Desperate Need for a Real, Independent Factory Inspection & Monitoring System

Quito   It is impossible to read the tragic tales of sweatshop fires in Bangladesh and Pakistan without coming to the conclusion that literally the very best of intentions have in fact “paved the road to hell.” The story by Declan Walsh and Steven Greenhouse in the New York Times, “Certified Safe, A Factory in Karachi Quickly …

Informal Workers: When No One Watching, No One Cares – Walmart & Domestics

New Orleans  In the modern workforce economy of informal workers, contingent employees, and endless layers of subcontracting, both domestically and internationally, the obvious conclusion is that when no one is watching, no one cares, and, perhaps worse, no one is ever accountable.  This is not just a “race to the bottom,” but deliberate strategies to …

Hurricane Sandy Rapid Response from Occupy and Others

New Orleans   In The Battle for the Ninth Ward:  ACORN, The Rebuilding of New Orleans, and the Lessons of Disaster, published last year, I had added the Lessons appendix as more and more community-based organizations sought to meet the challenges of the unexpected natural disasters that are cropping up all around us, whether in the …