TheWorx

[From an article appearing in this month's Harper's, "On Courage" by Kevin Baker] She was the first female cabinet member and--good God--did she set the bar high: helped defeat child labor Gave us union rights Established the minimum wage 40 hr work week Overtime laws Worker's compensation Aid to families with dependent children. Wrote most of the Social Security Act ...all this while having to tend to the needs of her bipolar husband and daughter. Eleanor probably floated her name for Labor Secretary to FDR and he understood that the New Deal required Perkins' empathic and indefatigable activism.  The article, however, was also about Elizabeth Warren and how she identifies with this woman. So much so that wherever she speaks, she will use a podium made from aged wood that was found on the Perkins' Homestead and fashioned by three female carpenters who modeled it after a podium Perkins had once used when speaking out against the cond...

In grammar school, I thought unions were great. They were great when the injustices committed against Joe Schmo were atrocious (child labor, pittance pay, toxic environment). Today, I believe that those with unions are parasites on the those without unions. Invariably, those with unions are at an advantage not enjoyed by the rest. They get better pay, job security, benefits, and perks. Not always, of course. The hotel industry has found ways to unionize with unions that are nothing more than fronts of respectability and responsibility--organizations that remind me of Popeye's chicken soup. For non-boomers, Popeye used to make soup by dipping a dead chicken once or twice in hot water and serving the water as chicken soup. So what are the rest of us to do? We can start by considering the possibility of a government option for unionizing. I know, public options can get blown up by the likes of an industry puppet like Joe Lieberman. But we've got Pelosi on our side. She may not be ...

I'm 57 years old. That alone makes it very hard to penetrate the job market. However, NJDOP has a website where you can browse available jobs and submit an application along with $15. I did that and I waited and waited for the process to reach the stage where the actual hiring agency would give out interviews for the position. 2 months into that last stage (the DOP said that the hiring agency had 90 days in which to interview candidates), I got anxious and decided to call the municipality. They were supposed to pick from the top 3 candidates but they told me in no uncertain terms that they were going to give it to "the person who was already doing the job." When I questioned the ethics and legality of their decision, I was told that they really hadn't finalized things. This person was hoping that I would go away but, sadly, NJ is a state where ageism and/or crony-ism is condoned. Stay tuned, I'm waiting to see if I get an interview and if I don't get the job,...