Contributor: Art Pulaski

I am very sad this evening, having just learned of the passing of John Sweeney, President Emeritus of the AFL-CIO. If you knew him, you undoubtedly would agree with the assessment that he was a rare breed in Labor. Always soft spoken, some might say he had an outward mannerism of an accountant. Or an […]

As Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced his plans to sue our state, California Labor Federation Executive Secretary-Treasurer Art Pulaski released this statement: “In California, our values dictate our public policy. We won’t be silent while Attorney General Jeff Sessions attacks hard-working immigrants to score political points for a morally bankrupt administration. California unions were proud […]

In 1936, during the throes of the Great Depression, FDR addressed a deeply divided and economically insecure nation on the eve of Labor Day.

“There are those who fail to read both the signs of the times and American history. They would try to refuse the worker any effective power to bargain collectively, to earn a decent livelihood and to acquire security. It is those short-sighted ones, not labor, who threaten this country with that class dissension which in other countries has led to dictatorship and the establishment of fear and hatred as the dominant emotions in human life.”

and Sarah Rose

They’re calling it “NAFTA on steroids.” The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) would be the largest international trade deal in history – with major economic and environmental consequences here in California – but the details have been veiled in total secrecy.

, California Labor Federation Executive Secretary-Treasurer

It’s a big secret.  That’s just how the biggest corporations like it. And they sure don’t want any light shined on their secret deals.

That’s why their lobbyists – and the politicians they fund – are pushing “fast track” legislation to hide the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) from the light of day. Remember NAFTA? That was also negotiated in secret. The TPP free-trade deal is NAFTA on steroids. It’s the biggest one yet covering the countries on all sides if the Pacific Ocean.  It is very bad news for our jobs.

Art Pulaski

Whether BART closes down this week will come down to one issue and one issue only: whether the BART Board of Directors shows leadership or continues to act to hold Bay Area transit riders hostage by using the same playbook a small minority of elected officials in Washington, DC have used to close down our federal government. 

No one in the Bay Area—whether they ride BART or not—wants to see a BART strike. This is especially true of BART workers, who live in one of the most expensive regions in the world and do not receive a paycheck while they are on strike.

To demonstrate their commitment to reaching a deal before cooling-off period expires tonight, BART workers have put a proposal on the table that is fair and affordable and incentivizes BART workers to keep the system one of the nation's best.



Art Pulaski

Negotiating a fair contract is a complex process that involves hard work and commitment from both labor and management. When both sides bargain in good faith and share a goal of securing a deal, a deal eventually gets done. I’ve personally been involved in many tough negotiations that ended with a fair deal that both parties could live with. It takes patience and willingness from both sides to compromise.

In the BART negotiations, unfortunately that hasn’t been the case. BART management paid Thomas Hock, an out-of-state lawyer with a history of driving disputes to a strike, nearly $400,000 to lead negotiations. Hock and his company have been responsible for seven strikes, 47 unfair labor practice charges and nine discrimination lawsuits. Not exactly a history of committing to compromise in order to secure a deal.

Art Pulaski

Fifty years ago this week, union workers joined with civil rights leaders and progressive activists to march on Washington for good jobs and equal rights for all. Dr. Martin Luther King’s call for America to “rise up” and demand equality — both economic and racial — was a seminal moment in our nation’s history. This Labor Day, much has changed since 1963. But sadly, too much remains the same.

The American Dream is but a faint hope for many workers today. The path to the middle class is an increasingly uphill climb that’s littered with obstacles like low pay, declining retirement security and costly health care. For immigrant workers, the news is even bleaker. More than 2.6 million hard-working immigrants in California live in the shadows, never able to realize America’s promise.

Art Pulaski

It’s no secret that corporate CEOs game the system to their favor. There’s a maze of loopholes and tax dodges for big corporations like Walmart that the rest of us couldn’t dream of getting. These big corporations are riding the corporate gravy train. And taxpayers like us are paying the fare.

Imagine a program that encourages unscrupulous companies to eliminate good union jobs, pack up and move to another part of the state, and get a fat tax bonus for hiring workers at low wages.

California’s poster child for the corporate gravy train is the “Enterprise Zone” (EZ) tax credit program. The program is supposed to encourage job creation in disadvantaged areas. But the only thing it actually encourages is low-paid jobs with our tax dollar support.

Art Pulaski

After four years in President Obama’s Cabinet, Hilda Solis recently announced she’s stepping down from her position as Secretary of Labor. As those of us in California know, Hilda is a lifelong champion for workers. As Secretary of Labor, she used her position to advance workers’ rights in many ways, never forgetting her humble roots as the daughter of a union family in Southern California.

Labor Day is a celebration of working people, brought to you by American unions.  It’s  a day we can appreciate each other, and all the gains we’ve made for working people. But everything we’ve won by standing together, Prop 32 threatens to take away.

LA Times columnist Michael Hiltzik calls Prop 32 “the fraud to end all frauds.” The billionaire backers of this fraud are trying to eliminate the labor movement so they can strip away everything we’ve fought generations for: overtime pay, workplace safety, quality public education, prevailing wage, retirement security and middle class jobs.

Not only are the big banks responsible for collapsing the housing market, their irresponsible actions led to millions of workers losing their jobs through no fault of their own. And just a few months ago, the banks thought they had a deal that would give them blanket immunity for all their wrongdoing in exchange for just pennies on the dollar for what they owe California families. That would have been a slap in the face to every California family who’s suffered because of the banks’ illegal actions.

Fortunately, our Attorney General, Kamala Harris, resisted that settlement and fought for a better deal for Californians. With the announcement today of the national Attorneys General mortgage settlement, we finally see a critical, real first step in holding the banks accountable for cratering our state’s economy.

, the deal appears to be a settlement for the banks, not a settlement for the middle class. The people of California need real relief, not a quick settlement that lets the banks off the hook.

California is home to nine of the ten cities that were hardest hit by the foreclosure freefall. The two million working families we represent have been at the epicenter of this crisis. Millions have been devastated by the loss of their homes. Many more have watched their home values plummet and now nearly one in three California borrowers are underwater, owing more to the banks than their homes are worth. California has the second highest foreclosure rate in the country, surpassed only by Nevada.

Gov. Jerry Brown put forth a vision for California today that working people can embrace. With today’s State of the State speech, it’s clear that the destructive slash-and-burn politics of the previous administration have been replaced with a forward-thinking vision to invest in our future. While our state’s 21st century challenges are many, the California Labor movement is confident we have a leader at the helm to guide us beyond those challenges.

Gov. Brown understands all too well that we can’t create jobs with stale ideas and cuts to investments that support healthy private sector growth. The Governor’s plan to upgrade our failing infrastructure isn’t optional if we hope to rise above the recession. It’s necessary to rebuilding our economy and putting Californians back to work. We simply can’t sustain a vibrant economy if we don’t invest in the infrastructure that supports it.

There’s a threat to America’s economic future that’s so overlooked it’s gone almost unnoticed amid the endless debate over the debt ceiling and federal spending: massive income inequality.

This Labor Day, the gap that separates the very wealthy from the rest of us is as wide as it was in the Great Depression. Since the economic collapse of 2008, workers have suffered through joblessness, home foreclosures, reduced wages and benefits and a sustained assault on our right to collectively bargain. Did you notice that corporate profits are soaring and Wall Street bankers are receiving fatter bonuses than ever? And we wonder why our middle class is disappearing before our eyes.

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“Collective bargaining … has played a major role in America's economic miracle. Unions represent some of the freest institutions in this land. There are few finer examples of participatory democracy to be found anywhere.”

Those aren't the words of AFL-CIO leader Richard Trumka or President Obama. It may come as a surprise, but that's a quote from a 1981 speech given by Ronald Reagan.

To be sure, Reagan's relationship with unions was complicated, and, at times, quite contentious. But there's no question that he understood the value — even necessity — of collective bargaining. He remains the only president in history to have also served as the head of a union, the Screen Actors Guild.

I recall vividly my first union job. At the age of 16, I joined the Amalgamated Meat Cutters Union as a supermarket clerk. I remember the good wages in my first paycheck and the sense of pride I felt when I received my first union card.

Back then, about a quarter of all private sector workers were union members. Collective bargaining allowed us a path to a better life. The standard of living rose, not just for those of us in a union, but even for those who weren’t. But today, too few workers have the right to bargain for better wages, benefits and working conditions. Years of assaults by corporations on the freedom to join unions have taken a terrible toll.

As the protests rage on over Gov. Scott Walker’s politically motivated attempt to strip Wisconsin’s public workers of collective bargaining, there’s too little discussion in the media about the decline in bargaining rights for private sector workers. Instead, opportunistic politicians like Walker have used the current economic crisis to help further their agenda to divide the middle class.

When it comes to dealing with our state budget crisis, California voters are clear on one thing: Let’s eliminate wasteful spending. So you’d think the elimination of a failed program and billion-dollar boondoggle would be a no-brainer. Think again.

An annual billion-dollar giveaway to big, profitable corporations is bad enough. But when the program also fails in its goal of creating jobs, it’s time to say goodbye.

Yet, as soon as Gov. Jerry Brown announced his proposal to end the Enterprise Zone tax credit program, corporate lobbyists and consultants started clamoring to save their golden goose.  In theory, there’s nothing wrong with tax credits for businesses to help create jobs. With unemployment hovering at 12.5%, we need all the help we can get. But, in practice, the Enterprise Zone program has failed miserably.

As I listened to Jerry Brown’s inauguration speech on Jan. 3, something he said struck a chord. “A Philosophy of Loyalty,” he called it. “Loyalty to the community that is larger than our individual needs.”

This is a concept that unionists share. It’s one of the fundamentals of our movement. But it’s a value under attack. Tune in to talk radio and you’ll hear a bombastic host inciting his audience against government. In the corporate world, the enduring loyalty is not to community, but to executive compensation.

Ideologues like Grover Norquist have also joined in the debate on California’s future, not by calling for unity, but by threatening legislators who would even consider allowing voters a say on whether revenue is part of the fix for our budget crisis.

This Labor Day, California is at a crossroads. We can either continue the economic race to the bottom – exacerbated by corporate policies and Gov. Schwarzenegger’s slash-and-burn budgets – or we can chart a new course to rebuild California from the bottom up. The heart of California’s economy, our workers, are struggling with near record unemployment, stagnating wages and devastating budget cuts that are eroding the California Dream.

This November, Californians have a critical choice to make about which direction our state should take to deal with the enormous challenges we face. This election is simply a battle for the soul of California.

In the race for Governor, the choices couldn’t be starker.

will use her seemingly unlimited fortune to try to stage a hostile takeover of our state. She’s made clear that, if elected, she plans to bring a Wall Street agenda to California. Whitman’s economic philosophy, which she honed as a corporate executive and director in places like Goldman Sachs, is simple: What’s good for Wall Street and the wealthy is good for everyone. California families know all too well just how flawed that philosophy is.

Jerry Brown has spent a lifetime fighting for working families. Meg Whitman, on the other hand, has spent her adult life as one of the corporate elite, advancing Wall Street’s disastrous agenda. Whitman’s plan to corporatize our economy would lead to more devastating cuts to education, health care and the safety net. She’d cut tens of thousands of jobs, making an already severe recession much worse. She’d strip workers of important protections like meal breaks and overtime pay.