by Leo Gerard | Sep 25, 2009 | Blog, Minimum Wage
My union, the United Steelworkers (USW), and three paper manufacturers will have free traders and editorial boards across the nation sputtering, spitting and name calling again this week. They started labeling us “protectionist” last week when President Obama made...
by Eric Lotke | Sep 25, 2009 | Blog, Minimum Wage
The G-20 Summit is wrapping up today. We can compare its performance to promises made in advance. Leaders discussed financial markets, of course, but they also made promises about jobs and work. Some highlights: “3. We must promote employment through structural...
by Dave Johnson | Sep 18, 2009 | Blog, Minimum Wage
“Protectionism” is a very powerful word. In fact, simply evoking the word is capable of ending debate on any subject related to trade. Invoking the magic words, “You can’t do that, it would be protectionist,” settles all arguments. Why, exactly, is protectionism so...
by Leo Gerard | Sep 16, 2009 | Blog, Minimum Wage
Let's go back, just for a minute, to a time before screaming teabaggers, before Republicans decided to kill health insurance reform as a means to politically destroy this country's first African-American president. Try and remember what it was like before discussion...
by Leo Gerard | Sep 14, 2009 | Blog, Making it in America, Minimum Wage
Barack Obama proved Friday he's got grit. He enforced trade laws. These are special trade safeguard rules called "Section 421" that the Chinese had agreed to obey to gain entrance to the World Trade Organization (WTO). They are, however, laws that had gone unenforced...
by Sam Pizzigati | Aug 23, 2009 | Blog, Minimum Wage
Across the pond, in the UK, the idea of capping income is suddenly starting to make a respectable splash. The Great Depression gave us the minimum wage. Might we now see a “maximum wage,” thanks to the Great Recession? That prospect now seems to have...