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Today's
Stories
March 18, 2008
David Price
The
Military "Leveraging" of Cultural Knowledge
Paul Craig
Roberts
The
Collapse of American Power
March 17, 2008
Pam Martens
The
Fed's Wall Street Dilemma
Sasan Fayazmanesh
The US, Iran and the Policy of Dual Containment
Nelson P. Valdés
The Imperial Branding of Simon Bolivar and the Cuban Revolution
Peter Morici
The Corrosive Consequences of the Trade Deficit
Wajahat Ali
Disrobing the Nine: a Conversation with Jeffrey Toobin on the
Supreme Court Since 9/11
Ronnie Cummins
Beyond Progressive Malpractice: Taking Down Big Pharma
Shaun Harkin
Saint Patrick's Day in Fortress America
Ali Khan
No Pardon for Musharraf
Robert Jensen
Beyond Peace
P. Sainath
Oh, What a Lovely Waiver!
Greg Moses
Jeremiah was a Bullhorn
Dr. Susan Block
Advice for Eliot Spitzer
Website of the Day
No Cowboys
March 15 /
16, 2008
Patrick Cockburn
How
to Destroy a Country in Five Years
Mike Whitney
Bearly
Alive: Investment Giant Rushed to ICU by Panicky Fed Chief
Ralph Nader
Of
Laws and Men
Robert Pollin
It's Still the Economy, Stupid
Diane Christian
The Poetics of Perversity: From Boccaccio to Spitzer
Wajahat Ali
Faking the Hood: a Conversation with Ishmael Reed
Tom Wright
/
Therese Saliba
Rachel Corrie's Case for Justice
Alan Farago
Back to Florida: Where Bushtime Began
Greg Moses
Raiding the Family Room in Texas
Michael Hudson
A Grand Global Bargain?
Martha Rosenberg
Why Hillary's Favorite Chicken Company is Eying China
John Goekler
Fourth Generation Warfare in a Fifth Generation Conflict
Uzma Aslam
Khan
A Letter to Barack Obama: Where's the Change, Barack?
Oren Ben-Dor
The Silencing of Gilad Atzmon
David Underhill
Mammon, Morals and the Mobile Tanker Deal
Fred Gardner
The Education of Eliot Spitzer
David Michael
Green
Why Spitzer Should Have Resigned (and Why He Shouldn't Have)
Rev. William E. Alberts
Jesus, Entombed in Heaven
Gail Dines
It's All About the John: Prostitution and Male Power
David Yearsley
Conducting, Anarchy and the Problem of When to Begin
Chris Clarke
Walking with Zeke: the Luckiest of Dogs
Poets' Basement
Anderson, Lodge & Subiet
Website of
the Day
Deviant Art
March 14, 2008
Paul Craig
Roberts
Watching
the Dollar Die
Don Santina
Vichy
Democrats: Pelosi and the Politics of Collaboration
Patrick Cockburn
Iraqi
Mother Vows Revenge on US: How She Lost Her Husband and Her Sons
Tim Rinne
StratCom
Rules! The Next War Will Start in Nebraska
Robert Fantina
In
Torture We Trust
Saul Landau
Letter
to the Presidents-in-Waitings
David Macaray
Common
Myths About Labor Unions
Franklin Lamb
Is
the Bush Administration Switching Horses in Lebanon
Michael Neumann
The
One State Illusion: Reply to My Critics
March 13, 2008
Paul Craig
Roberts
Republicans
and "Free Market" Zealots Bring Disaster to America
Mike Whitney
Meltdown
Looms Larger As Credit Markets Freeze
Assaf Kfoury
"One-State
or Two State?"- Sterile Debate on False Alternatives
Andy Worthington
Afghan
Hero Who Died in Guantánamo: The Background to the Story
Adam Federman
From
Autopia to Autogeddon: Cars Reach the End of the Road
March 12, 2008
Dave Lindorff
Bringing
Down Spitzer: It's the Big Brother Who Should Bother US
R.F. Blader
The
Spitzer Backlash
Yonatan Mendel
How
to be an Israeli Journalist. Never Write "Murder" or
"Palestine"
Jonathan Cook
One
State or Two? Neither. The Issue is Zionism
Bill and Kathy
Christison
Fallon
and Gates -- At Least One Cheer
James J. Brittain
Was
the U.S. Involved in Killing the FARC-EP Leaders
Ron Jacobs
"All
the Money You Make Will Never Buy Back Your Soul"
March 11, 2008
Paul Craig
Roberts
How
to End the Subprime Crisis
Ed O'Loughlin
How
Israeli Troops Invade Homes in Gaza, Brutalize, Smash and Steal
Ramzy Baroud
'Unwavering
Commitment' to Inequality
Kathy Christison
One
State or Two? The Debate Over Israel and Palestine
China Hand
PRC
Plays it Cool, as U.S. Tries to Amp Up Pressure on Iran
John Joslin
Thank
You, Nafta! Welcome to Weirton, Home of the Discount Cigarette
Mike Averko
Serb
Politics, Kosovo and the Moscow-Washington Divide
Ben Rosenfeld
Gavin
Newsom's Kneejerk Plan
Thierry Paquot
High
Rise, Low Spirits:The Curse of the Tower Block
March 10, 2008
Uri Avnery
"Kill
A Hundred Turks and Rest": The Five-Day War in Gaza
Col. Dan Smith
Scoring
the "Surge" and What Lies Beyond
R.F. Blader
Why
"Lock Them Up and Throw Away the Key" is Losing its
Sheen
Michael Neumann
The
One-State Illusion: More is Less
Bob Fitrakis
and Harvey Wasserman
Did
the Republicans Give Hillary Her Victory in Ohio?
James J. Brittain
Anti-Uribe
Protests in Colombia and the World
Missy Comley
Beattie
The
Passion of John McCain
March 8-9,
2008 Weekend Edition
JoAnn Wypijewski
The
Only Way to Fight the Clintons
Mike Whitney
Sorting
Through the Rubble in Post Bubble America
Peter Morici
Fed
and Treasury Fiddle as Economy Plummets
Ralph Nader
The
Silent Violence of Gaza's Suffering that Candidates Ignore
Jonathan Cook
The
Meaning of Gaza's Shoah
Steve Niva
Behind
the Israeli Escalation in Gaza
Bill and Kathy
Christison
Crisis
over Teheran's Alleged Nuclear Plans Nearing Climax
Hervé
Do Alto and Franck Poupeau
Bolivia:
Morales is Checked
Eric Walberg
To
Leave and Stay at the Same Time: Putin to Medvedev to…?
Scott Johnson
City
of A Thousand Foreclosures
Mark Scaramella
James
Brown's Gate
Bill Clinton
President
Clinton's Remarks on Naming William M. Daley as NAFTA Task Force
Chairman
Poet's Basement
St.
Thomasino, Engel, Davies and Willson
Website of
the Weekend
Hillary
Blackens Barack
March 7, 2008
Patrick Cockburn
Why
Iraq Could Blow-Up in John McCain's Face
Robin Blackburn
Question
for Barrack Obama: Why Afghanistan is the 'Right War'?
Saul Landau
The
Stupid Economy
Binoy Kampmark
When
Competition is Good: McCain and the Muddled Democrats
Chris Floyd
Crushing
the Ants: Admiral Fallon and His Empire
Andy Worthington
Spanish
Drop "Inhuman" Extradition Request for Guantánamo
Britons
Will Potter
Before
the Smoke Even Clears in Seattle: Bringing Out the T Word
March 6, 2008
March 6, 2008
Vincent Navarro
The
Next Failure of Health Reform
Forrest Hylton
High Stakes in the Andes: Colombia's Cornered President
Peter Morici
Why the Dollar is So Cheap
George Ciccariello-Maher
Counter-Attack of the Bureaucrats
John Ross
Taxi! Taxi! The Dark Side of the Oscars
Jacob Hornberger
No Standing to Lecture on Justice
Paul Watson
Illegal Japanese Whaling by the Numbers
Dan Bacher
Off the Deep End
Website of the Day
A Katrina Reader Online
March 5, 2008
Cockburn /
St. Clair
A
Great Day for John McCain (and Maybe Nader)
Joanne Mariner
After Guantanamo
Fidel Castro
The Raid on Ecuador: Underestimating Rafael Correa
Christopher
Brauchli
The Turkish Invasions
Steven Sherman
Obama and the Prospects for a Renewal of the Left
Dave Lindorff
Busting Bush & Co. in New England
James Murren
Bombing Somalia
Adam Engel
Necropolis Now
Website of Day
Remember Song
March 4, 2008
Wajahat Ali
Mumbo
Jumbo: Naming Names with Ishmael Reed
William Blum
How Could Hillary Have Known?
Bill Quigley
The Cleansing of New Orleans
Ralph Nader
The Prince Harry Solution
Patrick Irelan
Oil and Health in Venezuela
James J. Brittain
/
R. James Sacouman
Uribe's Colombia is Destabilizing a New Latin America
Norman Solomon
The War Election
Jacob Hornberger
Hillary in Waco: the Missing Apology
Andy Worthington
Guantánamo and the European Parliament
Mike Averko
Kosovo and the Press
Website of the Day
Tex-Mex Primary
March 3, 2008
Jennifer Loewenstein
Gazan Holocaust
Alan Farago
American Politics and the Faltering Economy
Richard Gott
Colombian Deaths in Ecuador
Wajahat Ali
Who Speaks for a Billion Muslims? Analyzing the World Gallup
Poll with John Esposito
Paul Craig Roberts
The Mukasey Conspiracy: a Bi-Partisan Attack on the Constitution
Robert Weissman
When Multinationals Say Adieu
Uri Avnery
Good Morning, Hamas
Martha Rosenberg
When Your Meat is a Downer
Eva Liddell
Leave the Next Dance for Bill
Michael Donnelly
Will Ferrell Does Flint
Website of the Day
Muddy Waters: Train Fare Home Blues
March 1 / 2,
2008
Alexander Cockburn
The
Race Card
Paul Craig
Roberts
The
Political Trial of Don Siegelman
Kathleen and Bill Christison
Nader the Best Antidote to American Imperialism
Nelson P. Valdés
Cuba After Fidel
Christopher Brauchli
Meet Mr. Nursultan Nazarbayev: Friend of Bill, George and Dick
Ron Jacobs
Inside the Secret City: Bomb Making at Oak Ridge
John Ross
The New Conquistadores: Spain's Reconquest of Mexico
Robert Fantina
Posturing Over Patriotism: Obama and Those Lapel Pins
Robert Weissman
Hidden in Plain Sight: Human Rights Hypocrisy
Mohammed Omer
Fear in Gaza
Remi Kanazi
Barack Obama and the Politics of Xenophobia
Bob Jackson
Why is Yellowstone Destroying Its Bison Herd?
Richard Rhames
Casual Threats: Loaded with Mercury
Franklin Lamb
Lebanon Awaits the Arrival of the USS Cole
Rannie Amiri
Showboat Diplomacy: US Warships Steam Toward Lebanon
David Michael
Green
The Three Faces of Hillary: the Politics of Flim-Flam
Conn Hallinan
Notes from the Southern Cone
Faheem Hussain
Prince Harry of Afghanistan and the Meaning of Normalcy
Poets' Basement
Gibbons, Orloski, Gardner and Ford
Website of
the Weekend
The Palestine Chronicle Needs (and Deserves) Your Help!
February 29,
2008
Matt Gonzalez
The
Obama Craze
Jonathan Cook
Academic Freedom? Not for Arabs in Israel
Joshua Frank
Obama and Israel
Anthony DiMaggio
The Unilateral Presidency: Signing Statements and the Rollback
of American Law
Linn Washington, Jr.
Cop Abuse in America
Binoy Kampmark
Hubris and Nemesis
Robert Bryce
Energy Efficiency May be a Good Thing, But It Won't Cut Energy
Use
Sonja Karkar
Australia's Government Continues Its Love Affair with Israel
Dave Lindorff
A Manchurian Candidate in the White House? Obama or Bush?
Website of
the Day
Olduvai George
February 28,
2008
Patrick Cockburn
"Iraq"
Falls Apart
Fred Gardner
The Birth of NAFTA
Michael Levitin
The Crisis in Kosovo is Just Beginning
William S.
Lind
The Fake State of Kosovo
David Macaray
A Ray of Hope for Organized Labor
Stephen Fleischman
Nader's Latest Run: Monkey Wrench or Cattle Prod?
George Wuerthner
The Myths of Forest Health: Why Ecological Logging is an Oxymoron
Laura Carlsen
The North American Union Farce
Carl Finamore
Why the Delta-Northwest Deal Hasn't Taken Off
Michael Dickinson
The Day I Bombed the House of Commons
Website of the Day
Plane Stupid
February 27,
2008
David Rosen
Playing
the Race Card: Obama, Love Across the Color Line and Political
Dirty Tricks
Vijay Prashad
Bomber John: McCain and the 100 Year War
Harvey Wasserman
Incident at Turkey Point: Did Florida Go to the Radioactive Brink?
Andy Worthington
Guantánamo's Shambolic Trials: Pentagon Boss Resigns,
Ex-Prosecutor Joins Defense
Wajahat Ali
Pakistan for Sale: an Interview with Ayesha Siddiqa on Pakistan's
Military Economy
Peter Morici
The Auction-Rate Securities Fiasco: a Drama of Greed and Betrayal
Stephen Philion
Conspiracy Theory, Fears of Betrayal and Today's Anti-War Movement
Michael Donnelly
Obama by Unanimous Decision
Erica Rosenberg /
Janine Blaeloch
After the Land Deals: Will There
be Any Wilderness Left to Protect?
Website of
the Day
Dress Blues
February 26,
2008
Debbie Nathan
Confessions
of a Gitmo Guard
Alan Dershowitz
v. Frank Menetrez
On Finkelstein
Harvey Wasserman
How Ohio Got Nuked
Michael Colby
Ralph Nader vs. the Fundamentalist Liberals
Gary Leupp
Condi vs. Putin on Bullying Belgrade
David Orchard
The New Conquistadors: Canada in Afghanistan
Martha Rosenberg
The Big HRT
Fran Shor
The Electoral Circus and Nader's Sideshow
Serge Halimi
The Dom Perignon Socialist Manifesto: Bernard Henri-Levy's Plan
for the French Left
Global Balkans
Neo-Liberalism and Protectorate States in the Post-Yugoslav Balkans:
an Interview with Tariq Ali
Website of
the Day
Texistentialism
February 25,
2008
Roger Morris
A
Death in Damascus
Anthony DiMaggio
Military
Bases, the Media and the Democrats
Ralph Nader
Why I'm Running
Patrick Cockburn
Iraq Broils
Paul Craig Roberts
Kosovo and the Empire Crazies
Peter Morici
Bernanke's Failing Policies: a Long Recession Looms
Dave Lindorff
General Welch's Whitewash: What We Still Don't Know About That
Minot Nuke Incident
Saul Landau
/
Farrah Hassen
Fanatics, Mountebanks and Drillers: a Bloody Oil Film
Heather Gray
James Orange, Civil Rights Legend
Robert Weitzel
Accomodating Torture
John Halle
Kucinich Goes Down
Website of the Day
Do the Trunk Monkey!
February 23 / 4, 2008
Alexander Cockburn
The
Mushrooming Clouds That Hang Over McCain
Paul Craig
Roberts
Obama
and Global Trade
Wajahat Ali
Omissions of the Commission: an Interview with Phillip Shenon
on the 9/11 Commission
Ralph Nader
Neutering the FDA
Jürgen
Vsych
"What Was Ralph Nader Thinking?"
Fidel Castro
Watching the US Presidential Campaign from Havana
Andy Worthington
Britain's Guantánamo
David Macaray
Unions Under Assault
Jeremy Scahill
The Real Story Behind Kosovo's Independence
David Krieger
Stanley Sheinbaum
Caging the Cold War Monster
Ron Jacobs
Building for the Future
Michael Garrity
The Last, Best Hope for the Northern Rockies
Brian McKenna
Higher Ed's "Civic Engagements" Get Dumbed Down
Missy Beattie
Over the Hill with John McCain
Fred Gardner
American College of Physicians Takes Pro-Cannabis Stand (Mostly)
Boris Kagarlitsky
The Growth of the Russian Labor Movement
Mike Ferner
Kick That Barrel
Dan Bacher
On the Trail with the Border Angels
Christopher
Ketcham
Hillary Goes Where Obama Fears to Tread
Poets' Basement
Davies and Buknatski
Website of
the Weekend
Obama
Mariachi
February 22,
2008
Mike Whitney
The
Bonfire of Capital
Jason Hribal
Elephants and the Circus: The Story of Janet
Liaquat Ali Khan
Arresting Musharraf
Joshua Frank
That Obama Glow: the Nuclear Industry's Golden Child
Dave Lindorff
Vicki's John: Ask Not What She Did for Him, Ask What He Did for
Her!
Liliana Segura
When Torture is Old News: McCain's Blonde Diversion
Robert Fantina
Castro, Bush and Cuba: a Fiasco Waiting to Happen?
Yifat Susskind
The ABCs of Death: Bush vs. Africa's Women
Norm Kent
Pushing 60 with Pot
Website of
the Day
Bush Gets Down in Liberia
February 21,
2008
Saul Landau
Fidel
Steps Aside
Elizabeth Schulte
Left Behind, With No End in Sight: America's Long-Term Unemployed
Helen Redmond
Health Care as a Human Right
Benjamin Dangl
Undermining Bolivia
Michael Levitin
Kosovo's Dilemma
Liam Leonard
Fear and Loathing on the Emerald Isle
Patrick Irelan
Land and Food in Venezuela
Linn Cohen-Cole
Poor Ohio: a Second Letter to Hillary on Her Ties to Monsanto
Michael Simmons
Daydream Believer: John Stewart, the Miles Davis of Folk Music
CounterPunch
News Service
A Message from the Women of Okinawa to US GIs
Website of the Day
Cop Abuse in Shreveport
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March
18, 2008
Retail Clerks Unite!
Could
Wal-Mart Revive the Labor Movement?
By DAVID MACARAY
"I may have lots of faults,
but being wrong ain't one of them."
--Jimmy Hoffa
Referring to Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. as
a "successful business" is like calling the Pacific
Ocean a "large body of water." Since its founding
in 1962, Wal-Mart has come to be recognized as a marketing phenomenon,
a retailing juggernaut, an icon, a household word around the
globe.
Wal-Mart has 60 stores in Communist
China. It sells more records, more groceries and more toys than
any chain in the U.S. It's not only the largest private employer
in the United States, Mexico and Canada, it's the largest private
employer in the world, and the fourth largest employer of any
kind, behind the Chinese Army, British National Health Service,
and Indian Railways.
Tangentially, it's also become
a symbolic thorn in the side of organized labor. Actually, it's
more than a thorn; it's a metaphorical dagger in labor's heart.
Back when Wal-Mart had a "mere"
3,600 stores in the U.S. (there are 4,000 today), the AFL-CIO
launched an aggressive organizing drive against the company,
looking to crack its imperious, enamel-like shell. Yet, despite
bringing all of its formidable resources to bear, the House of
Labor could not convince the employees of a single store to join
the union, further solidifying the giant retailer's worldwide
reputation as being more or less "union proof."
In truth, the overall record,
while calamitous, hasn't been a total goose egg. Over the years
there have, in fact, been a handful of Canadian Wal-Mart stores
that voted to join a union-no small accomplishment considering
the opposition they faced. We can't count the "unionized"
Wal-Mart stores in China, because Chinese unions are State-owned
entities serving as little more than political tools.
Alas, the only Wal-Marters
in the U.S. to have voted in favor of a union were a group of
meat-cutters in Texas, who, in 2000, voted to join the UFCW (United
Food and Commercial Workers). The company responded by instantly
shutting down its meat-cutting operation and going to pre-packaged
meats at over 150 stores in Texas and the southwest (an indication
of just how vehemently anti-union their management is).
But let's give Wal-Mart employees
some credit. They aren't stupid. It's not that they can't see
the advantages of joining a labor union, or don't care about
improving their wages, benefits and working conditions. For
the most part, what prevents these people from signing union
cards isn't ignorance, but fear-the fear of losing their
jobs, the fear that the company will close up shop and move to
another location if they go union, or fire people who are caught
circulating union literature.
At Wal-Mart it's understood
that if the bosses catch you passing out union pamphlets, you're
history; they fire you. Employees are routinely warned of the
evils of union representation, and cautioned to report any union
organizers lurking about. It's a gestapo-like atmosphere. Which
raises the question: Isn't it illegal to threaten or discharge
an employee for disseminating union literature? Of course it
is. It's a clear violation of federal labor law, and Wal-Mart
knows it.
The problem is, not only are
unfair labor practice charges (ULPs) difficult to prove in court,
but a company with Wal-Mart's muscle isn't going to worry about
something as petty as an obscure labor statute. Even if they
get nailed a few times (which they have), they're willing to
risk it. Wal-Mart has found that the public relations backlash
to getting hit with the occasional ULP is miniscule.
However, as grim as the future
appears, it isn't hopeless. Indeed, there's a scenario by which
Wal-Mart's employees not only organize themselves, but rise up
and lead a renaissance-a Great Revival-of union activism and
influence.
And no, it's not a fairy tale.
First, a quick look at what
happened to the movement. Arguably, there were two crushing
blows that put organized labor on the ropes: one was an increase
in aggressive, anti-union tactics by American corporations, traceable
to President Reagan's sudden firing of 11,000 air traffic controllers,
in 1981; the other was the loss of, literally, millions
of well-paid, richly-benefited jobs in the manufacturing sector.
These jobs-in the auto industry,
in steel, rubber, timber, furniture, heavy equipment, pulp and
paper mills, etc.-generated considerable purchasing power. They
were jobs that afforded employees new homes and new cars, jobs
into which sons and daughters proudly followed their parents.
It's no exaggeration to say that it was these jobs that were
responsible for "inventing" the middle-class.
Today, however, the mantra
you keep hearing is that the United States has shifted from a
manufacturing economy to a "service economy." Accordingly,
the unions that have continued to prosper are the "service"
unions, those whose workers are immune to having their jobs co-opted
or sent overseas: teachers, nurses, pilots, actors, screenwriters,
longshoremen, police and firemen, truckers, railroad workers,
carpenters and the like.
Although we still build cars
in this country, the combination of foreign brands cutting into
the U.S. market and manufacturing plants moving to the anti-union
Southern states has decimated the UAW (United Auto Workers).
Overall union membership in the U.S. has dropped from a high
of 35% (during the 1950s) to about 12% today, and no group has
taken a more dramatic hit than the UAW.
But there's another, generally
overlooked classification of "service" job that is
also immune to having its work shipped off to a foreign country.
It's the retail clerks. They're the people who man the checkout
stands, deal with the customers, stock the shelves, and generally
keep the store running. They're the people who work at Wal-Mart.
Consider: If America's prestigious
"big boy" unions (autos, steel, heavy equipment) have
been laid low by the effects of globalization, is it not unreasonable
to suggest that labor's less glamorous but more secure "little
brothers" step in and fill the void?
After all, a union's success
is the product of two factors: leverage and a willingness to
fight. Being willing to fight, but having little leverage, means,
game as you are, you're destined to go down in flames. Conversely,
having considerable leverage, but being unwilling to fight, means
you're destined to tread water, and deserve no more than you
get.
So what would happen if Wal-Mart
employees across the county were to simultaneously throw down
the gauntlet? What would happen if they announced, en masse,
that they were going to seek union affiliation-either by joining
an existing union or forming one of their own-and dared
the company to try and stop them?
Wouldn't such a splashy public
declaration (via full-page ads in major newspapers, TV and radio)
put Wal-Mart on the defensive? Wouldn't all the national attention
prevent the company from resorting to its usual tactics of illegal
threats and intimidation? Without the fear of being fired, employees
would be free to vote as they pleased. The floodgates would
open.
Moreover, with so many of its
4,000 stores involved, Wal-Mart wouldn't have the tactical option
of shutting down those units that voted to go union. There simply
would be too many of them.
Think about it. If Wal-Mart workers announced-in front of God,
Pete Seeger, and the Department of Labor-their intention to unionize,
what could Wal-Mart management legally do to prevent them?
With so much sunshine let in, any move they made would be subject
to intense scrutiny. The employees' declaration would carry
the moral authority of Ronald Reagan's famous, "Mr. Gorbachev,
tear down this wall!"
This is where the AFL-CIO and
its money enter the equation. In addition to paying for the
newspaper and other media spots, the AFL-CIO could be counted
on to provide free legal representation to anyone who was fired
for his or her union involvement. If there's one thing the House
of Labor has plenty of, it's money. The AFL-CIO's legal defense
team lives for moments like this.
The fact that America's retail
clerks can't be swallowed up or outsourced needs to be seen as
more than just a lucky break. It's a circumstance which, if
played right, can be converted into an enormous leverage. Wal-Mart's
magnitude, high profile, and dependence upon a mega-sized workforce
are the very components which, ironically, make it vulnerable
to a well-orchestrated uprising.
And it's not only Wal-Marters
who have this opportunity laid before them. With the luxury
of knowing that their jobs can't be pulled out from under them,
the retail clerks at Target, Starbucks, Home Depot, et al, would
also have the power to drop the hammer. Audacious as it sounds,
retail clerks, if mobilized, could be the ones to reinvigorate
the labor movement. Crazier things have happened.
David Macaray, a Los Angeles playwright and writer,
was president and chief contract negotiator of the Assn. of Western
Pulp and Paper Workers, Local 672, from 1989 to 2000. He can
be reached at: dmacaray@earthlink.net
|
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