As LAWCHA members know, contemporary unionism is almost invisible—union members usually don’t show T-shirts or bumper stickers and certainly  not yard signs proclaiming “Proud Union Family.” Union  history is equally uncelebrated so each of us needs to promote public displays of the movement’s history.

On Tuesday, the AFL-CIO Executive Council approved a Statement on Energy and Jobs that effectively endorsed the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. Technically, the resolution supported expanding the nation’s pipeline infrastructure, but this was an attempt to bypass outright support of a project that has attracted great criticism from the environmental community while dividing the federation’s constituent unions.

Is private sector labor law reform the most futile project of the last seventy-five years? Despite the desperate need for a functioning labor system, it’s at least in the running for the title.

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to check out Cape Cod in the winter. It was pretty great, even if cold. On my way to the Cape, I drove past a Wendy’s. They were offering a fish sandwich–made with North Pacific cod.

It may be clichéd to remark that the 2008 presidential election of Barack Obama, and his historic re-election, were momentous events not only in U.S. history but also in the long march of African American history.

Senator Tom Harkin’s (D-Iowa) comments  about President Obama’s State of the Union Address seemed to be channeling one of this blog’s recent commentaries by Leon Fink on Obama’s Inaugural Address. Fink reflected on the absence of historical memory about the role of labor in the past and the present in Obama’s historical presentation

Editor’s note: The conservative journal National Review recently gave this blog and the journal Labor: Working Class History of the Americas a blast of publicity about the forum on Timothy Messer-Kruse’s book on Haymarket.

It’s Saturday February 9th as I write this. Every postal worker knows by heart their first official day of work as their “anniversary date.” Not for sentimental reasons, but for purposes of seniority, retirement, and all the benefits thereof. It’s an important date. 

All week I’ve been glued to coverage regarding our drone policy and the leak of documents rationalizing U.S. government policies surrounding their use. Talking heads, blogs and political commentary have me reeling over the implications of our new policy and its general disregard for due process, judicial review, and civil rights.