Last year, I ran for San Francisco District Supervisor in a crowded field of nine candidates and lost by 132 votes out of 35,351 votes cast. I would be less than truthful if I told you I wasn't disappointed. But my campaign experience also opened my eyes to new possibilities for organized labor to take a more active role in our democracy.

Hugh J. Campbell of the United Steelworkers (USW) sends us Americans Held Hostage in Global Jobs War by Beltway Tax Cartel. 

In October 2009, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stated that a new national Value Added Tax (VAT) was “on the table” to help the federal government garner needed revenues.

It has been five years since the irresponsible speculation of our financial sector drove the U.S. economy over a cliff. Not since the wild excesses of the 1920s resulted in the Great Depression has anything as dire resulted from the machinations of our bankers and brokers.

The massive federal...

Recently a designer socialism seems to have taken root among corporations in this country. It is, for the lack of a better word, corporate socialism; its espoused philosophy appears to be any profit is mine but my debt is yours. Pure socialism...

I am writing this letter because of the Patriot Coal bankruptcy proceedings taking place at the federal courthouse in St. Louis, Missouri. I am writing this letter on behalf of the thousands of UMWA [Mine Workers] retirees who sacrificed their bodies to build a billion dollar company, on behalf of the thousands of UMWA retirees and their families who depend on their pensions and health care to live, on behalf of the more than 4,000 active UMWA employees at Patriot Coal whose jobs are threatened, on behalf of the coal miner spouses who wait and worry that their loved ones will not return to them due to a mining accident or disaster, on behalf of the mine workers who fought, suffered and died at the battle of Blair Mountain, and the Ludow, Colo., massacre, on behalf of the mine workers at Piston and countless other labor struggles.

The first-ever Global Labor Film Festival (GLFF) kicks off on May Day, as festivals in the United States, Australia, England, Israel, Norway and Turkey host more than a dozen screenings of labor films. 

Highlighted in Nate Silver’s New York Times article, Conservatives’ Love Affair with Christie Is Over, was New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie becoming the eighth Republican governor to announce that he will accept Medicaid expansion under the president’s health care law, in spite of Christie’s party’s general opposition to the law.

Harry Moser, founder of Reshoring Initiative, is courageously engaged in a debate on Economist.com. The link to the debate follows: Offshoring & Outsourcing: Do Multinational Corporations Have a Duty to Maintain a Strong Presence in Their Home Countries? Moser’s opponent argues that: competitiveness is hardly likely to be undermined by multinational corporations investing abroad.

With the desire to focus all attention on solving the emergent issues with the Boeing Co.’s 787, the union representing engineers and technical workers proposed incorporating areas of agreement from ongoing negotiations into existing contracts and extending the agreements for another four years.

Last week, millions of unemployed American workers who are currently receiving Federal Extended Unemployment Benefits were notified that on Dec. 29, 2012, these benefits will end. Many of the people receiving this message are union brothers and sisters. These union members depend on these benefits to provide food and housing for their families until they can obtain a new job. They fell on hard times through no fault of their own, now they need our help in getting these benefits extended through 2013.