Read the full article (CAP Action) On Friday the Department of Labor will release data on the union status of the American workforce. Unfortunately the data are likely to show a decline in the percentage of workers who are unionized because of the one-two punch of long-term trends—such as the escalation of aggressive employer campaigns [...]
Read the full article (CAP Action) The tentative deal reached last week between The Boeing Company and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, or IAM—and scheduled to be ratified today by rank-and-file workers—is a vindication for our nation’s labor law, which has been under significant attack. The National Labor Relations Board—the government agency [...]
David Madland shows how a strong middle class is the key to higher GDP—not giving more money to the wealthy and hoping it trickles down.
Read the full issue brief (CAP Action) House Republicans are using every tool available to them—including their budget, regulatory, and legislative-oversight powers—to wage a coordinated attack on workers’ rights by trying to eviscerate the National Labor Relations Board, or NLRB. This effort jeopardizes the basic rights and well-being of all workers, not just those who [...]
David Madland and Nick Bunker argue that strengthening our middle class will be good for our educational system and for our economy.
Examining test scores in all 50 states, David Madland and Nick Bunker find that a stronger American middle class is associated with higher levels of academic achievement.
Read the full article (CAP Action) Rep. Donald Payne (D-NJ) introduced a commonsense resolution yesterday recognizing that strong labor unions help build a healthy middle class. The resolution would not change the law at all but would simply highlight the fact that unions provide important benefits to the 99 percent of Americans that need to [...]
David Madland outlines why the House Appropriations Committee bill to fund labor, education, and health departments is bad for middle-class Americans.
The House majority’s draft bill is an assault on American workers, plain and simple, explain David Madland and Karla Walter.
Read the full article (CAP Action) New state income data released yesterday by the U.S. Census Bureau shows the importance of unions to boosting incomes for all middle-class households—union and nonunion alike. The 2010 income data makes it clear that strong unions are a critical factor in creating a middle-class society. Restoring the strength of [...]
Income for middle-class Americans continues to shrink, write David Madland, Karla Walter, and Nick Bunker. Increasing union membership can help them secure more of the economy’s gains.
David Madland explains why the proposals House Republican leaders are pushing have nothing to do with creating jobs and everything to do with attacking political opponents and helping their CEO friends.
In order for the economy to work properly again, all workers need to have the right to join a union and to rely on the law, writes David Madland.
Read the full article (CAP Action) Rep. Darrell Issa’s (R-CA) recently introduced postal reform bill closely follows the strategy of Republican governors who are using budget problems to attack collective bargaining rights and weaken political opponents. This strategy ignores alternative methods of closing budget shortfalls and instead insists that public employee pay is the cause [...]
Read the full article (CAP Action) This year legislators in Illinois, Maryland, California, Maine, and Massachusetts have introduced bills to raise their state minimum wages. But policymakers may be reluctant to increase the minimum wage with unemployment hovering around 9 percent. Even during hard times, however, the minimum wage is good for the economy. Increasing [...]