The fun continued unabated at TodaysWorkplace.org, as we continued our Take Back Labor Day project for Week 3: September 15-19, 2008. Although we featured fewer posts this week than the previous two weeks, we still tackled many provocative issues that are frequently in the headlines.
On Monday, September 15, we kicked off the week with a post by Paul Bland of Public Justice. Bland, at the center of virtually all litigation to eliminate the scourge of mandatory arbitration in employment cases, tells us all about the pernicious practice that “require[s] current and prospective employees to sign away core constitutional rights as a condition of getting a job,” in the post “Labor in Exchange for One’s Rights.”
The next day, Tuesday, September 16, features Phil Duran of Outfront Minnesota. Duran, who represents transgender employees in discrimination cases, reminds us that not everyone is fully sharing in Labor Day’s promise when transgender employees lack full antidiscrimination protections under federal law, in the post “Sharing Labor Day with Transgender Workers.”
Wednesday, September 17 continued Week 3 with Jeff Blum of US Action. Blum tells us about US Action’s exciting new initiative to bring back some New Deal-era ideas, in the post, The Next New Deal. I think we’d all agree with him that:
We need to invest in our nation’s future and rebuild our middle class; creating good paying jobs instead of shipping them all overseas. No more race to the bottom, we need to begin our race to the top!
In our last post of the week, on Thursday, September 18, Tula Connell of the AFL-CIO, addresses issues straight out of the headlines:
Worsening unemployment. Millions of home foreclosures. Two-income households unable to support families. America’s workers are facing economic disasters so severe, even the national media is paying attention.
Connell’s post, Working Harder for Less Mocks the American Dream, reminds us that the Employee Free Choice Act is a way that we can correct the existing imbalance between workers and their employers which is one of the causes of the financial inequities dominating the headlines.
Although we’re inching closer to the end of the month, we will still be going strong next week, with posts from notables such as: Ilona Turner, Cyrus Mehri, Jen Nedeau, Richard Freeman, and Charlotte Fishman. (See About Our Bloggers to learn more about our rock-star lineup for next week.) Stay tuned every weekday in September to hear about what our experts will be talking about next — you can be certain it’s being ripped from the headlines!
