What the Supreme Court May Strip from Workers The roar of the approaching storm can be both heard and felt in workplaces across the United States. The prospects inherent in a much anticipated – and in many places feared – Supreme Court decision in the case Janus v AFSCME has the political Right giddy. Among […]
About Bill Fletcher Jr.
Trump One Year Later: Most of Us Live in Dread
I had a discussion with my doctor late spring 2017. I was having gastrointestinal issues, and I said to him that I kept wondering whether the anxiety that I felt about the Trump regime was affecting me physically. My doctor responded very seriously and with a straight face. He replied that many of his patients […]
Brexit: Race and Class
I had very mixed emotions about the Brexit vote. Having watched the manner in which the European Union strangled Greece, I have not been very sanguine about the EU as a project. The guiding vision of the EU is neo-liberal globalization. And it is determined to impose this on the continent. At the same time, […]
SCOTUS: Public Sector Unions Safe for Now
This week, the U.S. Supreme Court announced that it was deadlocked in the case of Friedrichs v California Teachers Association (representing 325,000 teachers in 1,000 school districts). The 4-4 vote, for now, leaves undisturbed a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which found itself bound by a prior SCOTUS precedent upholding a system […]
Where is labor on Labor Day 2014?
With every passing year, Labor Days becomes increasingly surreal. Labor, as a movement, receives decreasing attention and, to the extent to which Labor Day is acknowledged, it tends to be in the context of work alone. This may sound strange except when you remember that both the original Labor Day—May 1st—as well as the US-constructed […]
Responding to Supreme Court’s affirmative action decision
My first response to the Supreme Court’s decision in the University of Texas case was to breathe a sigh of relief. I had been expecting affirmative action to be ruled illegal. Instead the Court, in effect, said that the University had to prove that non-racial methods were ineffective in creating greater diversity. We should, however, […]
Race & Class & November 6
On the one hand, it is difficult to believe that Romney did not win. After all, when you think about it, we are in the deepest economic crisis since the Great Depression. He certainly kept repeating the fact that there are 23 million people out of work. Yet at the end of the day Obama […]
The Occupy Together Movement: 5 Points, for Your Consideration
The Occupy Together Movement, starting with Occupy Wall Street, has been, in the words of an old television commercial, ‘simply marvelous’. This is an exciting, energizing repudiation of the politics of economic injustice. For this reason alone the movement needs the support of those of us on the left-side of the aisle. Yes, there are […]
Modern-day Pirates: the Republicans vs. the Public Sector
So, let’s be clear: it’s not about the budget. As the facts have emerged in the 2011 Wisconsin crisis with Governor Scott Walker’s move against public service unions, it is not about Wisconsin lacking funds. There is no credible way that Walker and his clique can argue that eliminating a worker’s right to collective bargaining […]
