friday when Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga, Tenn., voted against joining the United Auto Workers union 712 to 626. Coming into the vote, both sides knew what was at stake — the union drive was a direct threat to the low-wage economy…
By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. – The opening session of the Good Jobs, Green Jobs Conference for 2014 kicked off Sunday night with a dynamic panel of speakers who are at the forefront of the national discussion about how to address the country’s crumbling infrastructure, while at the same time beginning to deal with…
By Glynn Wilson – HUNGRY MOTHER STATE PARK, Virg. – Some of the most powerful and effective leaders of labor unions and environmental groups in the country, along with a horde of union members, environmental activists and college students, are headed to the nation’s capital this coming week for one of the most interesting and…
By Glynn Wilson – TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Workers at the Mercedes auto plant say they can talk all day long on the job about Alabama football or hunting and killing deer. They just can’t talk about organizing a union. Mercedes employees and union supporters from across the state gathered at the United Auto Workers union…
Unions to Hold Press Conference and Rally in Coaling Alabama Monday, Jan. 27 – By Glynn Wilson – The National Labor Relations Board has found probable cause to hold a hearing charging Mercedes officials in Vance Alabama with violations of the National Labor Relations Act by acting to prohibit union organizing. A formal hearing on…
Democrats and Independents More Dissatisfied Than Republicans – By Glynn Wilson – Two out of three Americans are dissatisfied with the way income and wealth are distributed in the United States, according to Gallup’s Mood of the Nation poll. This should come as no surprise considering all the news stories over the past decade or…
By Glynn Wilson – Something has come over the Republicans in the U.S. Senate. Gridlock in Washington is cracking, and President Obama’s nominees are now working their way through confirmation like water through an open dam. A bipartisan deal was reached this week with the Republicans to allow votes on all seven of the pending…
Editors Note: The nightmares of natural gas fracking being documented all over America are coming soon to Alabama, brought to you by Halliburton and its real estate agent, the federal Bureau of Land Management — unless enough people get together and lodge enough political protests now to stop it. The Bureau of Land Management and…
Watch the Video – Key segments from the speech – By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. (April 17) — The head of the largest and most powerful coalition of unions in America voiced his unequivocal support for the growing alliance between organized labor and the environmental community under the umbrella of the BlueGreen Alliance, a…
By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — Some of the most powerful union leaders and environmentalists in the country came together in the nation’s capital this week to find common ground on the critical question of how to create jobs and improve the economy while at the same time protecting the environment of the U.S.…
