Union Made and Union Owned

New Orleans        News of a settlement by the United Auto Workers (UAW) averting bankruptcy at Chrysler and announcements by General Motors of their strategy for survival create a historic reinvention of capitalism in modern America.  If these plans are implemented, then the UAW will own some 39% of GM and 55% of Chrysler.  The [...]

Katrina Mess for Custodians

New Orleans        When is the Hurricane Katrina damage finally over?  Not yet for custodians of the Orleans Parish Public School System it turns out.  Most of them were contracted out and lost their jobs or retired after the storm.  Our union, Local 100 SEIU, now represents custodians at some of the schools through a [...]

Finding New Ways to Organize

 Toronto    Some of the most interesting meetings in my several days in Toronto were with our friends in the Canadian labor movement in Ontario, especially at the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW), SEIU Canada, and the Steelworkers.  There’s a hunger to organize in most of these unions even though several of them are getting hammered by [...]

Life is Not a Beach

Puerto Playa        After more goodbyes and last minute meetings about plans and problems, we were off in a van offered by the general secretary of an island-wide, 50,000 member transport workers union that we were fortunate to meet our last night in Santiago thanks to one of the organizer’s ingenuity (props to Steffan Lajoie!).  [...]

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