Free Republic

SEIU Healthcare 775NW is hiring a Lead internal organizer to lead a team of eight organizers who are focused on leadership development, the “Leaders In Action” field team, working with public and private sector home care workers. This team develops leaders and builds networks to take action in a variety of campaigns.

Other than a three-day weekend, most Americans don't give much thought to what they're supposed to be observing on Labor Day. In practice, it's become little more than the unofficial celebration of the end of summer. Back in 1882, when New York City's Central Labor Union inaugurated the holiday, the labor movement was quite a different thing than it is today. Once upon a time, workers had valid grievances regarding pay, hours, conditions and safety. Unions served a positive role in leveraging the collective influence of their members to pressure management to redress those grievances. But labor unions are political...

In recognition of his courage, sacrifice and leadership, we honor Brother Mikhail Volynets, President of the Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Ukraine (CFTUU), with the 2004 George Meany & Lane Kirkland Human Rights Award. In the face of extreme political repression, employer interference and government corruption, Brother Volynets and the CFTUU are vigorous advocates for workers’ rights, democracy and social and economic justice.

As the nation's union leaders gather today in Washington the labor movement is in turmoil, with the president of the A.F.L.-C.I.O.'s largest union hinting that it might pull out of the labor federation and some labor leaders saying that John J. Sweeney may face a challenge for its presidency. In a sign of the jockeying and soul-searching, Andrew L. Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union, the A.F.L.-C.I.O.'s largest union, called yesterday in a letter for far-reaching changes in labor designed to increase its membership, proposing a $25-million-a-year campaign to unionize Wal-Mart and a near doubling in the amount...