Did labor defeat Romney?

Did Republican governors in picking a fight with unions in Ohio and Wisconsin cost Romney the election? The unions think so.

Empire State union density declines

Union membership density in New York declined (incremental) for the second year in a row to 24.1%. The recorded high point is 1991 (29.1%). This decline is dramatic for a state with significant union membership, the decline is significantly smaller than the decline recorded nationwide.

Rebuilding labor

Mike Elk has a post at In These Times about rebuilding the labor movement. What he gets right is big initiatives by big labor don't work. Organizing workers is a long hard slog. One that requires localizing union solutions for uniquely local problems. This requires hard work, but yields success, albeit in small increments.

OWS messaging and labor

Steve Early's post at BeyondChron does a great job of explaining why the Occupy Wall Street message resonates and big labor's message about the middle class does not.

Almost half of respondents say unions have outlived their usefulness

48% of respondents in a Rasmussen survey see no further need for unions. Click through to the survey questions to get a better take on the results.

When the music stops

Labor unions know how to starve the beast too. Here's a post about the trouble orchestras are having due to unionization.

Politics as usual

Here is a really informative analysis of the issue of whether unions are disproportionally exempt from Healthcare reform. (They are not).

Walker's approval dives over assault on public employee unions

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker now has a 57% disapproval rate, according to a new Rasmussen poll. 48% strongly disapprove. Yikes! Among families with children in public school 67% disapprove, 54% strongly so.

State of the unions

The Nation's Katrina vaden Heuvel states the case for beleaguered unions and their positive role in today's workplace as well as her view that unions have been on the correct side of many big issues of national import.

Women and the labor movement

The Berger-Marks Foundation seeks to encourage and assist women labor organizers. It has released a new study, Stepping Up, Stepping Back which is based upon discussions held at a March 2010 conference in New Orleans. Its headline conclusion: Without changes labor will lose its female activists to other causes. Ending the old boys club, meaningful opportunities for younger activists, ending sexual harassment within unions, empowerment of younger activists all are seen as areas for needed change.

Columbus MS strike

Here is an interesting short piece about a strike in Columbus, Mississippi. There is not much to the article but the intensity of the reader comments is very telling about the economy and the sharp divide between those angry with "corporate America" and those valuing a job, any job.

Pray for labor peace

The Episcopal Church seems to have angered labor by switching from a unionized housekeeping service to a non-union one for its New York headquarters.

Union threatens Christmas tree lighting

Will tonight's broadcast of the Rockefeller Center tree lighting happen? The union says maybe not and blames NBC.