A rabbi gave a really interesting talk on how fair labor practices are a Jewish value, citing different quotes from the Talmud (a record of Jewish law, ethics, customs, history, and debates from ~200-500 or so CE), various Jewish labor leaders of the early 20th century, and (of course), the Torah. The basic gist was that unions fighting for better wages, having mediation in labor disputes, healthcare, OSHA, and all the rest of the good labor laws were really a part of basic fairness. He also related the story of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, and read part of the NYTimes report of the event.
I had never really thought of fair labor law as a particularly Jewish value, though he made a good argument, but more, I was really surprised at how progreessive the message was down in the south. Granted, Jews are generally more liberal than the rest of America, but even so I found the congregation to be pretty forward thinking (in this regard, at least).
jimcsays
If you have a paid day off today, thank a union.
<
p>
And if you have subsidized health insurance …
<
p>
or workers’ compensation …
<
p>
or a paid vacation …
<
p>
or a 40 hour, five day work week …
<
p>
In fact, even if you have none of those things and are a stay-at-home freelancer or are a partner at Goldman Sachs, someone you love probably does have them, so if you do nothing else today, THANK A UNION!
<
p>
shiltonesays
I’m with ya. It was fun to be listening to the Sox on the radio yesterday and hear the spirited defense of organized labor by the president of the MA AFL-CIO, along the lines of the above, as he visited the broadcast booth for an inning.
<
p>
One thing about the subsidized health insurance: I may screw this up, but I think it was Walter Reuther, most of organized labor, and a coalition of other interests who were pushing for a broad federal plan for single-payer, universal health care, and a federal pension system. The industrialists, with GM in the lead, decided the lesser of two evils was to offer employer-subsidized health care and pensions.
<
p>
So what we got was the Social Security system, for-profit healthcare, and, after all these years, an American auto industry that can’t compete because of healthcare and pension obligations on behalf of many more individuals than they actually employ anymore. Now the Big Three are begging the feds to at least take the healthcare burden off their backs, and looking for any way they can to unload the pensions (those phony bankruptcy filings by the airlines have worked out great; the feds took over the pensions, they beat the unions up over wages, and they’ve recorded record profits in the last quarter).
<
p>
I like Labor Day because Hallmark hasn’t figured out a way to exploit it yet, but also because it represents a stake in the ground by labor in the late 1800’s that no politician would dare mess with. They can try to turn us back into wage slaves every other way possible, but nobody would ever propose we get rid of Labor Day.
jimcsays
Now we need more labor agitation to get a better deal.
jimcsays
“Lewinsky,” not Lewinski. Not trying to be snarky; I'd want to know about the typo if it were me.
shiltonesays
How embarrassing! I usually at least try to get the spelling right. I just can’t believe it took so long for someone to point it out. Thanks.
rajsays
…some of us don’t make an issue out of spelling errors.
<
p>
Unless, of course, we can make puns out of them.
I’ve enjoyed my time here in Massachusetts, but I’ve accepted a position as Visiting Instructor of Music Theory at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati, OH.
<
p>
Since I did my master’s at CCM, am going to receive my Ph.D. from there this year, I spent 11 years in Cincinnati and my wife grew up 40 minutes from there, we’re very excited about going home.
<
p>
Best of luck to y’all – and you got a place to stay in the Queen City (give us a few weeks, though).
<
p>
Oh, and Charley – I’m still working on that song cycle. I’ll send it when it’s done.
Edwards keeps racking up Big Labor support. It will be interesting if this has any effect, certainly the pundits will try to make this a bigger deal than it is, but Big Labor no longer has the same pull it once did, whether this be within the Democratic party itself, within the country at large, or the grassroots organizing potential it once had. This endorsement does however reinforce my worry that Edwards will continue to run to the far left economically as a populist and protectionist supporting regressive trade policies and hindering opportunity.
The basic truth is that yes we have to thank organized labor for many of the rights workers currently enjoy, but the globalized economy and improved government regulation have made them somewhat less necessary or at least less relevant, much like the Democratic party as a whole Big Labor is on the defensive from hard right policies while it should be on the offensive supporting universal healthcare and really rallying behind innovative policies that improve opportunity for all workers, even non unionized workers. Unless they do that their relevance will continue to fade. I for one support Issac Sterns Change to Win formula and hope he succeeds in bringing the labor movement into the 21st century and out of the 19th.
SEIU will be interesting…they backed the wrong pony in 2004 (Dean) and then pissed away their credibility by rescinding the endorsement shortly into the primary process.
As has been mentioned vis-a-vis the firefighters, an endorsement is as valuable as it gets you workers and votes. For example, the all-powerful teachers' unions have a history of endorsing someone, and that endorsement being ignored by its members. I'm voting Richardson no matter who the NEA endorses.
Wow, how nice to get a job at your alma mater — a terrific school, at that.
Looking forward to seeing the cycle!
rajsays
…Kieth Lockhart was conductor of the Cincinnati Pops for a number of years before coming to Boston. An Erich Kunzel was, too. Wonderful. BTW, you will find the accoustics of the Cincinnati Music Hall among the best in the world.
shacksays
It was nice to meet you, Wes. Congratulations on the new position. I'm sure MCLA will have a tough time filling your shoes.
– Sara
joetssays
and classes start tomorrow. I had a plan B, but a lot of the freshmen didn't. I can't help but think closing the campus bookstore the day before classes is almost as bad a call as waiting til the day before classes to buy books.
rajsays
…The first year that we came here to Germany (1985) we were told by a neighbor that the next day was going to be a holiday (Maria Himmelfahrtstag–I don’t know what it is in English) and that all the stores would be closed. That was the first time I had ever heard of that, but we had to scurry to buy our groceries.
<
p>
If the kiddies in the US are unable to plan ahead for obvious holidays in the US, they have only themselves to blame.
A rabbi gave a really interesting talk on how fair labor practices are a Jewish value, citing different quotes from the Talmud (a record of Jewish law, ethics, customs, history, and debates from ~200-500 or so CE), various Jewish labor leaders of the early 20th century, and (of course), the Torah. The basic gist was that unions fighting for better wages, having mediation in labor disputes, healthcare, OSHA, and all the rest of the good labor laws were really a part of basic fairness. He also related the story of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, and read part of the NYTimes report of the event.
I had never really thought of fair labor law as a particularly Jewish value, though he made a good argument, but more, I was really surprised at how progreessive the message was down in the south. Granted, Jews are generally more liberal than the rest of America, but even so I found the congregation to be pretty forward thinking (in this regard, at least).
If you have a paid day off today, thank a union.
<
p>
And if you have subsidized health insurance …
<
p>
or workers’ compensation …
<
p>
or a paid vacation …
<
p>
or a 40 hour, five day work week …
<
p>
In fact, even if you have none of those things and are a stay-at-home freelancer or are a partner at Goldman Sachs, someone you love probably does have them, so if you do nothing else today, THANK A UNION!
<
p>
I’m with ya. It was fun to be listening to the Sox on the radio yesterday and hear the spirited defense of organized labor by the president of the MA AFL-CIO, along the lines of the above, as he visited the broadcast booth for an inning.
<
p>
One thing about the subsidized health insurance: I may screw this up, but I think it was Walter Reuther, most of organized labor, and a coalition of other interests who were pushing for a broad federal plan for single-payer, universal health care, and a federal pension system. The industrialists, with GM in the lead, decided the lesser of two evils was to offer employer-subsidized health care and pensions.
<
p>
So what we got was the Social Security system, for-profit healthcare, and, after all these years, an American auto industry that can’t compete because of healthcare and pension obligations on behalf of many more individuals than they actually employ anymore. Now the Big Three are begging the feds to at least take the healthcare burden off their backs, and looking for any way they can to unload the pensions (those phony bankruptcy filings by the airlines have worked out great; the feds took over the pensions, they beat the unions up over wages, and they’ve recorded record profits in the last quarter).
<
p>
I like Labor Day because Hallmark hasn’t figured out a way to exploit it yet, but also because it represents a stake in the ground by labor in the late 1800’s that no politician would dare mess with. They can try to turn us back into wage slaves every other way possible, but nobody would ever propose we get rid of Labor Day.
Now we need more labor agitation to get a better deal.
“Lewinsky,” not Lewinski. Not trying to be snarky; I'd want to know about the typo if it were me.
How embarrassing! I usually at least try to get the spelling right. I just can’t believe it took so long for someone to point it out. Thanks.
…some of us don’t make an issue out of spelling errors.
<
p>
Unless, of course, we can make puns out of them.
I’ve enjoyed my time here in Massachusetts, but I’ve accepted a position as Visiting Instructor of Music Theory at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati, OH.
<
p>
Since I did my master’s at CCM, am going to receive my Ph.D. from there this year, I spent 11 years in Cincinnati and my wife grew up 40 minutes from there, we’re very excited about going home.
<
p>
Best of luck to y’all – and you got a place to stay in the Queen City (give us a few weeks, though).
<
p>
Oh, and Charley – I’m still working on that song cycle. I’ll send it when it’s done.
<
p>
WF
We’ll miss you.
Edwards keeps racking up Big Labor support. It will be interesting if this has any effect, certainly the pundits will try to make this a bigger deal than it is, but Big Labor no longer has the same pull it once did, whether this be within the Democratic party itself, within the country at large, or the grassroots organizing potential it once had. This endorsement does however reinforce my worry that Edwards will continue to run to the far left economically as a populist and protectionist supporting regressive trade policies and hindering opportunity.
The basic truth is that yes we have to thank organized labor for many of the rights workers currently enjoy, but the globalized economy and improved government regulation have made them somewhat less necessary or at least less relevant, much like the Democratic party as a whole Big Labor is on the defensive from hard right policies while it should be on the offensive supporting universal healthcare and really rallying behind innovative policies that improve opportunity for all workers, even non unionized workers. Unless they do that their relevance will continue to fade. I for one support Issac Sterns Change to Win formula and hope he succeeds in bringing the labor movement into the 21st century and out of the 19th.
SEIU will be interesting…they backed the wrong pony in 2004 (Dean) and then pissed away their credibility by rescinding the endorsement shortly into the primary process.
As has been mentioned vis-a-vis the firefighters, an endorsement is as valuable as it gets you workers and votes. For example, the all-powerful teachers' unions have a history of endorsing someone, and that endorsement being ignored by its members. I'm voting Richardson no matter who the NEA endorses.
Wow, how nice to get a job at your alma mater — a terrific school, at that.
Looking forward to seeing the cycle!
…Kieth Lockhart was conductor of the Cincinnati Pops for a number of years before coming to Boston. An Erich Kunzel was, too. Wonderful. BTW, you will find the accoustics of the Cincinnati Music Hall among the best in the world.
It was nice to meet you, Wes. Congratulations on the new position. I'm sure MCLA will have a tough time filling your shoes.
– Sara
and classes start tomorrow. I had a plan B, but a lot of the freshmen didn't. I can't help but think closing the campus bookstore the day before classes is almost as bad a call as waiting til the day before classes to buy books.
…The first year that we came here to Germany (1985) we were told by a neighbor that the next day was going to be a holiday (Maria Himmelfahrtstag–I don’t know what it is in English) and that all the stores would be closed. That was the first time I had ever heard of that, but we had to scurry to buy our groceries.
<
p>
If the kiddies in the US are unable to plan ahead for obvious holidays in the US, they have only themselves to blame.
It was Assumption? August 15?
Since I am not Catholic, I find Ascension and Assumption difficult to keep straight.