Category Archives: Labor/Economics

Ironworkers at Labor Day Parade Pose for a Photo with the Latest Public i

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Mother Jones Spotted at Labor Day Parade

Many were at the Labor Day Parade in Urbana, Illinois, including Germaine Light who dressed up as Mother Jones and marched with the local chapter of Jobs With Justice.

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Progressive Voice Needs Clearer Expression Prior to the 2012 Elections

Progressive Voice Needs Clearer Expression Prior to the 2012 Elections Progressives need make a much simpler and more direct case for their positions going into the Fall 2012 elections. Tea Party advocates have managed to capture the rhetoric being used … Continue reading

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Understanding the Phoney Debt Crisis: Intergenerational Myths and Economic Realities

Understanding the Phony Debt Crisis: Inter-generational Myths and Economic Realities David Green (davidgreen50@gmail.com)lives in Urbana. He regularly contributes to News from Neptune, both on UPTV and WEFT-FM. Before discussing the inter-generational mythology that pertains to the phony debt crisis, three … Continue reading

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NFL Labor Lessons

The NFL lockout is over! At the outset, things did not look good for the players. There were worries about DeMaurice Smith, the new executive director of the NFL Players Association (NFLPA), having to learn the ropes during first labor … Continue reading

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US Suppresses Minimum Wage in Haiti, And More

The release of 1,918 Haiti-related diplomatic cables by WikiLeaks this summer reveals details of US involvement in Haiti from 2003 to present. Unfortunately, the cables support the historical pattern, just adding in disturbing details. If there is any good news … Continue reading

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Our World Economy: Three Facts, Two Problems, and Two Solutions

Three Facts & Two Problems: 1. Growth, as defined by the capacity to produce goods and services is greater than ever before, and continues to increase. This is what we expect of the economy. Often this is all that seems … Continue reading

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Jimmy Johns Under Fire for Health Risks

While some have expressed displeasure with the recent photos of Jimmy John Liautaud’s hunting of leopards and other exotic animals, another much more damaging story has fallen under the radar. In April, a Minneapolis-St. Paul Jimmy John’s franchise fired six … Continue reading

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Statement From Socialist Forum of Champaign-Urbana

Our Democracy Has Been Replaced By a Plutocracy The present assault on working people and the poor shows us clearly the class warfare inherent in capitalism.  The system aims to treat everything, including people, as commodities in order to maximize … Continue reading

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Awakening to The Limits of the Obama Presidency

There are folks who seem to keep hoping that Obama has a “progressive” side which we will all soon see emerge—reminiscent of the transformation of Clark Kent to Superman in the phone booth. Yet, I can’t help wondering if all … Continue reading

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Chicago Commemorates 125th Anniversary of Haymarket Affair

In early May 1886, Chicago workers demonstrated for an eight-hour workday. One demonstration on May 3, 1886, in solidarity with workers who had been locked outside of the McCormick Reaper Plant while strikebreakers worked inside, led to police opening fire … Continue reading

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Solidarity Rally Turns into Spontaneous Temporary Occupation

On Friday, March 11, 2011, approximately 300 people joined a nationwide student walkout and rally on the quad at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. What was unique about this rally was the number of many new faces of people … Continue reading

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We Went to Madison: Now Let’s Talk

We went to Madison for our own reasons and had own experiences, but we want to speak less in terms of autobiography; our emphasis here is on the movement and all those present… What follows is a selection of a … Continue reading

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Mothers Strike!

Historically, traditional economists have excluded the value of household economy work from economic calculations insisting that the household economy doesn’t constitute labor and can’t be quantified. However, if we consider the tasks themselves involved in “housework,” as Riane Eisler does, … Continue reading

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Letter from Madison, February 27, 2011

This Sunday Zach Poppel and I traveled to Madison to support the occupation of the Wisconsin Capitol. I want to share some of my experiences. As we left for Madison, we knew we might not be able to get into … Continue reading

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Reflections on the GEO Strike a Year Later

Students and workers are celebrating the first anniversary of the successful strike by the Graduate Employees’ Organization (GEO) and Local 6300 (AFT/IFT/AFL-CIO), the union that represents over 2,500 graduate assistants and teaching assistants at the University of Illinois at Urbana … Continue reading

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Jimmy John’s Sandwich Workers to Continue to Press for Improved Working Conditions

MINNEAPOLIS—THE JIMMY JOHN’S WORKERS UNION has filed a 12-page Objection to the October 22 National Labor Review Board (NLRB) election at 10 Minneapolis sandwich shops, outlining a pattern of pervasive and systemic labor rights violations that prevented the possibility of … Continue reading

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Cinching Our Belts With No Economic Recovery

LOUD VOICES FROM the worlds of business and government have called for people to pay a larger share of the costs of their maintenance. These voices call for cutting back on payments to working people in wages, healthcare, retirement pensions, … Continue reading

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French Protesters Have It Right: No Need to Raise the Retirement Age

THE DEMONSTRATIONS THAT have rocked France this past week highlight some of its differences from the United States. The photo below, for example shows the difference between rioting in baseball- playing versus soccer-playing countries. In the US, we would pick … Continue reading

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The Battle of Mahomet

STUDENTS AND EDUCATORS in Mahomet were back in class on Monday, Aug. 23 after the Mahomet Seymour Education Association (MSEA) and the school board were able to settle on a new contract on Aug. 20. The settlement marked an end … Continue reading

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