Bad News, Weird News, Not News

I said last week that I would be summarizing the new NLRB decisions, and a week has passed and I cannot even bring myself to read the weekly summary. The decisions are so uniformly awful, so uniformly contrary to Sections 1 and 7 of the Act, it makes me feel like I live under an oppressive oligarchic regime.

Except the U.S.'s most friendly oligarchic buddy Saudi Arabia just passed labor laws that permit women to work (in more jobs), provides 10 weeks of maternity leave, and require child care when 50 or more women are hired. 4 percent of employees must be handicapped, and all workers get a minimum 21 days off. Retirement age is 60 for men and 55 for women. The law sets minimum working standards and prohibits slavery. Now, I am not touting this as revolutionary - in fact, it's a nationalistic move for Saudization of the workplace, and there are a host of other problems. BUT it's an improvement over their existing labor laws, i.e. progress, which we don't see much of in this country.

Bad news - check. Wierd news - check. Not news? I hope this counts: Business Week reports that Change to Win is a threat to the status quo, and says that labor's future may be brighter than it has been in years, if the Coalition's organizing plans are effective.

The Coalition's convention starts tomorrow. I would be interested in hearing dispatches from the meetings.