One of the things people have been talking about here at Netroots Nation is how they can take concrete actions to help advance the cause of workers. So here’s a new initiative open to all bloggers that will let you do just that.

Take Back Labor Day has a simple objective. The corporate media has turned Labor Day — a holiday that is supposed to commemorate the struggles and sacrifices of the workers who fought and bled to get us the 8-hour work day, the weekend, and many, many other things we take for granted today — into a day to drink beer and eat hot dogs. They’ve taken the labor out of Labor Day.

So some folks here at Netroots Nation started asking what if bloggers across America all blogged on Labor Day about work and workers’ rights? What if we used our own media to tell our own stories — the stories that you don’t hear on the nightly news?

So that’s what we’re going to do. On Labor Day (September 1), we’re going to be telling those stories here at CtW Connect. And I want to encourage you to join this effort and tell your own stories too.

To join, just go to TakeBackLaborDay.org and pledge to blog about what Labor Day means to you. Then, when Labor Day rolls around, just take a few minutes and share your thoughts on your blog. That’s it — it’s a free, easy way to show your commitment to justice for every working man and woman.

So what are you waiting for? Get over to TakeBackLaborDay.org and sign up!

Hey everybody…

I’m at the Netroots Nation conference in Austin, TX today and our panel, “Growing the American Dream Movement”, is just getting started. The kind folks at ustream.tv are streaming it live, so without further ado, here’s the video…

UPDATE (10:54AM): The panel is over, so I’ve disabled the live stream since it’s now streaming some completely unrelated panel :-) When ustream.tv has an archived video of the panel available for embedding, I’ll drop that in here for you!

Thankfully this isn’t a report of another death, but it’s nearly as bad:

Heat puts farm worker on breathing machine

Another Central Valley field laborer loading grapes became ill last week in extreme heat and remains in serious condition, breathing with a respirator, the United Farm Workers Union said Wednesday.

Jorge Herrera, 37, suffered brain, lung and kidney damage on July 10 and is in San Joaquin Community Hospital in Bakersfield, union spokeswoman Vicki Adame said. Cal-OSHA is investigating his illness as heat-related, said Kate McGuire, spokeswoman for the state occupational and safety agency.

How many times this summer are we going to see stories of overheated farmworkers suffering and dying in the fields before the State of California does something about it?

You might want to ask Governor Schwarzenegger that. Here’s how you can.

On June 2, I wrote about “The Short Life and Preventable Death of Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez” — a teenage farmworker who died in May from heat exposure while working in a California vineyard:

On May 13, seventeen-year-old Maria was a farmworker, working the grape vineyard of West Coast Grape Farming in Stockton, California alongside her fiancee, Florentino Bautista.

Three days later, Maria was dead — killed after working nine straight hours in the broiling heat of the California summer, without access to water or shade.

You might have thought that the public outrage that followed Maria’s unnecessary death would have led to substantive changes that would protect the health of farmworkers.

And yet, it’s only been a few weeks since Maria died and two more farmworkers are dead in the fields:

DELANO, CA (AP) — State officials are investigating a possible third heat-related farmworker death as a triple-digit heat wave settles over California’s Central Valley.

Forty-two-year-old Abdon Felix died Wednesday after laboring in the fields at Sunview Vineyards near Delano. The coroner’s office says his body temperature was 108 degrees when he arrived at the hospital. An autopsy is scheduled for Thursday.

The state’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal-OSHA)is examining what could be the third heat stroke death in the fields over the last several months. Officials also are investigating the May death of a pregnant 17-year-old farmworker. Last week, the Kern County coroner’s office confirmed the heat-caused death of a 27-year-old oil worker, also in May.

The United Farm Workers are asking everyone who cares about the health and safety of farmworkers to join them in writing to Governor Schwarzenegger and the state legislature and demanding action now:

• Take Action: Stand up for farmworker safety

On June 2, I wrote about “The Short Life and Preventable Death of Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez” — a teenage farmworker who died in May from heat exposure while working in a California vineyard: On May 13, seventeen-year-old Maria was... Jason Lefkowitz

On June 2, I wrote about “The Short Life and Preventable Death of Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez” — a teenage farmworker who died in May from heat exposure while working in a California vineyard: On May 13, seventeen-year-old Maria was... Jason Lefkowitz

Over at Talking Points Memo’s sister site TPMCafe, Nathan Newman is challenging the online progressive left — the “netroots” — to start grappling with one of their longstanding blind spots: workers’ rights and the decline of the American Dream.

Yesterday he asked “Do Blogs Take Labor Issues Seriously?”

Part of economic populism is actually caring enough to know the details of how corporations are screwing workers every day, whether in the intricacies of labor law or the fine print of trade agreements. And the difference between the modern history of elite liberalism and economic populism has been that liberals know chapter-and-verse on the legal details of process rights, but don’t pay that much attention to these details of corporate exploitation and power.

And today in “So You Want to Know More About Unions?” he’s posted a great collection of links for progressives who want to start learning about the modern labor movement, rather than just relying on outdated stereotypes.

Here at CtW Connect, this is a question we’ve been grappling with for some time now (see this post from a year ago for an example). And certainly there are some bloggers who are aware of how big a crisis the American Dream faces today; check out our blogroll over there on the right side of the page for some of the best. But clearly there’s still a lot of room for improvement.

I’m going to be at the Netroots Nation conference next week to help move that process forward. Part of that process is a panel we’ve organized at the event called “Growing the American Dream Movement” that will be a great introduction to today’s labor movement — if you’re interested in the subject and you’re going to be at Netroots Nation, stop by and bring your best questions. Panelists will include David Bonior of American Rights at Work and Tom Woodruff, director of our Strategic Organizing Center, so this is an opportunity to take your questions right to the top.

But that’s just one step in the process. So hit the comments section and share your thoughts — why do you think workers’ issues are so often AWOL on the blogs? And what (if anything) should we be doing to bring them closer together?

Over at Talking Points Memo’s sister site TPMCafe, Nathan Newman is challenging the online progressive left — the “netroots” — to start grappling with one of their longstanding blind spots: workers’ rights and the decline of the American Dream. Yesterday... Jason Lefkowitz

In Denver on Monday, Republican presidential candidate John McCain said that it was an “absolute disgrace” that Social Security taxes workers to pay benefits to retirees:

Americans have got to understand that we are paying present-day retirees with the taxes paid by young workers in America today. And that’s a disgrace. It’s an absolute disgrace, and it’s got to be fixed.

McCain makes it sound like this is some dire extremity Social Security has been pushed into recently due to financial constraints. But it’s not. It’s how Social Security works. It’s how Social Security was designed to work.

The Social Security statement every worker receives annually describes the program as a “compact between generations”, and that’s what it is — an agreement that today’s workers will bear the burdens of today’s retirees, and in exchange, tomorrow’s workers will bear theirs. In other words, exactly what McCain thinks is a “disgrace”.

One might think that this was just McCain misspeaking, but he went on CNN on Tuesday and confirmed that, no, he really believes this stuff:

Let’s describe it for what it is. They pay their taxes and right now their taxes are going to pay the retirement of present-day retirees. That’s why it’s broken, that’s why we can fix it. We can do it together, Republicans and Democrats alike.

McCain straightforwardly describes how Social Security has always worked — “they pay their taxes and right now their taxes are going to pay the retirement of present-day retirees” — and then says “that’s why it’s broken”.

And his solution? Privatization — a bad idea in 2005 when George W. Bush tried to push it, and hasn’t gotten any better since.

(Side note: reheating Bush’s three-year-old bad ideas? That’s Mavericky™!)

So if you think that Social Security — the program that raised a generation of older Americans out of poverty, and that’s been the bedrock of our economic security for decades — is something we should all be ashamed of, then John McCain is the candidate for you!

UPDATE (3:30PM): Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo asks:

I’m very interested to see if anyone asks McCain about his statement that Social Security is an “absolute disgrace.” If you see him asked, let us know.

Good question. If you see any reporters ask him about it, TPM’s tip line is talk@talkingpointsmemo.com.

In Denver on Monday, Republican presidential candidate John McCain said that it was an “absolute disgrace” that Social Security taxes workers to pay benefits to retirees: Americans have got to understand that we are paying present-day retirees with the taxes... Jason Lefkowitz

If you’re reading this blog, you know that the American Dream is slipping further out of reach of millions of working men and women every day. But you may wonder — what can we do about it?

Probably the single best start we could make on fixing things would be to pass the Employee Free Choice Act — critical legislation that would help protect the rights of America’s workers to organize and form unions — into law.

The Employee Free Choice Act came close to passing last year, but was stopped in the end by procedural stonewalling in the Senate by opponents of workers’ rights. However, next year we’ll have a new Congress and a new American Dream President — which means a new chance for working people to make their case.

To help build that case, Change to Win has joined with a wide range of labor unions and other progressive organizations in a unique campaign: One Million Strong for the Employee Free Choice Act. The goal: to rally a million working men and women to express support for this legislation before the new Congress comes to Washington. If we can do that, it will send a powerful message that the time for our leaders to start restoring the American Dream has come.

Want to help? You can join the campaign by signing our petition in support of the Employee Free Choice Act:

• Sign the petition

By signing the petition, you’re adding your name to hundreds of thousands of working people from across America, all of whom are standing up for the great cause of our age: ensuring that the American Dream is within reach of every American worker.

So what are you waiting for? Sign up today!

If you’re reading this blog, you know that the American Dream is slipping further out of reach of millions of working men and women every day. But you may wonder — what can we do about it? Probably the... Jason Lefkowitz

The Labor Department reported today that June saw the sixth straight month of job losses in America:

Employers trimmed jobs from their payrolls in June for the sixth straight month, as the government’s closely watched report Thursday showed continued weakness in the labor market.

The Labor Department reported a net loss of 62,000 jobs in the month. That matched the job loss figure for May, which was revised higher from 49,000. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had forecast a loss of 60,000 jobs.

In the same month, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 10.2% — the biggest June loss for the index since the Great Depression:

The U.S. stock market has lost $2.1 trillion in value this year — $1.4 trillion in June alone, says Dow Jones Indexes. “Talk about a tough month,” says Sam Stovall, chief strategist at Standard & Poor’s.

Wall Street is debating whether the market has now priced in the bulk of the bad economic news. Bob Doll, chief investment officer at BlackRock, said Monday he believes the market is past the worst and should “grind higher” the rest of the year.

The Bush Economy: everybody’s a loser.

UPDATE (3:15PM): Dean Baker at TPMCafe:

The economy has entered a slow motion recession. It is not seeing the dramatic plunges in jobs that characterized prior recessions, but the collapse of the housing bubble is slowly sinking more and more sectors of the economy.

Total private sector job gains in the Bush years may fall below 3 million by November. The annual average for the Clinton years was 2.6 million.

The Labor Department reported today that June saw the sixth straight month of job losses in America: Employers trimmed jobs from their payrolls in June for the sixth straight month, as the government’s closely watched report Thursday showed continued... Jason Lefkowitz

The Labor Department reported today that June saw the sixth straight month of job losses in America: Employers trimmed jobs from their payrolls in June for the sixth straight month, as the government’s closely watched report Thursday showed continued... Jason Lefkowitz

Looks like we may have Circuit City to kick around for a while longer!

Faithful readers of CtW Connect know that Circuit City is one of our favorite examples of how decisions by management to throw workers overboard can backfire on them. The Story So Far, from my last post on the subject:

If you’ve been following CtW Connect since the beginning, you’ll remember how a little more than a year ago they made the stunningly boneheaded decision to fire 3,400 of their best workers in order to replace them with cheaper labor. And how that predictably led to a sales slump so dramatic that Fortune magazine included the decision in its list of the 101 dumbest business moves of 2007. And how that led the company to try to reinvent itself by staffing its sales floors with teenagers clad head to toe in black, spouting mantras like “keep it real” — which, also predictably, didn’t exactly turn things around.

Well, now it looks like CC management have (after driving their stock down from $20/share to five and a quarter) decided to throw in the towel — word is that they have retained Goldman Sachs to broker a sale of the company to some third party, most likely Blockbuster Video.

As we noted then, Blockbuster isn’t exactly doing great themselves these days, which made them an unusual “white knight” to ride in and save CC.

Turns out that “unusual” might not have been a strong enough word — yesterday, Blockbuster announced that they were waving off the merger:

“Based on market conditions and the completion of our initial due diligence process, we have determined that it is not in the best interest of Blockbuster’s shareholders to proceed with an acquisition of Circuit City,” said Jim Keyes, Blockbuster Chairman and CEO. “We continue to believe in the strategic merits of a consumer retail proposition that would bring media content and electronic devices together under one brand. We will pursue this strategy through our Blockbuster stores as a way to diversify the business and better serve the entertainment retail segment.”

Maybe they were afraid that their people would catch Stupid Disease if they had to work closely with Circuit City’s managers? Who knows. But it looks like the deal that was supposed to save CC from itself is no more.

Just think, back in December I called “FAIL” on CC because their stock had dropped to $6.69/share. Well, today those same shares opened at a whopping $2.21 — and after an hour of trading they’d dropped to $2.11.

Losing an additional 67% of your value after reaching the “FAIL” level is pretty remarkable. We’ve clearly moved from regular “FAIL” territory to “EPIC FAIL” here, so I’ve updated our stock chart graphic to reflect that.

It takes a special kind of leader to achieve results like this — which is probably why Wall Street Journal columnist Herb Greenberg named Circuit City’s CEO, Philip Schoonover, as the most likely candidate for Worst CEO of 2008 back in January.

Somebody call Herb and tell him it looks like he’s won his bet!

UPDATE (1PM): Don Reisinger at CNet says “Circuit City is doomed”.

Looks like we may have Circuit City to kick around for a while longer! Faithful readers of CtW Connect know that Circuit City is one of our favorite examples of how decisions by management to throw workers overboard can... Jason Lefkowitz

Looks like we may have Circuit City to kick around for a while longer! Faithful readers of CtW Connect know that Circuit City is one of our favorite examples of how decisions by management to throw workers overboard can... Jason Lefkowitz

As John McCain prepares to fly to Colombia — the country where standing up for your rights at work can get you killed — to pledge his fealty to the doctrine of “free” trade, a new poll from CNN shows that a majority of Americans disagree with him:

According to the CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll, 51 percent of Americans view foreign trade as a threat to the economy — the first time in a CNN poll that a majority of Americans report holding negative views on free trade.

That compares with only 35 percent of Americans who felt free trade posed a threat to the economy in 2000, and 48 percent who felt it was a threat in 2006.

Now, only four in 10 Americans say free trade presents an opportunity for economic growth.

(Image above created by InternetWeekly.org; check out their complete library of political satire images.)

As John McCain prepares to fly to Colombia — the country where standing up for your rights at work can get you killed — to pledge his fealty to the doctrine of “free” trade, a new poll from CNN... Jason Lefkowitz