WorkersCompass.org | Published by Workers Action

Mark Vorpahl Since President Obama made his very calculated public statement announcing that he was “personally” in favor of same sex marriage, among the many commentators who have rushed to his support have been a significant number of Labor leaders. Richard Trumka, President of the AFL-CIO, stated “Look, I support that position. We support it [...]

Facing the Hard Facts of Long Term Unemployment, Comments on Baker and Hassett’s “The Human Disaster of Unemployment”  Shamus Cooke The below op-ed piece was co-authored by liberal economist Dean Baker and published in Sunday’s (May 13, 2012) The New York Times. Baker explains with compassion the horrendous effect that mass, long term employment has on [...]

The following op-ed article that appeared in The New York Times, May 12, 2012, cites hard evidence for beliefs that revolutionary socialists have held for years: the rich are morally degenerate. According to the article, a recent study concluded that 10 percent of people who work on Wall Street are “clinical psychopaths. Another study noted that the rich [...]

Unfortunately, there are some who regard themselves as Marxists who insist on squandering these opportunities. They argue that all such struggles must be linked to the goal of socialism on the grounds that any working class gains within the framework of capitalism are simply illusory reforms — they will eventually be eroded by the capitalist system in its unrelenting push to maximize profits. A few even refuse to work within the trade unions, because of their limited economic goals, while others refuse to work with the reformist trade union officials.

Shamus Cooke After the Greek elections struck fear into the hearts of the global banksters, the fallout remains uncertain. If the next Greek election produces again an anti-austerity result, Greece will almost certainly make a speedy exit from the euro. If this happens — and it is looking increasingly inevitable — the consequences for the [...]

Shamus Cooke On May 5th in Portland, Oregon, a group of 80 activists from a broad array of labor and community groups met to discuss the region’s ongoing budget crises. Instead of simply complaining of cuts, however, the meeting was meant to discuss alternatives, both immediate and more structural. Groups that endorsed the event included the [...]

Mark Vorpahl At the annual Wells Fargo shareholders’ meeting in San Francisco on Tuesday, April 24, 2012, at least 150 “shareholders” were denied their lawful right to attend by means of the use of police force and barricades. True, none of them were big shareholders and their priorities in attending were not to cheerlead the [...]

Shamus Cooke The big public sector unions of California and Oregon had their courage examined recently — both were found lacking. The unions backed down from a challenge from their respective Democratic governors, before any fight could be waged. The issue at stake was whether to tax the rich of both states to offset the state deficits [...]

Mark Vorpahl Weeks after the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, Special Prosecutor Angela Corey has announced that his killer, George Zimmerman, will be charged with second degree murder. Though originally allowed to walk scot free without any charges, Zimmerman is now behind bars. It is hard to think of another case that has swung so [...]

Shamus Cooke  As labor leaders across the U.S. shift resources away from defending workers and into Obama’s re-election campaign, millions of organized and non-organized workers remain unemployed and hopeless. Contrary to the “optimistic” government jobs numbers, the jobs crisis grinds onward. Some labor leaders will argue that getting Obama elected is the first step towards addressing [...]