On November 1, 2007 fifty-one workers at the Redco plant in my old hometown of Little Falls, New York went on strike in response to a company decision to deny new workers the kind of health and pension benefits that had made Redco, and its predecessor companies, desirable places for lifelong employment. Located on the tiny island where Christian Hansen first began to manufacture “Junket” custard in 1891, the plant was sold to Salada in 1958, then to Kellogg in 1969, and in 1988 to a German-based transnational, the Teekanne Group

The WGAE represents content creators – people who write programs for the internet and other digital distribution systems (e.g., to mobile devices). We have argued in favor of Net Neutrality because our members want the opportunity to reach audiences directly, without major studios and other large corporations deciding what to distribute. But what about the audience? The public? Why should they care about Net Neutrality? Because there is an important aspect to the Net Neutrality debate that people should keep in mind: “paid prioritization”.

The world’s biggest media companies want to define how people will get content over the Internet. Money talks; independent content creators: take a walk. A mega-deal is reportedly in the works in which Verizon will favor Internet content from Google because Google has the spare cash to pay for preferred access. And this is being touted as the model for how content providers and Internet service providers will do business. We have seen the future, and it is exactly like the past.

On the 50th anniversary of the Greensboro sit-in, James Parks interviews Franklin McCain, one of the four students who refused to leave a whites-only Greensboro lunch counter until they were served, sparking key civil rights legislation.

Trumka says the labor movement needs to get back at the forefront of economic policy, including monetary, fiscal and industrial policy. Unions need to lay out a clear new economic agenda that will work better and stand as an alternative to the markets-first, people-later neoliberal agenda.

    Corporate serf masters: same tactics, no matter what the century.         The governors of Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama are pushing the U.S. Defense Department to award in 2010 a $35 billion to $40 billion tanker contract to European-owned EADS/Airbus rather than U.S.-based Boeing Corp. In doing so, Republican Govs. Haley [...]

Proving yet again that not only do taxpayer-bailed-out CEOs have no shame, word has it that they plan to flaunt their taxpayer-fueled wealth in our faces, the ABA is sponsoring its Roaring ’20s party in conjunction with its Oct. 27–29 meeting.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka will lead thousands of mad-as-hell Americans in a rally outside the ABA meeting on Oct. 27, demanding financial reform and re-regulation that will allow us to rebuild our communities, our lives and our economy.

Stopping by the Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC last night, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka discussed why the AFL-CIO supports health care reform legislation that makes sure Big Insurance doesn’t monopolize the health care field—and why the bill passed this week by the Senate Finance Committee, which does not include a public option, must be improved as it goes through Congress.

Right now as your last guest [Wendell Potter, former Cigna executive] said, American insurance companies have a stranglehold on the health care industry. In 90 percent of the markets, they’re called highly concentrated, or there’s one or two companies that control them. As a result, profits have gone up 1,000 percent and premiums have gone up 300 percent. The only way to hold them accountable is to create competition and the only way you can create competition is with a robust public option.

Alison Stewart, who filled in for Maddow, asked Trumka:

Let’s talk about the public option. Is it a make or break issue?

His answer:

Absolutely.

Watch it.

American Airlines has its priorities way out of whack. The struggling airline has refused to negotiate a fair contract for its pilots for more than three years, but now the Wall Street Journal reports American Airlines is making a big move to buy another financially troubled airline, Japan Airlines.

Young people only work because they need some cash for a new iPod. So forget about raising the minimum wage. It’s not like 20-somethings are raising a family. And forget about health care reform, too. People who want health coverage have it. Young workers don’t have health coverage because they don’t want it. You know, they think they’re invincible.

If you’re a young worker, you’ve probably heard those lines more than once. And especially if you’re a young worker, you know how false they are.

We had a few young workers here at the AFL-CIO this week to talk about what it’s really like to be age 35 and younger and trying to get by. They joined us for the release of our new report: “Young Workers: A Lost Decade.”