Worth a Read, NYT: President-elect Obama must make “a forceful labor agenda”

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.afscmeblog.org/category/workers-rights/

Several clickable links in story at link.

Worth a Read
January 5th, 2009

The New York Times editorial board makes a strong, clearly argued and unambiguous case that President-elect Obama must make “a forceful labor agenda” a top priority of his new administration. His first order of business should be to give his Labor Secretary-designate, Rep. Hilda Solis, the power she needs to protect working families – including a push for quick passage of the Employee Free Choice Act:

“Only the president can give the new labor secretary the clout she will need to do well at a job that has been done so badly for so long, at such great cost to the quality of Americans’ lives.”

Read more at the AFL-CIO Now Blog.

In the same issue of the Times, Nobel Laureate Economist Paul Krugman calls on the country’s governors to avoid repeating, at the state level, the “fiscal mistake of 1932, in which the federal government tried to balance its budget in the face of a severe recession.”

Writes Krugman:

“But even as Washington tries to rescue the economy, the nation will be reeling from the actions of 50 Herbert Hoovers — state governors who are slashing spending in a time of recession, often at the expense both of their most vulnerable constituents and of the nation’s economic future. These state-level cutbacks range from small acts of cruelty to giant acts of panic — from cuts in South Carolina’s juvenile justice program, which will force young offenders out of group homes and into prison, to the decision by a committee that manages California state spending to halt all construction outlays for six months. … But let’s step back for a moment and contemplate just how crazy it is, from a national point of view, to be cutting public services and public investment right now.”

We do indeed know how crazy such cuts are. AFSCME members are on the frontlines of this crisis, trying to serve more people in need and doing so with less resources.

[antigop]

1. Get rid of the tax break for shipping jobs overseas. I'd also like to see the DOL investigate

all age discrimination claims that are on file.