Tuesday’s vote by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) paving the way for more media monopoly was a slap against the public will, which overwhelmingly opposes further consolidation. The 3–2 vote took part in a Bush Republican-packed regulatory agency unaccountable to voters whose master is the party of the president.

Proving that executive signing statements aren’t the only easy way for a presidential administration to bypass such trivialities as the democratic legislative process, federal regulatory agencies under the Bush administration have taken partisanship to an extreme.

So extreme, one such agency, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), is purposely pursuing an ideological agenda—one that rolls over workers, seeking to create a Dickensian world in which we all must futilely ask our employers: “Please, sir, may I have another?” NLRB chairman Robert Battista admitted as much last week in testimony before a joint House-Senate subcommittee hearing on the NLRB and its impact on workers’ rights.

It’s been a busier week than usual for us in the labor movement, making it impossible to spotlight any one event. So here are highlights.