Links fixed
Memo to self: never go out without testing the links first. The URLs for the 2013 shows I just added to my radio archives were still living in /2012/ so they came up as missing. They’re now fixed. Sorry.
Fresh audio product
Sorry, folks, it’s been way too long since I did this! But since I usually upload the audio files more promptly than I update the website, you can spare yourself the consequences of my delays by subscribing to the podcast. Instructions are on the top of my radio archives page. To which I’ve just added the following shows: January 31, 2013 Helaine Olen, author of Pound Foolish,on the personal financial advice racket • Heidi Shierholz of the Economic Policy Institute, co-author of this paper, on what’s driving wage polarization January 24, 2013 Natasha Lennard, author of this article, on the Aaron… Read More
Labor legend Jerry Brown responds to critics of Jane McAlevey
This was not written for this blog, but I’ve been asked to circulate it widely. It’s a response by Jerry Brown—not the governor but the long-time leader of SEIU 1199 New England—to reviews by Steve Early and Joe Burns of Jane McAlevey’s excellent book Raising Expectations (And Raising Hell), on how to revive the U.S. labor movement. Both reviews are extremely tendentious and unfair, and do not respond to Jane’s arguments at all. I am also addressing this re-post in part to all the people who’ve embraced the Early/Burns line without having read the book. My… Read More
Union density crashes as AFL-CIO dude calls for retiring The Rat
This morning, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported (Union Membership News Release) that the percentage of U.S. wage and salary workers who were members of unions fell from 11.8% in 2011 to 11.3% in 2012. The total is substantially boosted by public sector workers (who are under heavy attack)—over a third of such workers, 35.9%, are union members (down from 37.0% in 2011), compared with just 6.6% of the private sector (down from 6.9%). In general, the younger the worker, the less likely he or she is to be represented by a… Read More
More bogosity from Michelle Rhee
StudentsFirst, the school “reform” outfit led by the notorious Michelle Rhee, is out with a state-by-state Report Card on the nation’s schools. Grades were awarded on the basis of states’ conformity to the standard reform agenda—ease of creating charter schools, ease of firing teachers, ease of hiring teachers who aren’t certified in the traditional fashion, and testing testing testing. In the past, there’s never been any evidence that this agenda actually improves educational outcomes—and this report is no exception. Despite Rhee’s love of testing, there’s no mention of how states that do well… Read More
LBO News from Doug Henwood 