Economic Meltdown

  • Classical Musicians Get Their Penguin Suits Dirty
    Barbara Zmich
    Nov 9 2009 - 1:16am

    The on-stage evening dress worn by musicians in unionized symphonies may be more frayed than it looks from far away. Musicians are banding together in a recession that's putting orchestras and union contracts under fire.

  • Harvard Workers Fight Layoffs
    Joshua Koritz
    Nov 1 2009 - 1:05am
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    In spite of a massive endowment—still valued at $26 billion despite the stock-market slide—Harvard has laid off between 200 and 500 clerical, technical, and janitorial workers, many of them union members. The school is hinting at another round of layoffs this winter.

  • University Labor Education Programs Under Fire in Economic Crisis
    Bob Bussel and Paul Abowd
    Oct 24 2009 - 1:11am
    ** Print only

    The corporate attack on workers is reaching into the academy, too, where labor studies programs are facing cutbacks or wholesale cancellation. They’re being targeted by anti-labor ideologues and by budget-cutting administrators, but they’re not giving up easily.

  • Jobs with Justice Backs Hyatt, Verizon Workers
    Jane Slaughter
    Oct 24 2009 - 1:02am
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    Jobs with Justice’s Week of Resistance and Recovery September 24-October 1 brought out thousands of workers and allies to chastise bailed-out bankers and agitate for jobs. In 20 cities across the country, JwJ chapters attempted to spark a fight for economic recovery.

  • Outpouring of Protests, then Police "Payback" at G-20 Meeting
    Kipp Dawson, Al Hart, and Paul LeBlanc
    Sep 30 2009 - 4:28pm

    A summit meeting of the Group of 20 in Pittsburgh last week was faced with an outpouring of challenges from social movement activists, community groups, and unions.

  • Boston-area Workers to March and Rally against "Jobless Recovery"
    Rand Wilson
    Sep 26 2009 - 10:44pm

    With the Massachusetts jobless rate now at 9.1 percent and rising, workers are increasingly frustrated by employers exploiting the recession to attack them, and the failure of politicians and policy makers to address the growing jobs crisis.

  • Pensions: The Next Casualty of Wall Street
    Mark Brenner
    Sep 25 2009 - 9:37pm

    Nobody wants to admit it, but the next casualty of the Wall Street meltdown will probably be your golden years. For years corporations have been trying to choke the life out of traditional pensions, working hard to get out from under the risk—and the cost—of providing for their retirees. Between last year’s credit crunch and changes to federal pension laws, they may get their wish.

  • Defined-Benefits Squeeze
    Mark Brenner
    Sep 14 2009 - 9:36pm

    Workers in defined-benefit pension plans used to be one-third of the private sector. Now they are a sixth—and those 20 million workers’ security is under serious threat.

    Consider the Central States Pension Fund. Once an anchor of retirement security for Teamsters in 29 states from Minnesota to Florida, the fund lost nearly a third of its assets during last year’s market meltdown. This only made an uncomfortable balancing act more precarious.

  • Bronx Cookie Bakers Fight Runaway Owner, Think Big to Save Jobs
    Micah Landau
    Sep 11 2009 - 4:13pm

    Two months after returning to their jobs on the heels of a victorious 11-month strike against deep concession demands, the defiant workers at the Bronx-based Stella D’oro Biscuit Co. are at it again. This time, however, they are not walking out of their plant—they are trying to stay in it.

  • Chicago Teamsters Strike to Save Health Insurance
    Jane Slaughter
    Aug 31 2009 - 10:27pm

    You take your kid to the dentist and go to pay the $20 co-pay. “Oh, no,” says the receptionist. “You have to pay the whole bill—you don't have insurance.” That’s how a member of Teamsters Local 743 in Chicago found out that his employer, SK Hand Tools, had unilaterally and without notice cancelled health insurance for the workforce.