In These Times

Struggling University Students Take on ‘Dr. Pepper Spray’ in Milwaukee

By Roger Bybee University students' national day of action on March 4—focused on soaring tuition which is closing… more

Jobless Rate Steady in February, as ‘Two Separate Americas’ Persist

By Roger Bybee The latest unemployment report, showing an unemployment rate stuck at 9.7%  in February, offers ambiguous… more

Bunning Shamelessly Intensifies ‘National Experiment in Stress’

By Roger Bybee When Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) begged Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) to drop his one-man obstruction… more

To Regain Public’s Support, Labor and Dems Must Push Harder for Jobs

By Roger Bybee The last time that banks and corporations subjected hard-working Americans to this level of misery,… more

Five Days Left. Will Congress Act to Help Jobless?

"What has happened in America has broke my heart. I can't begin to describe the pain and anger."… more

‘Free Trade,’ Obama, and Colombia’s Death-Squad Killings

By Roger Bybee In his State of the Union speech, President Obama argued that the U.S. could return… more

Jobless Growing Desperate, Angry, as Unemployment Deadline Looms

"[Layoffs] are the opposite of life-giving; they literally deplete life… Layoffs diminish the ability to restart. You can… more

Why is Obama Taking Recovery Advice From GE’s CEO?

By Roger Bybee Former General Electric CEO Jack Welch epitomized the ultimate corporate globalization mentality when he declared… more

‘Which Side Are You On?

The 'House of Labor' tries to have it both ways with the Supreme Court's momentous campaign finance decision. more

vol. 34, iss. 03    corporations, elections, labor, spending

1.2M Jobless Face Unemployment Extension Deadline—and Regressive Tax on Benefits

By Roger Bybee With polls about the election of GOP Sen. Scott Brown in Massachusetts showing that much… more

As Milwaukee’s Economy Fails, How Can Public Schools Succeed?

By Roger Bybee Milwaukee's public schools are in trouble: less than half of students who begin high school… more

Dems Need to Sharply Re-Focus on Workers’ Plight

From Washington to Wisconsin, the line between Dems and the GOP is too blurry Republican… more

Teaching Assistants’ Union Resists University’s ‘Neo-Liberal’ Turn

Ban on foreign students joining union part of corporatist trend, labor leader says By Roger Bybee Thanks to… more

Corporate Unionbusting Continues, Even as Unionized Workforce Shrinks

By Roger Bybee A couple months ago, a student of mine at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee got desperate… more

Tuesday’s Message to Dems: Which Side Are You On?

By Roger Bybee The Democrats' stupefying Senate defeat Tuesday in Massachusetts undoubtedly will lead most pundits and conservative… more

From Plant Shutdowns to Plasma, Cerberus is Financial Vampire

By Roger Bybee Somehow, the special congressional committee on the ruinous Wall Street meltdown appears incapable of asking… more

Will High-Profile Hearings Sink Wall Street Pirates?

By Roger Bybee Blackbeard the Pirate never had to face a dilemma about how much plunder  to sail… more

As Mid-Term Election Nears, Get Ready for GOP Populist Pitch

By Roger Bybee As we move into 2010, toward November's mid-term congressional elections, things don't exactly look rosy… more

What Fuels Overseas Sit-Down Strikes?

By Roger Bybee In sharp contrast to the brass-knuckled capitalism of the U.S., workers in Western Europe enjoy… more

One Year After Republic: Why Didn’t Occupation Bring Revolt to U.S.?

This is the second article of a two-part series (roughly) marking the one-year anniversary of the Republic Windows… more

The Shipping Point

Between China and big box stores, minimum wage ‘temp’ workers take a stand. more

vol. 34, iss. 01    chicago, jobs, labor

One Year After Republic: Workers’ Hidden Sit-Down Strike Tradition

This is the first of a two-part series marking the one-year anniversary of the Republic Windows and Doors factory… more

Brass Tacks: Will Senate Bill Make Healthcare More Affordable?

By Roger Bybee "What value do the insurers bring to our healthcare system?" demanded Donna Smith, legislative advocate… more

The Climate Problem Is a Corporate Problem

By Roger Bybee With world attention riveted on Copenhagen and global climate change (except for those checking out… more

Working Families’ Bailout Needed Urgently. But Who Will Make it Happen?

By Roger Bybee The hemorrhaging of jobs during the current Great Recession—reaching as high as 800,000 some months—has… more

Paid Sick Day Fight Pits Mother Nature vs. CEOs

By Roger BybeeThe very notion of government-mandated paid sick leave—even with the specter of potentially fatal H1N1… more

Stupak: A Massive Headache for Organized Labor

By Roger Bybee Michigan Congressman Bart Stupak seems to have a split personality—and it may torpedo the best… more

Flawed Health Reform Could Hurt Dems in 2010—Part 2

By Roger Bybee For the first part of this piece, go here. Once Americans sort out the meaning… more

Flawed Health Reform Could Hurt Dems in 2010—Part I

By Roger Bybee Many progressives appear to know little about the latest proposed Senate health reform bill, other… more

Chinese Labor Repression Undermines U.S. Recovery

By Roger Bybee "We cannot go back," President Barack Obama said in September, "to an era where the… more

10 Years After: Labor Needs Spirit of Seattle Protests

By Roger Bybee Ten years ago, U.S. labor—led by the Steelworkers and West Coast Longshoremen—and a vast alliance… more

Despite Swine Flu Spread, Businesses Oppose Paid Sick Days

By Roger Bybee … more

Will ‘Notown’ Become Everytown?

By Roger Bybee Motown is now known as "Notown," according to a Time magazine cover headline from a… more

As Dems Dither on Crisis, Right Appeals to Racism

By Roger Bybee The recovery must be here. After all, what more proof is needed than the fact… more

Dems Need More ‘Problem Children’ Like Alan Grayson

By Roger Bybee The late Saul Alinsky, the scrappy Chicagoan who translated unionizing methods into a systematic approach… more

The Pillage People

One year after the Wall Street bailout, real reform of the financial sector is still a dream. more

vol. 33, iss. 11    corporations, economy, obama

Could Botched Heath Reform Resuscitate the Right?

By Roger Bybee "Why in the hell would we want any healthcare reform with a big explosive device… more

Corporations: Maybe They’re Just Not That Into Us

"Pay cuts, sometimes the result of downgrades in rank or shortened workweeks, are occurring more frequently than at… more

Ex-Insurance Exec Sees Big Backlash to Healthcare Bill

By Roger Bybee Wendell Potter knows the health insurance industry from the inside out, having served for years… more

Con Air: The ‘Safe’ Offshoring of Airline Repair

By Roger Bybee “We’re in the business of making money for our shareholders. If we have to put… more

From Here to ‘Plutonomy’: Why We Need An Economic Bill of Rights

By Roger Bybee Faith in Corporate America and its doctrine of "free enterprise" have been tanking for the… more

The Great Job Training Fraud

By Roger Bybee The fact that 80 percent of economists proclaimed this week that the recession is over… more

Will Health Industry Rattlesnakes Wake up Dems on Reform?

Even the most well-behaved nest of rattlesnakes can only wait so long before their rattles start twitching and… more

‘American Dread’ Offers Gallows Humor, Biting Wit for Hard Times

By Roger Bybee American Dread, the sixth volume of artwork from labor cartoonists Gary Huck and Mike Konopacki,… more

America Loses a True Working-Class Hero

"A working-class hero is something to be"—John Lennon On October 1, when retired UAW Local 72 President Rudy… more

Insurers Get $465B in Subsidies. Uninsured Could Get Fined.

By Roger Bybee With Sen. Max Baucus (D-Montana) behind the wheel, recklessly careening over majority sentiment and then… more

New Stimulus Needed Before Recovery Stalls

By Roger Bybee The need for a second economic stimulus focused directly on job creation could not be… more

USW Local Fights to Block Steel Mill Demolition

By Roger Bybee There's a very interested buyer for one of the nation's most productive steel mills, but… more

Letter from an Angry Tea Party

MILWAUKEE, WISC.—Milwaukee's "tea party" last Saturday provided a predictable display of incoherent, hallucinatory rhetoric aimed at President Obama… more

Mass Unemployment: An Epidemic of ‘Social Murder’

Unemployment quite literally kills. Fifteen million people out of work represents an epidemic of what 19th century philosopher… more

NYT Puff Piece on Wisc. ‘Recovery’ Ignores Mass Unemployment

The New York Times, despite its liberal reputation, only rarely extends its liberalism to cover the plight of… more

Wisconsin Workers’ ‘Victory’ is Oklahoma Workers’ Loss

Mercury Marine seemed poised to make a clean getaway from Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. The company had written… more

Can New AFL-CIO Leadership Build on Rank-and-File Spirit?

Under the influence of successively less articulate, less visionary, and less militant leaders at the top of the… more

Top 10 Lessons from the Healthcare Reform War

Labor Day will kick off the final and probably decisive stage of the fight for healthcare reform in… more

Masterful Manipulation: Union Cast as Villain in Plant Shutdown Set-Up

The Mercury Marine factory shutdown story in Fond du Lac, Wisc., continues to offer a valuable, if sad,… more

How to Stop a Shutdown: Lessons from the Past and for the Future

Industrial communities are having their hearts ripped out one after another, with Fond du Lac, Wisc.--a town of… more

Taming Wall Street Cowboys

A new advocacy group heads to Capitol Hill to counter financial industry lobbyists hungry for deregulation. more

vol. 33, iss. 09    activism, economy

Mercury Plant Shutdown Will Torpedo Town’s Future

Mercury Marine has not only built outboard motors for boating enthusiasts for the past 70 years, but its… more

On the Offensive, Trumka, Progressive Dems Revive Healthcare Battle

It’s been a cruel, cruel summer for pro-labor progressives—until the last couple days when AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka… more

Dixie Media Versus Unions

A new book reveals how Southern media have strengthened the region's corporatocracy. more

vol. 33, iss. 09    labor, media

After ‘Public Option’ Setback, New Reform Strategy Needed

The Obama administration has delivered multiple signals of surrender on the ‘public option’ front, one of the most… more

Town Halls Madness a Sideshow, While Baucus and Blue Dogs Cut Deals

It’s been hard to ignore the brazen displays of loutish ignorance, bristling hostility and blatant racism vibrating throughout… more

Sicko: Milwaukee Officials Won’t Stand Behind 69% Vote for Paid Sick Days

In the midst of a progressive wave repudiating the harsh and failed “free-market” policies of the Republicans, Milwaukee… more

Indiana’s Blue Dogs Run Roughshod Over Workers

The jobless in Indiana are doubly cursed. They have been hammered by a 10.7 percent unemployment rate and… more

From ‘Creative Destruction’ to ‘Destructive Destruction’

When the facts don’t fit the frames, the frames are kept and the facts ignored, progressive linguist George… more

Could Healthcare ‘Reform’ Make Things Worse?

Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) is no friend of workers, as shown by his ferocious and hypocritical crusade to… more

The Recessionary Shock Doctrine: Shutdowns, Outsourcing

At the White House, President Obama’s team reportedly jokes, “Never pass up the opportunity of a good crisis.”… more

Healthcare ‘Reform’ Appears to Magnify Power of Insurers, Big Pharma

After virtually a century of struggle for a national healthcare plan, it finally appeared that the stars were… more

Dems Need to Feel Real Heat From Labor

Before the Wagner Act of 1935 establishing the right to form unions, labor activists like my paternal grandfather… more

What Has the Crisis Taught America’s Bankers?

It’s hard to find a summary of the current economic crisis as precise and concise as the one… more

Obama still preoccupied with Wall St., as American ‘Turbulence’ Grows

The so-called economic recovery currently sounds like a sputtering airplane struggling to get off the ground, desperately needing… more

Sewer Socialism Down the Drain?

Activists in Milwaukee fight to keep their city's water system in public hands. more

vol. 33, iss. 08   

Auto Task Force Outsources Jobs

Obama's recovery plan steers GM and Chrysler in the wrong direction
. more

vol. 33, iss. 07   

Skewed Debate

Strange bedfellows oppose single-payer healthcare reform. more

vol. 33, iss. 06   

Pulp Friction

A private equity firm’s decision to shut down a profitable paper mill devastates a Wisconsin community. more

vol. 33, iss. 01   

Gunning for the Prize

An interview with Noam Chomsky more

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