New Labor Blog Launched

I'm adding the just-launched group Labor Blog to my essentials list. Two of the contributors are Nathan Newman and Jordan Barab, who blogs on work safety issues at Confined Spces. Check it out.

Here's their statement of purpose.

Why? Well, for those of us in and around the labor movement, it's because we think what people do 8+ hours per day, 5+ days a week is where the fate of the nation and the world rests. When workers have power in the workplace, they end up with power in the political world, just as employers use power in the private economy to leverage privileges from the public sector.

That's the simplest message for many of the political folks who frequent progressive blogs, but the importance of unions goes beyond this year's election to whether there will democracy not just every four years but every day when people go to work. A union is about having a chance to vote on what your benefits will be, whether you have child care or have time to stay home with the kids when you want to, and, at the most basic level, whether you have the dignity of a voice at work.

But there is a more immediate need for a broad discussion on labor issues. Major changes are coming in the labor movement...